



"It is the Eiffel Tower of Queens," says Matthew Silva, who's making a documentary about the pavilion in Queens' Flushing Meadows Corona Park, comparing it to a remnant of the 1889 Paris Exposition that was also threatened with demolition before it was saved.


Visitors rode glass "Sky Streak" elevators to the observation deck of a 226-foot tower - the highest point in the fair. The two shorter towers, at 150 and 60 feet, held a cafeteria and a VIP lounge.




In the years after the fair, the pavilion was used as a music venue for such acts as Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead and Fleetwood Mac. In the '70s, it became a roller skating rink until the collapse of the ceiling tiles, leaving only bare cables behind.

The towers, while still structurally sound, were abandoned as observation decks long ago for safety reasons. Their retro-futuristic look has been most widely known from its use in such movies as "Men in Black" and "Iron Man 2."

Although occasionally opened for tours, the towers and pavilion - the last major structures still standing from the World's Fair that have not been preserved - have largely served as a stoic landmark for travelers on the Van Wyck Expressway. Two pad-locked gates - one chain-link, one metal - keep the Tent of Tomorrow shuttered.

"It should be called the 'Tent of Yesterday,'" says Ben Haber, who lives near the park. "This is not the Parthenon, it's not the Sphinx, it's not the pyramids. ... So what's so special that we should keep it?"


Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has formed a task force dedicated to preserving the pavilion, noting that other structures from the World's Fair have been saved, most notably the 12-story-tall metal globe called the Unisphere, the Hall of Science and the Queens Museum.


While that debate plays out, a small group of World's Fair buffs has formed to repaint the pavilion so it can be open to the public briefly for an April 22 anniversary event. The towers will still be off limits.

"I just loved this pavilion," says 63-year-old volunteer painter John Piro. "And as the years went on I saw it decay and it just like tore my heart."


"Urban parks are the backyards for people who don't have them - so they can sit on the grass, look at trees, flowers, water," Haber says. "They do not want to look at glass, steel and cement structures."