Themed Experience

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Colossal spectacle preserved in 128 rare, vintage photographs with concise, fact-filled text: 200 buildings -- 79 of foreign governments, 38 of U.S. states -- the original ferris wheel, first midway, Edison's kinetoscope, much more. 128 black-and-white photographs. Captions. Map. Index.

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The great World s Fairs and Expositions staged around the world since the mid-nineteenth century were among the largest and most dramatic cultural events ever staged. In both beneficial and detrimental ways they affected the lives of tens of millions of people. Fair World tells the story of these extraordinary exhibitions from the Victorian period to present day. Over 40 expositions from around the world are studied in detail in this beautifully illustrated book with previously unseen material, including original photographs and postcards from the earliest fairs.

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Life Magazine wrote that one funhouse at the 1939 World's Fair stood out among the others:"Dal's Dream of Venus, the creation of famed Surrealist painter Salvador Dal, is the most recent addition to the still-growing list of amusement-area girl shows and easily the most amazing. Weird building contains a dry tank and a wet tank. In the wet tank girls swim under water, milk a bandaged-up cow, tap typewriter keys which float like seaweed. Keyboard of piano is painted on the recumbent female figure made of rubber. In dry tank... a sleeping Venus reclines in 36-foot bed, covered with white and red satin, flowers, and leaves. Scattered about the bed are lobsters frying on beds of hot coals and bottles of champagne... .All this is most amusing and interesting."The building's modern, expressionistic exterior, with an entrance framed by a woman's legs, and shocking interior, including the bare-breasted "living liquid ladies" who occupied the tanks, caused quite a stir. The funhouse was so successful that it reopened for a second season, but once torn down it faded from memory and its outlandishness became the stuff of urban myth. Now, more than 60 years later, a collection of photographs of the Dream of Venus by Eric Schaal has been discovered. In stunning black-and-white and early Kodachrome, they show both the construction and the completion of the funhouse-from Dal painting a melting clock to showgirls parading for their audience. Salvador Dal's Dream of Venus reveals not only an eccentric work of architecture, but also a one-of-a-kind creation by one of the most fertile imaginations of the 20th century.

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Motivated by potentially turning Flushing Meadows, literally a land of refuse, into his greatest public park, Robert Moses--New York's "Master Builder"--brought the World's Fair to the Big Apple for 1964 and '65. Though considered a financial failure, the 1964-65 World' s Fair was a Sixties flashpoint in areas from politics to pop culture, technology to urban planning, and civil rights to violent crime.In an epic narrative, the New York Times bestseller Tomorrow-Land shows the astonishing pivots taken by New York City, America, and the world during the Fair. It fetched Disney's empire from California and Michelangelo's La Pieta from Europe; and displayed flickers of innovation from Ford, GM, and NASA--from undersea and outerspace colonies to personal computers. It housed the controversial work of Warhol (until Governor Rockefeller had it removed); and lured Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Meanwhile, the Fair--and its house band, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians--sat in the musical shadows of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, who changed rock-and-roll right there in Queens. And as Southern civil rights efforts turned deadly, and violent protests also occurred in and around the Fair, Harlem-based Malcolm X predicted a frightening future of inner-city racial conflict.World's Fairs have always been collisions of eras, cultures, nations, technologies, ideas, and art. But the trippy, turbulent, Technicolor, Disney, corporate, and often misguided 1964-65 Fair was truly exceptional.

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One of modern world's wonders, in which civilized nations exhibited achievements in arts and sciences. More than 1700 items pictured with accompanying text: cast-iron work, pianos, sleds, billiard tables, hundreds of other artifacts. Largest collection of Victorian decorative art ever assembled.

Built in 1853 in New York's Bryant Park and immediately pronounced the most beautiful structure in America, the Crystal Palace was intended not simply to emulate but rival the famous Victorian landmark in London's Hyde Park. As with its English counterpart, however, its beauty was ephemeral.It caught fire, and on October 5, 1858, "great waves of lurid light" overtook spectators and those rushing to save it. Within thirty minutes, the beloved dome was nothing but a heap of smoldering debris.In his latest book, Edwin G. Burrows, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History and co-author of GOTHAM: A History of New York to 1898, offers a memorable and elegiac look at the Crystal Palace. While it didn't match in dimension Robert Paxton's London original - the scale of which was truly colossal - the New York version became a beloved landmark almost from the instant of its creation. Centerpiece of the 1853 World's Fair, it was home to numerous exhibitions and became a showplace for displaying the growing industrial might of the nation. Walt Whitman rhapsodized about it as "Earth's modern wonder, History's Seven outstripping." Its sudden loss provoked intense mourning-matched only perhaps by the razing of the old Penn Station a century later - and then gradually it slipped from memory. The Finest Building in America will evoke the Crystal Palace's life and times, replete with beautiful period images. The first book-length account of the building's short but glorious life, Burrows book aims to restore it in the minds and hearts of New Yorkers and New York aficionados and fans everywhere.

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The electrifying, never-before-told history of amusement parks, from the middle ages to present day, populated by the colorful (and sometimes criminal) characters who built them, and the regular folks who sought their magical, albeit temporary, charms. Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history that begins nine centuries ago with the "pleasure gardens" of Europe and England and ends with the rise and fall and rise again of some of the most elaborate parks in the world. It's a history told largely through the stories of the colorful, sometimes hedonistic characters who built them and features, among many, showmen like Joseph and Nicholas Schenck and Marcus Loew, railroad barons such as Andrew Mellon and Henry E. Huntington, and the men who ultimately destroyed the parks including Robert Moses and Fred Trump. The many gifted artisans and craftspeople who brought these parks to life are also featured, along with an amazing cast of supporting players from Al Capone to Annie Oakley. And, of course, there are the rides, whose marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills are celebrated at full throttle. The parks and fairs featured include the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Coney Island, Steeplechase Park, Dreamland, Euclid Beach Park, Cedar Point, Palisades Park, Ferrari World, Dollywood, Sea World, Six Flags Great Adventure, Universal Studios, Disney World and Disneyland, and many more.

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A ride on a thrill rollercoaster is the highlight of any visit to an amusement or theme park. Today's rides are at the cutting edge of technology and engineering, but they are but the latest of a long line of rides with humble roots in Russian ice slides and wooden sleigh rides. Seaside historian Martin Easdown describes the great age of these fascinating structures, from the first mass produced rollercoaster, the Switchback Railway, through to the giant wooden coasters of the inter-war period, using historic postcards and photographs to chart their development. The fullest expression of the popularity of rollercoasters was to be found at the great British seaside and popular amusement parks, such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Southend Kursaal and Margate Dreamland, which were created around the rides. The author also goes beyond rollercoasters to other amusement rides, such as revolving towers, aerial rides, Ferris wheels and water chutes that were produced from the late Victorian era in all manner of fascinating forms. This book is a celebration of how rollercoaster and other amusements enthralled and thrilled and became a much-loved feature of our leisure industry.

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The social origins of the theme park concept -- Development and categorisation -- Globalization of the theme park industry -- A profile of major theme park operators -- Theme parks and the commercialisation of leisure -- The urbanism of theme parks and spatial innovation -- The impact of theme parks -- The development of theme park destinations -- Factors influencing the development process -- Basic principles of theme park planning -- The architectonical design of a theme park -- Management strategies

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Dolly Parton isn't just a country music superstar. She has built an empire. At the heart of that empire is Dollywood, a 150-acre fantasy land that hosts three million people a year. Parton's prodigious talent and incredible celebrity have allowed her to turn her hometown into one of the most popular tourist destinations in America. The crux of Dollywood's allure is its precisely calibrated Appalachian image, itself drawn from Parton's very real hardscrabble childhood in the mountains of east Tennessee. What does Dollywood have to offer besides entertainment? What do we find if we take this remarkable place seriously? How does it both confirm and subvert outsiders' expectations of Appalachia? What does it tell us about the modern South, and in turn what does that tell us about America at large? How is regional identity molded in service of commerce, and what is the interplay of race, gender, and class when that happens? In Gone Dollywood, Graham Hoppe blends tourism studies, celebrity studies, cultural analysis, folklore, and the acute observations and personal reflections of longform journalism into an unforgettable interrogation of Southern and American identity.

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"The name Hershey evokes many things: chocolate bars, the company town in Pennsylvania, one of America's most recognizable brands. But who was the man behind the name? In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day. Hershey, the son of a minister's daughter and an irresponsible father who deserted the family, began his career inauspiciously when the two candy shops he opened both went bankrupt. Undeterred, he started the Lancaster Caramel Company, which brought him success at last. Eventually he sold his caramel operation and went on to perfect the production process of chocolate to create a stable, consistent bar with a long shelf life...and an American icon was born. Hershey was more than a successful businessman -- he was a progressive thinker who believed in capitalism as a means to higher goals. He built the world's largest chocolate factory and a utopian village for his workers on a large tract of land in rural Pennsylvania, and used his own fortune to keep his workers employed during the Great Depression. In addition, he secretly willed his fortune to a boys' school and orphanage, both of which now control a vast endowment. Extensively researched and vividly written, Hershey is the fascinating story of this uniquely American visionary."

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A well-known destination for family fun and amusement, Hersheypark has entertained and engaged visitors for more than 100 years. The park was an important part of Milton S. Hershey's plans for his new model industrial town, built for the workers of the Hershey Chocolate factory. In 1903, even before the factory was completed, he set aside land to be used as a park for picnics and family outings. While originally established as a community park, it soon developed into an amusement park as thousands of people flocked to Hershey each year to visit the chocolate factory and model town. This book portrays the origin of Hershey Park, its development as a trolley park, and its successful transition to Hersheypark, a themed amusement park, at a time when many traditional parks faltered and failed. Through period photographs and engaging narrative, Hersheypark explores the growth and development of the park; the vision of its founder, Milton S. Hershey; its successes and challenges; and how the park endured and transformed itself to become one of the East Coast's leading entertainment destinations.

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Finally, the story of America's regional theme parks. Everybody knows pretty much everything about Disneyland-how it got started, how the Imagineers do their thing, and so on. But nobody ever talks about the parks that most of us across the country enjoy far more often. Regional theme parks, different from amusement parks, owe their existence to the magical land Walt built in Anaheim. There were a few false starts, but in 1961 Angus Wynne opened Six Flags Over Texas, triggering a tidal wave of Disneyland-lites over the next twenty years. Imagineering an American Dreamscape tells the story of the regionals and the strong-willed individuals behind them-where they came from, how they got started, and how they've changed over the decades. Some of the stories you may have heard. Most you probably haven't, and it's a fascinating tale to tell. Sit back and enjoy the long journey from the grand world expositions of yesteryear to the parks you grew up to love and cherish.

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Coney Island is an iconic symbol of turn-of-the-century New York, but many other amusement parks thrilled the residents of the five boroughs. Strategically placed at the end of trolley lines, railways, public beaches and waterways, these playgrounds for rich and poor alike first appeared in 1767. From humble beginnings, they developed into huge sites like Fort George, Manhattan's massive amusement complex. Each park was influenced by the culture and eclectic tastes of its owners and patrons--from the wooden coasters at Staten Island's Midland Beach to beer gardens on Queens' North Beach and fireworks blasting from the Bronx's Starlight Park. However, as real estate became more valuable, these parks disappeared. Rediscover the thrills of the past from the lost amusement parks of New York City.

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Playland offers an inviting look at the historic amusement park on the shore of the Long Island Sound in Rye. This book recalls the early days and the later years of Playland, a national historic landmark and America's only publicly owned amusement park. Opened in 1928 as part of the newly developed Westchester County Park System, Playland originally drew crowds that arrived via automobile, bus, and steamship for the circus acts, sideshows, and rides, such as the Swooper, an oval roller coaster, and the Derby Racer, one of only two left in the United States. An all-purpose resort, the park included a beach, bathhouse, pool, and casino with restaurants and games. Today the park draws even larger crowds--nearly a million people each season--that come for the Dragon Coaster and other rides, Kiddyland, the indoor ice rink, the pool, the beach, and the boardwalk.