The Fountain of the Planets used 400 tons of water, shot out of 2,000 nozzles. The show was embellished with over 1,000 different parents of light.

NYWF64.com has some beautiful photos from the fair, when the fountain was in operation.

Gallery I

Gallery 2

This pool of water was given an oval shape for the 1939 fair, and rounded some thirty years later. In the background is Shea Stadium, and the (your company here) Stadium, which will open in 2009.

Among American cities, NYC has been a latecomer to the corporatizing of sports arena names. The streak was broken in 2000, when the Mets' minor league team, the Brooklyn Cyclones were introduced to Keyspan Park in Coney Island. The Mets followed the lead, and for the next 20 years, the new arena will bear the name Citi Field, after Citibank.

The pitch-and-putt golf course is relatively small by golf course standards, and is built atop the streambed, where there is a sand trap. In the background is the Porpoise Bridge. Built for the 1939 fair, this tidal gate bridge was built to protect the fairgrounds from the storm surges and salt water of Flushing Bay. Before the fair, salt marshes along the river absorbed the incoming waves.

After the fair, there were also plans were drawn to annex the Willets Point junkyards and auto parts emporiums to the park, but the chop shops held on, as a result of efforts by lawyer Mario Cuomo. He later became a four-term governor. The only part of the plan on the left that became reality was the round-shaped Shea Stadium.

On the right is a contemporary plan to turn the area into a business district and convention center. Don't hold your breath. The only part of this image that is a reality is the new Mets stadium, which has been named after Citibank. It is a replacement for Shea Stadium.

This bridge was opened in 1928, with the upper level used by the 7 subway train, as it approaches its terminal at Main Street. Initially, it was a drawbridge, allowing large vessels to pass underneath. The only other double-decker subway drawbridge in the city is the Broadway Bridge in upper Manhattan. In the early 1960s, the Van Wyck Expressway was built atop the river, and under the bridge. The drawbridge's control room was then abandoned permanently, and it became a fixed bridge.

The LDC promises a sizable cut of the project to minority-owned and women-owned businesses, with union labor, some affordable housing units, and a new waterfront park. This new park would include an esplanade, ferry dock, and a new pedestrian bridge connecting to Willets Point.

Throwing goodies at critics of the project still does not answer how the increased flow of traffic will be handled. It also does not answer where the concrete plants will be relocated. Restoration of Flushing River is a beautiful idea, but why must it be accompanied by gentrification?

The rendering also shows plenty of sidewalk trees, as if this makes up for the loss of open space.

As long as the Van Wyck Expressway glides over the river, it will never be truly restored.

Photo by Christie M. Farriella for the Daily News

As part of the Whitestone Expressway Bridge replacement, the Department of Transportation is also replanting 2.5 acres of wetlands along the left bank of the river in the above photos, according to a recent Daily News article. Under lead engineer John Elias, more than 90,000 native marsh grasses known as Spartina alterniflora were planted by hand along the lower tidal portion of the riverbank, with invasive plant species being removed. What a beautiful sight- nature being gently restored by otherwise masculine hardhats!

In the late 19th and early 20th Century the stretch of Northern Blvd. between the Flushing River and Main Street was called, sensibly, Bridge Street. A succession of bridges have been employed here, including the drawbridge shown at left, opened in 1906. It's hard to imagine it supporting today's parade of pedal-to-the-metal rolling behemoths. However, it did last fairly far into the 20th Century; the current span, which elevates the boulevard far above the river so that boats can pass and connects traffic with the spaghetti-like interchange of the Van Wyck Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, dates to October 1980. The surface section of Northern Blvd, which joins the elevated part at Prince Street, is welcomed by a fleet of cement trucks. picture from Flushing 1880-1935, James Driscoll, Arcadia Publishing 2005

Forgotten Fan Ken Buettner: The 1906 span shown in the page was replaced by another drawbridge in the 1930's when a sister drawbridge was built at the same time for the Whitestone Parkway (leading to the new Bronx-Whitestone Bridge). (That span, whose drawbridge mechanism was removed in 1963 and fixed in place, is currently being replaced.) It was the 1930's span which was replaced by the current fixed bridge. The new bridge is higher and longer.

Let's review our trip with a map by Flushing resident and Green Party activist Paul Graziano. His 2001 city council candidacy website is still up, and I'm sure the young activist still has a future in politics. In his 2001 run, he got ten percent of the vote- which is impressive for someone running on a third-party ticket

Photo from the NY Times

Mr. Graziano works as an urban planning consultant.

If you liked this page, explore my other forgotten Queens locations: