New York World's Fair 1964 and my trip down the East Coast

This may be a little long but it's one of my favorite memories. I've wanted to share it along with pictures for a while now and finally have the scanned pictures on my computer. So here we go. . . . . . I apologize if the spacing of my narrative is weird, I've given up trying to figure out how to format the text.


During the summer of 1964 my father took Rikki and me on a trip to the east coast. My Aunt Connie had moved from Buffalo NY to Windermear, Florida (right where Walt Disney World and Epcot Center sit now). We flew to NY on Delta Airlines, this was the most exciting thing I could ever imagine doing. (I think the plane was a DC-9.) I had to wear a dress (women just didn't wear pants when traveling). At the airport I was allowed to pick out a few books to read on the flight, I think one was a Snoopy story and one was Betty Boop. The window seat was mine (yes, I was the youngest and very spoiled, good greef, my mother died when I was a baby, what else could they do?) and the stewardess brought me a pair of gold pilot's wings to pin to my dress. Could life get any better? This was a big deal, in my head I was possibly entering celebrity status.

While in NY we attended the New York World's Fair, my memories of this part of the trip are sketchy at best, but I do remember seeing the World Globe in the center of the picture below. It was huge. Rikki remembers much more about the fair (remember, she is 10 years older.) Our father bought her a Singer sewing machine at the Singer Pavilion. This was a state of the art sewing machine at the time, and a very big deal to Rikki who could sew anything and actually made most of my clothes at the time. It must have been like having someone hand you the keys to a new Porch 911.


The site of the 1964-65 World's Fair is now Flushing Meadows Park in the Borough of Queens and is now the site of the annual US Open tennis tournament.

The next picture is of the New York skyline, taken from the ferry that goes from New York harbor to the Statue of Liberty


Still on the ferry, you can see NY in the haze at a distance.




The Statue of Liberty was amazing. We walked up the narrow metal staircase inside the statue, all 354 steps that take you to the observation windows in the crown.

On the ferry ride back to NY we were passed by a massive ship, The Queen Mary, on it's final voyage. Years later it was taken to the harbor in Long Beach, CA, where it was permanently docked and turned into a tourist attraction. What I didn't know at the time this picture was taken was that in 1972 I would attend my Senior Prom aboard the Queen Mary, in the Grand Banquet Hall.

Our trip took us to Pennsylvania to visit the real Independence Hall (not the replica that used to be outside of Knott's Berry Farm, Is it still there?) The little girl sitting at the base of the statue is me, and yes I am wearing a dress. Remember this was a long time ago, girls just did not wear pants. I'm not sure how to explain the following photo. It looks like I'm paying tribute to Hitler, I guarantee that is not the case.

At the time that I was there, they had the Liberty Bell inside Independence Hall, and you could actually touch it. In the following picture you can see my Aunt Connie. She is the woman standing just to the left of the woman in a white dress. Aunt Connie was a retired nurse and a no-nonsense kind of person, what I would today call "industrial strength". She could do anything, knew everything about anything, and we loved being with her. I think she and Rikki were kindred spirits.

If you look closely, you can see me touching the bell clacker. (Not sure the official name for that part of the anatomy of a bell.) In 1976 the Liberty Bell was moved outside Independence Hall to a Pavilion called Independence Mall.

I also experienced Niagara Falls (oh, my gosh!!!!!), of which I have pictures but have not yet scanned them into the computer. While in this area I met my Uncle Willard, one of my father's brothers. In my memory, he lived in an old mansion filled with dark polished wood , a wide never ending staircase with a banister that could have been from some old, very old movie (maybe the movie "Rebecca". If you haven't seen it, get it.) The house had a magnificent aroma of pipe smoke that made you feel like the house had a kind, comforting spirit all its own.

Along our drive down the coast to Florida, we stopped at other relatives homes. I don't remember names (I was young, Okay!) but one of my "all time favorite" memories took place during one of these stops. They lived on the top floor of an old fashion type duplex. You entered through the front door to a common area where there was a door to the home on the bottom floor and a stairway up to the home on the top. The night we stayed there a thunderstorm blew in. If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE thunder and lightening. Being the youngest of this group I'm sure the conversation was boring me to death, so I went down the stairs and opened the front door. I could sit on the bottom stair and see straight out into the front yard. Old east coast homes know what a front yard and plenty of space between neighbors, with no fences, is all about. There were massive willow trees and a thick lawn that went forever before coming to the road. I witnessed the biggest brightest lightning bolts and heard rolling thunder that rattled my bones. This lasted for what I think was maybe 20 to 30 minutes, maybe shorter, I don't know exactly. Then everything was quiet, no rain, no lightning, no rolling thunder. But I saw what I thought was a miracle, something that only happened in a fairytale. Under the willow trees there began to be little flashes of light that would zoom around, turning on and off. I was having my first and only encounter with "Fire Flies". Other than the fake ones you see on the "Pirate's of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. I was the only spectator to this perfectly choreographed evening of sights and sounds, but I've never ever forgotten the wonder I felt through the entire experience.

Well, there you have it for now. Another little glimpse into my memory bank of growing up. I've got lots more to share, but we will save that for another time. Remember, I love you all.