Book talk, Slide Presentation & signing with Alan J. Stein, co-author of The Future Remembered: The 1962 World's Fair and Its Legacy Sunday, December 11 @ 2 p.m. Olympic Room, Main Library 1102 Tacoma Avenue South downtown Tacoma Astronauts, Elvis, sky rides, royalty, the Kennedys, religion, topless showgirls, the Canadian tattoo, the Cold War and futurist speculation ‒ the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair had it all. The era and its people come to life in The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy ‒ a new, coffee-table-style book filled with fascinating history, stories and pictures to celebrate the fair’s upcoming 50th anniversary. This 300-page, image-rich hardcover explains how the space race lit the fire under Seattle’s movers, shakers and dreamers, and how they turned their little-known, geographically isolated city into the place that “invented the future” and gave us the remarkable legacy of a fondly remembered six months of learning and fun in 1962. Fair Facts: The fair’s Man in Space logo is a combination of the biological symbol for male and the astrological symbol for Mars stamped with an icon representing the globe Century 21 personnel used the world’s first electronic pagers called Bellboy devices A big hit at the employee cafeteria, Centuria, was a machine that magically changed dollar bills into coins for purchasing hot entrees from vending machines One of the fair’s key players conceived the Space Needle concept after having dinner at the top of Stuttgart, Germany’s television tower Initial concept drawings envisioned the Monorail hanging from a track The first letter mailed from the fair post office was written by President Kennedy and sent with the new 4-cent commemorative World’s Fair stamp A trip to the World of Tomorrow began with a ride in the Bubbleator Top leadership was exclusively male, but some women ‒ such as Gracie Hansen and her Las Vegas style revue A Night in Paradise ‒ “saved” the fair from being only about science. “This event should not be considered as merely a repetition of anything previously seen on the face of the earth. If this event is approached in that manner and all the people of the state cooperate in bringing it about, there will remain on the site … a cultural center of continuing usefulness that may mark the beginning of a new era in man’s understanding of and control over the universe that surrounds him.” ~ World’s Fair Commission minutes, July 7, 1958 Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Information:www.tacomapubiclibrary.org / 253.591-5666 About the co-author Alan J. Stein is a HistoryLink.org staff historian and award-winning author of four previous HistoryLink books, Safe Passage: The Birth of Washington State Ferries, 1951-2001; Bellevue Timeline: The Story of Washington's Leading Edge City from Homesteads to High Rises, 1863-2003; The Olympic: The Story of Seattle's Landmark Hotel. He is the Association of King County Historical Organizations' past president, and Ex Noble Grand Humbug of Doc Maynard Chapter 54-40, E Clampus Vitus. David Domkoski Manager, Community Relations | Tacoma Public Library (253) 591-5688 Join us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tacoma-WA/Tacoma-Public-Library/96676504170?ref=ts "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you never met, someone who even is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." [The History Boys, a play by Alan Bennett] ---- Msg sent via TPL Mail - http://www.tacomapubliclibrary.org/