By Kathryn Ayres

See additional images at the GGIE Gallery
 

The Golden Gate International Exposition was held in order to celebrate the city’s two new bridges. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was dedicated on November 12, 1936; the Golden Gate Bridge was dedicated on May 27, 1937; and on August 26, 1937, dredging for Treasure Island, the site of the Fair, was complete. The Fair ran from February 18 through October 29 in 1939, and from May 25 through September 29 in 1940.

 

 

Treasure Island, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco

 

Throughout the run of the Fair, multi-colored searchlights shot up for one mile in the nighttime sky, and were visible for 100 miles around. The official program described the lighting effects as “chromotherapy.” The 80-foot statue of Pacifica personified the theme of the Fair, emphasizing unity between Pacific nations. But the dominating feature of the Island was the 400-foot Tower of the Sun, which competed in stature with the towers of the Bay Bridge nearby.

 

 

Aerial View

Golden Gate International Exposition

on Treasure Island 1939

 

The magnificent garden courts were designed to showcase California’s balmy weather, in contrast to that of New York, which was hosting a world’s fair at the same time. Twelve hundred gardeners were on the Fair’s payroll, and they worked in the wee morning hours to design flowerbeds that corresponded with the seasons. The outdoor statuary was designed almost exclusively by California artists.

 

 

 

Court of Reflections, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco

 

The amusement zone, called the Gayway, had a delightful range of entertainment venues. The most popular was Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch. Business exhibits emphasized the speed and conveniences available in the twentieth century, while foreign pavilions tempted patrons to travel to exotic lands.

 

 

"Treasure Island" at night, San Francisco

 

 

 

At midnight on the very last night of the

Fair, each of multi-colored lights was

dimmed slowly, one by one, so that

nothing remained but the street lamps

and the illumination for the Tower of

the Sun – which stayed lit until dawn

the following day, so that it could never

be said that the Sun went out over San

Francisco Bay.
 

 

 

GGIE - Part 2 (Golden Gate Int'l Expo) Continued...

 

 

Last updated: 07/21/2014 02:17:08 PM -0400
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