It’s the biggest story of the year, with the ongoing exception
of Iraq, as big as the storm itself. Like the spawning of
tornadoes, it has spun off countless story lines that seem to move
in all directions at once at lightening speed. Like the Big Bang,
we’re all trying to comprehend the expansion of Universe
Katrina.
It’s the biggest story of the year, with the ongoing exception of Iraq, as big as the storm itself. Like the spawning of tornadoes, it has spun off countless story lines that seem to move in all directions at once at lightening speed. Like the Big Bang, we’re all trying to comprehend the expansion of Universe Katrina.
As the hashing out of the political implications continues, here in California many papers are running stories about our level of disaster preparedness for the fabled Big One. Next year will serve as another reminder as we observe the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. The part of that story that is often overlooked is the city’s rise from the rubble.
In 1915 San Francisco hosted a World’s Fair – just nine years after it had virtually disappeared in 1906. The Panama Pacific International Exposition celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal the previous year, and the 400th anniversary of the European discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa. But to San Franciscans it was all about resurrection.
Stretching from Van Ness to the Presidio along the waterfront, the 635-acre fair was a boon to the whole Bay Area. One of its original buildings, the Palace of Fine Arts, is still a lively attraction for tourists and San Franciscans alike.
World’s Fairs used to be grand extravaganzas staged to mark some anniversary or extraordinary event. They were truly global affairs, marked by great expositions of technological innovation and international cultural events. They almost always left some kind of indelible mark. The Eiffel Tower, built for the Paris Exposition of 1889, is the most famous example.
In an era of easy global travel, when the entire world has become a kind of theme park, great World’s Fairs have gone out of style. The last one in this country was in New York in 1939, as the United States was emerging from another disaster, the Great Depression.
The president didn’t mention this in his speech last night, but what better time to plan a new World’s Fair, a great party to show the rest of the world we still want to be a part of it, and to bring our favorite city of celebration back to the point where it has something to celebrate?
The people of New Orleans, long kindred spirits of San Franciscans, could produce a spectacle worthy of being called a World’s Fair. With its jazz music, Cajun food, and libertine spirit, New Orleans has always been one of our most international cities, an ongoing fair in its own right. Turning that energy toward the goal of a giant celebration of the city’s spirit, to herald the city’s revival from submersion on a Biblical scale, would be entirely worthwhile and appropriate.
Who would not want to attend that party?
This country has hosted many world’s fairs. The first, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, ran for six months with 30,000 exhibitors playing host to 10 million visitors.
The Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Western Hemisphere with the construction of an entirely new city. “The White City” was a fin de siecle showcase of the latest products and ideas of the era. Fifty-four nations participated.
Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse lit the exhibit with the new alternating current – a display so spectacular that writer L. Frank Baum used it as his model for the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. It even served as the inspiration for the writing of the Pledge of Allegiance.
There were also more pedestrian entertainments, such as the original Ferris Wheel and a 1,500 pound chocolate Venus de Milo. And like San Francisco, Chicago’s Palace of Fine Arts, created for the exposition, still stands.
I have an opening date to suggest for the New Orleans World’s Fair: 2014. That would be nine years after Katrina, as was the case with San Francisco. It is also the 75th anniversary of the New York World’s Fair, and the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of New Orleans, the last battle of the War of 1812.
Americans might even come together to build a monument for the city, as a kind of gift from its admiring countrymen.
But the spotlight would be on New Orleans, on the courage of the people and their commitment to rebuilding their city – not just for themselves, but for the world. Surely that deserves a fair.
