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Show ' Thousands of WoridTpSTvisitors I ! Swarm to Magic Island That Has I Been Built in San Francisco Bay I 1 r; ; J ' : fe? r ! h; - it -' i ' ; LLMo SCOTT WATSON r ;vS--'"N''"5i,i,,":rl""7,, , "V'itWXS the morning of 1' ob-l(. ob-l(. I rUarv lo- ce we'daylitfht throng had :e.L, stream" toward San ?s rnneisco's famed Ferry i;','jj;m; on Market street or viking their way across the .te ?'ve bridge that connects ge S Francisco and Oakland eri'tiih rocky Verba Bucna JV!und. Soon the causeway nd i 1 wmf!rg,the harbor entre I erected6 Si"gle SPan ever ! So the two visions-airport, and world s fair-were merged. Each ! Plan speeded and supported the ! other Early in 1936, while the I two bridges were still building I and the "clipper ship", air traffic traf-fic winch brought Asia within days, not weeks, of America, was passing from the exploratory stage into regular airmail nights, work on the new airport began. United States army engineers, n MO SCOTT WATSON 'rJ . j S!NewS,,u-un,.., I ' S , W the harbor trance I (VAS the morning of Feb- . , J cd lonSest single span ever j icvWlU throne had A ' ' I woridV0 visions-a5rport and ' ce Since ua)u;.' k , woi id s fair were merged Each I :e.!KllSlreamin;Mowara San ; I Plan speeded and supported the 1 ?s. Wasco's famed l erry , f 1 other Early in 1936, while the I I;1,;;'.,,,, 0n Market street or ; .1 I tw bridges were still building I .te hve bridge that connects , s x days, not weeks, of America, was Se?n Francisco and Oakland j l , , ; passing from the exploratory eri h reckv Verba Bucna t ' stag,e "to regular airmail flights, "V ia Soon the causeway T' work on the new airport began. lc-i'M- J V 5 United States army engineers, nd , ' v I :h N v x v v - x 1 ' H : , v ' a Above is shown one of the picturesque pic-turesque Towers of the East on Treasure Island. An ancient walled city is the basis of the exposition's structural struc-tural scheme. In the spacious central Court of Honor stands the 400-foot Tower of the Sun, which is only 57 feet in diameter at its base but which competes in height with the lofty towers of the Bay bridge nearby. From it radiates phalanxes of exhibit palaces, each from 400 to 900 feet long and about 200 feet wide. They are spaced by broad concoursesCourt con-coursesCourt of the Seven Seas, Court of Flowers, Court of Reflections, Court of the Moon, Court of Pacifica, Treasure Gardensnames Gar-densnames which characterize their symbolism. All of them are windowless for display uniformity under constant con-stant illumination and have been built according to a so-called tSi NIGHT SCENE ON TREASURE ISLAND Shown here under illumination are the arched waters of ie Fountain of the Evening Star in the Court of the Moon on Treasure Island. In the background is the flower of the Sun, bathed in white and amber lights. 'gjver which they were hurrying hurry-ing from Yerba Buena toward yieir objective, a little island ?30 yards away, was packed 3 iirith people. ever held, the one at San Francisco Fran-cisco has innovations in architecture, archi-tecture, illumination, exhibits and special events which make previous expositions seem quaintly quaint-ly archaic. But in one respect, J Eight o'clock! A The "Portals of the Pacific," gae gates between the huge py-wamidal py-wamidal towers, swung open and eihe crowd surged forward for s-iheir first views of the wonders What lay beyond those portals. sTVithin four hours more than 200,-i-WO people were swarming over il-he island Treasure Island, it's :alled. Twelve o'clock! H High up in the Tower of the Jan a 44-bell carillon poured out y flood of melody. Then while a :'nixed chorus of 500 voices sang 3,i hymn of joy, muted trumpets "sounded an invocation of thanksgiving thanks-giving and prayer. A few mo-Tnents mo-Tnents later, over the radio loudspeakers loud-speakers came the voices of California Cali-fornia notables Gov. Culbert L. Ison, Mayor Angelo Rossi of pan Francisco and Leland W. it is absolutely unique, mat is its site a man-made island set down in the middle of one of the great harbors of the world and flanked by the two greatest bridges in the world. The story of this truly magic island, which now stands where but three years ago boats plied the blue waters of San Francisco bay, sea fowl swam and fishermen fisher-men cast their lines, is ooe of the real romances of American initiative, ingenuity and engineering engi-neering achievement. That story began less than 10 years ago when progress in aviation indicated indi-cated that San Francisco was destined to become the air crossroads of the Pacific. To achieve that destiny she must have a suitable airport. In 1931 the San Francisco junior jun-ior chamber of commerce sur- financed with $3,803,800 in WPA funds, sponsored by the exposition exposi-tion company, began assembling their dredges. Eleven of these huge machines a fleet of nine at one time began pumping black sand from the floor of the bay and sluicing it through pipelines over Yerba Bciena shoals. Around the shoals had been built a sea wall nearly three and a quarter miles long and containing 287,000 tons of quarried rock. Largest Man-Made Island. By the time the work had been completed 20,000,000 cubic yards of sand had been compacted within the seawall. From a natural nat-ural depth of 2 to 26 feet below water, the shoals had risen to a height of 13 feet above the tides making a 300-acre rectangle of land the largest island ever built by man! It is a little more than a mile long, nearly two-thirds two-thirds of a mile wide and is connected con-nected to the shore of Yerba Buena island by a causeway 300 yards long and 37 yards wide. This causeway is the key to the island's remarkable accessibility, for across it are six lanes of highway to link the island into the traffic streams of the Bay bridge. Four ferry slips supplement supple-ment these highways in transporting, trans-porting, at the peak rate of 53,000 hourly, the millions who will visit the exposition this year. Three "Pacific" style of architecture which combines the new and the old. Ancient mystical Oriental forms have been blended into long horizontal lines, setback pyramids and masses characteristic character-istic of Malayan, Incan and Cambodian Cam-bodian treatments. The elephant, mammoth beast of Far East pageantry, is a predominating decorative note, crowning as it does the pyramidal entrances that flank the "Portals of the Pacific." The color scheme of the exposition expo-sition buildings includes 19 different dif-ferent shades characteristic of both the rare shades of California wildflowers and the variegated hues of the Orient. The basic plaster body color is a yellow ivory which has been designated "Exposition ivory." Along with it will be seen these: Old Mission Mis-sion fawn, Pagoda yellow, Pebble Beach coral, Santa Barbara taupe, California ecru, Evening Star blue, Polynesian brown, Sun GOLDEN GATE I " hi " S 1 . tf yilr : im f-' " 'X'f lit fr '"rVi 1 r Ll1-" An r ' f t f l te 1 , " ' y " , - I , J ' w & " " " " " ,J . v J of these ferry slips, on the San Francisco side, will land the crowds from San Francisco's Ferry building on Market street, discharge them into a ferry terminal ter-minal building which, with the slips themselves, cost more than three quarters of a million dollars. dol-lars. The fourth ferry slip is on the Oakland shore of the island. Highways that have been constructed con-structed as a part of the general transportation plan take into account ac-count the dual function of Treasure Treas-ure Island as an exposition site and a future airport. The army engineers who built the system across Yerba Buena island did it along novel lines. Three traffic traf-fic lanes are of permanent construction con-struction for airport utility. Gigantic Hangars. Hardly had the water drained from the island's advancing sand fill, when construction began on three buildings that will survive the glitter of the fair to endure as airport facilities. One is the $900,000 reinforced concrete air terminal building to serve the fair as administrative headquar- Design of the three-cent Golden Gate Exposition stamp which was placed on sale at San Francisco Fran-cisco on February 18, the opening open-ing date of the exposition. of Dawn yellow, Hawaiian emerald em-erald f?reen. Santa Clara apricot. t vn BFNTLNELS Designers of the light stand- ters; its permanent use will nna it equipped with complete facilities facili-ties including passenger, mail and express terminals, restaurants, restau-rants, offices, public observation galleries and meteorological tow-crs. tow-crs. The others are two gigantic hangar buildings, each 237 by 335 feet on the ground and 78 feet high, built of steel and concrete con-crete costing $450,000 each. For these buildings exposition engineers engi-neers applied a new design to hangar construction canti-levered canti-levered walls" which actually aid, by their weight, in supporting' support-ing' the roof load. veyed 14 possible airpoiv snc. and the final choice of the experts ex-perts was the Yerba Buena Shoals. They lay just north of Yerba Buena island, mid-point of the $30,000,000 Bay bridge which was then being planned, so that no more centrally located site, fronthe standpoint of the entire Bay area, could be imagined. An airport there would be only 4.7 mnesP from. San Fiasco s downtown district and 7.3 miles, n arterial boulevard, from Wa"d center of population. 'cutler, president of the exposi-Itionlwifh exposi-Itionlwifh brief messages of wel-come. wel-come. F:relVaemon;yent the loudspeak-ers loudspeak-ers were silent. Then . '"The President of the United S From the other side of the con tinent came the voice of Franklin D. Roosevelt. When his message was concluded, con-cluded, two world-famous soloists solo-ists lea the chorus m a moving - 1 ftncinkslV- Imperial Dragon red, Death Valley Val-ley mauve, Pacific blue, Ming Jade green (light), Ming Jade green (dark), Southern Cross blue, Del Monte blue, China Clipper Clip-per blue and Treasure Island gold. These colors are reduced to half-tones or less on exteriors, to avoid the garish under night illumination which increases the intensity of the basic color. By turning their huge buildings "inside out," almost literally, stylists have achieved a cement stucco that bathes the buildings and tall walls in a radiant golden glow, sparkling with prismatic colors, day or night. It's done with vermiculite a mica-like substance. Exposition stylists found that this material, applied to wet stucco, reflects light in a million scintillating gems and makes the walls glow and glitter with live fire. Statues, panels in relief, great murals and paintings are used to glorify the courts and basic buildings. Nearly all the outstanding out-standing western artists and sculptors are represented there. During the fair these structures struc-tures will serve as the Palace of Fine and Liberal Arts and the Hall of Air Transportation. Later Lat-er as airPort facilities- their hure 200 by 40 foot doors may heightened at centers to 6d feet to accommodate the rudders Virnlanes greater than any nw AH other buildings in Treasure Island are of tem-norS tem-norS construction, for removal P?ter the exposition to provide clear airport runways. Sal elements for an airport. Meanwhile San Francisco was planning a world b fa bration of the tutuie . v of tte r Sw bffiS the tbe world, bne wd . 0ak $80,000,000 San Fnc and Lnd Bay bridge, &ai the mt costly anywhere, $33,000,000 Golden Ora.e anthem o prayer and thanking, thank-ing, accompanied by a ece band and the carillon. Then as the last notes of the anthem faded away, cannon roared out i a 21-gun salute to the Chief Executive Ex-ecutive of the nation and from ; ah over the island brilliantday-light brilliantday-light fireworks exploded in me SkAnd thus was the 1939 Golden Gate International exposition opened to the world! Like every other world's fair |
