Councilmember Tim Burgess lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood during the 1962 Century 21 Exposition and traveled by bicycle with his friends to go to the celebration. Watch his story to find out how they avoided the entrance fee along with his other memories of the Seattle Center.
Historical perspective:
From Seattle Municipal Archives: In anticipation of the World’s Fair, respected designer Paul Thiry was hired as chief architect of the Exposition, designing an aesthetically adventurous cityscape intended to excite the visitor with futuristic visions of scientific progress, including the Washington State Pavilion (now the KeyArena).
From the Seattle Center: Key Arena as we know it today opened on October 26, 1995 and has entertained over 10 million guests as Seattle’s premier venue for sports, concerts and family entertainment. The state-of-the-art facility is one of the safest, most advanced and comfortable arenas in the world. Its unique design provides sports and concert fans an intimate entertainment experience with spectacular sightlines and acoustics, uncommon in arenas of similar size. Amenities include convenient concession and merchandise areas and a nearby five-story parking garage for more than 600 vehicles.
Home to Seattle’s own Seattle Storm, KeyArena at Seattle Center also hosts entertainments most acclaimed talent from music’s biggest stars to popular family shows. Since its opening in 1995, KeyArena has hosted over 130 concerts including music’s biggest names such as Aerosmith, Jose Carreras, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Celine Dion, Elton John, Garth Brooks, George Strait and Simon & Garfunkel. We have entertained thousands of families with shows from Disney On Ice, Champions On Ice and WWE.
Seattle Municipal Archives has some excellent resources on the 1962 World’s Fair. Click to view digital files, text files. Image files can be viewed here and here.
