Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Corona Yard is surrounded by random grass and parking lots. It would look appropriate in some random Cleveland suburb, but not Queens. I can't believe New York viewed that as an appropriate gateway for visitors to two different Worlds' Fairs, the US Open, and Mets games.
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The one area of desolation is far removed from anything (actually closest to Shea's vast parking lot), which is why it is what it is. Obviously, since the new CitiField was built on the parking lot site, things have changed, which is the reason we are seeing this development now. As far as the world's fairs site, it's actually one of the largest parks in the City, more than appropriate for a stadium or fair.
Holdovers from the world's fairs...
chibeba
g fung
Ed Gaillard
wallyg
In this old aerial, you can see how Willets Point (triangle to the right of Shea) is cut off from the park and the rest of the city...
dsearls
Quote:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_..._the_park.html
Flushing Meadow Corona Park is one of the greatest places in New York City. It has become the keystone park of Queens and a recreation and cultural hub for the region; yet, it was once just a dusty wasteland, "a valley of ashes" as F. Scott Fitzgerald dubbed it in the Great Gatsby. Its poetic, phoenix-like transformation from ash dump to oasis was driven by Queens' residents, the City and 1939 and 1965 World's Fair held in this park. These fairs put this park on the world's stage, and it has stayed there, hosting the United Nations General Assembly for five years, three baseball World Seres at Shea Stadium, and the U.S. Open.
Today, Flushing Meadows Corona Park is 1,255 acres of athletic fields, landscaped meadows, lakes, fountains, playgrounds, stadia, museums and a zoo.
Prior to 1939 the park was a massive dumping ground for ashes. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and other city planners laid out an elaborate scheme to replace these ashes with beauty and excitement. They proposed transforming the site into a World's Fair.
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Years from now, it will be remembered what the old Willets Point was, and how the City once again transformed land into something else.