Fair and Festival – No. 21: The Official Information Center

The next attraction south of yesterday’s Christian Witness, the Safeco (or General Insurance) sponsored Official Information Center, was also squirreled into the southwest corner of the future Seattle Center.  Jean needed only a short walk south on Second Avenue from the Christians to reach the former site of the  open-aired booth with a roof spread low like a turkey’s wings protecting her chicks.  It was another eccentric Century-21 roof, in this instance suggesting a Japanese temple.  The open inside was staffed with a few female fair polymaths who could – it was expected – answer every questions asked.  The place was torn down in 1981 after nearly 20 post-fair years of service as a picnic shelter.  Behind it (to the west) behaving like an eccentric tent or a very large box kite was set the Seattle-First International Bank “building.”  Design by  the fair’s lead architect, Paul Thiry, the bank’s box was destroyed following the fair.

The site is now home for part of the Children’s Garden.   Jean Sherrard’s two examples, below, of youthful vigor resting their feet after a day of hide-and-seek are Ron Edge and myself.

An early spring snow on March 3, brought out a Seattle Times photographer to record the chilled fair grounds about six weeks before the fair opened.
This "aerial" from the Space Needle reminds us of the bright Salmon-pink coloring of the large Information booth. To the right of Safco is plopped the potato-pocket shape of the Nalley's Space Age Theatre. The Pacific Science Center is on the left, and much of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the upper-right corner.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.