Amusement Park – New York World’s Fair 1965
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The amusement park was located in the same vicinity as the amusements for the 1939 World’s Fair. It was a less-than-ideal location across the expressway and connected to the main complex via a footbridge. But whereas the old area extended almost the full length of Meadow Lake the new one occupied a small corner at one end.
The 1939 amusement area featured a riotous mix of rides, circus acts, freak shows and nudity in the form of various “girlie shows”. In fact nudity was also featured in some of the pavilions in the main complex. I like the story of The Bendix Lama which was a full scale replica of an 18th century Chinese Buddhist temple. It wasn’t attracting the anticipated crowds so they added some naked women to the mix! Even the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle featured a small area devoted to adult entertainment.
Robert Moses, the main man behind the fair was quoted as saying “We shall inaugurate many new inventions infinitely more diverting than whiskered women, tattooed giants and nudes on ice”. In fact he didn’t even want any amusement area but eventually buckled under pressure promising “no third-rate Coney Island, midway, or cheap, vulgar honky-tonk area.” So the 1964 amusements consisted of nothing more than a few carnival rides.
The carousel was later moved to a different location in the park, over by the zoo, where it continues to operate today
Adjoining the amusements was an 11,000 seat amphitheater facing Meadow Lake. This structure had previously been used at the 1939 World’s Fair to great success with Billy Rose’s Aquacade show. Unfortunately this time around the new ‘Wonder World’ show attracted few people and had closed within 2 months. For the second year a new water skiing show was tried which seemed more popular. The amphitheater was demolished in 1996.