The Seattle Space Needle
By Zachary Fields
Engage in the Space Cage!
Imagine stepping in to an elevator and getting higher... and higher... and higher still, until... you're there. You step out, gazing on to the street below. You see the mesmerizing Seattle skyline below protruding out of the street. The view takes your breath away and you take a great picture and get it framed at the gift shop. You buy a lovely souvenir to remember the wonderful day and hope you can visit again!
From Humble Beginnings
I want you to picture a napkin, the back of an envelope, a post-it note. These are all things that great creations have been first drawn on. Songs, Inventions, and buildings! All from napkins and scrap paper! And, of course, the best of them all is no exception! Yep! You guessed it! The Space Cage itself was first sketched on a napkin by a man named Edward E. Carlson for the 1962 World's Fair The theme was 21st fantasy. The original design was a balloon type tower, however it was later changed by John Graham to a flying saucer design.
You can't put a Price on Nature, Except in this Case (For about $75,000, in Fact.)
I took the builders a while to find a suitable piece of land on the fairgrounds available for the public to use and they almost gave up hope. Thankfully, the city ended up selling them a plot of land for about $75,000, which would be roughly $600,000 today. The land they bought was 14400 square feet, and they were ready to build!
Building the Beast
The first thing they did was pour cement. It took 467 trucks 12 hours to pour all of it! Dang! (Sounds like a delightful 12 hours.) Now I have two options: Bore every one of you with every moment of construction (believe me, I could) or I could.... nope.... you know what? This is my paper, so I can bore you if I want to bore you! Nah, I'm too nice for that. 9 months later, the needle was finished and opened in April for the World's Fair.
So What?
I know what you're thinking, 'Uh I've sat through reading this guy's snooze-fest long enough! Tell me why I just sat here wishing I could be ANYwhere else!' Well first off if I got that all right, I'm a great psychic. But, I was probably a tad off (if I'm not off, please don't be a meanie head). Either way, I will sum it up for you. This landmark has a plethora of cool things you should know about! And what better way than in a well-written collage?
First, the Obvious
You can gaze upon the breathtaking view below you, I mean, how many chances will you get to be 600 feet above a city? It's an obvious thing to do, but still can't be easily beat. You really can feel on top of the world! Bam! Lifelong dream done!
Next, a Cool Candidate for Coolest Thing to do There
The SkyCity Restaurant! Okay, so this place takes everything right with the world and puts it into one experience! Good food, cool tech, and a sort of nostalgic feeling you get from true peace. It's a high-class cafe circling around! The place actually rotates 500 feet in the air! Making one full rotation every hour or so, you get a great view of the city.
Lastly, You Can..... Read What's Below (Gotcha!)
You can really just enjoy being there! They have all sorts of souveniers, photo booths, educational kiosks, non-educational ones for the resistant to learn, and much more.
Live View From the Needle!!!
Cool Alert!!!
Sources:
My sources are linked below.