As a kid, I loved The Jetsons. I guess every kid did back then. We were all living at the dawn of the space age where technology held the promise of solving all our greatest problems.

While I’m still waiting for the day when I can take a pill that tastes like a juicy Rib Eye and a baked potato slathered with sour cream and chives,  I can still pretend to be George Jetson any time by visiting the Space Needle. It was, after all, the inspiration for the Sky Pad Apartments in the series, at least according to Iwao Takamoto, the cartoon’s design artist.

I have always loved the Space Needle for some reason. Perhaps it’s because even 50 years later, it still looks fresh and futuristic – showing the possibilities we have as a civilization. It is just so iconic, unlike the Eiffel Tower which looks, well, a little bit like some kid put it together with an Erector set.

And to think that it almost never happened. For those who aren’t from Seattle or aren’t in the know about the Needle, it was a last minute addition to the Century 21 Exposition, or as those in the area refer to it, the Seattle’s World’s Fair.

Next month (April 2012) marks the Golden Anniversary of the fair, so I thought I would do a little ode to its remarkable symbol.

First, I love trivia, so let’s get some cool trivia out of the way. I guess nearly everyone knows that it’s 605 feet tall. But if you’re standing on the observation deck, you’re only at 520 feet, 500 in the restaurant.

The restaurant, by the way, turns around one revolution an hour, balanced so perfectly that in only needs a 1 horsepower motor. Though the Space Needle weighs in at 3,700 tons, it is anchored to the ground by a 5,850 ton base of steel and concrete. As such, its center of gravity is just five feet above the ground. That’s why you never have to worry about the Space Needle tipping over in a windstorm.

As the 50th Anniversary approaches, I am sad that they didn’t repaint the Space Needle back to its original color scheme. It’s just a little too white for me these days. I liked it better back in the day when it was painted for the fair. For you trivia buffs, that meant Astronaut White for the legs, Orbital Olive for the body, Re-entry Red for the saucer and Galaxy Gold for the roof, just like it appears in the photo here.

When I was a kid, I used to be extremely scared of the elevators. I don’t like heights so the free fall out of the upper deck to the ground used to freak me out. I never went near the windows of it. It drops like a rock. Well, a raindrop actually. The descent rate is 14 feet a second or 10 mph., the same speed a as a drop of rain.

While I have never had to walk down the 832 steps in the center column, I have been on them. I can thank being a Seafair Pirate for that. During some radio promotion, we were hidden there for a while before bursting in on the live remote the DJ was doing and spiriting him away from the broadcast. I have also been up in the top of the Smith Tower in the apartment there – but that’s another story entirely.

For those lucky enough to remember, the Space Needle originally had a candle on top. The spire was actually a natural gas torch and the torch burned throughout the fair. It was claimed that it burned enough natural gas to fuel 125 homes. Not a very environmentally friendly boast these days.

And if you ever wondered how the gently curved legs were made, look up the term “thermal upsetting.” That’s how the people at Pacific Car and Foundry figured out how to make the steel curve. It’s very geeky, but cool.

Of course, Elvis visited the Space Needle and he filmed “It Happened At the World’s Fair” there. My brothers would fight all the time for the privilege of sitting where Elvis sat on the Monorail. I never much cared, largely because when I was really young I didn’t even know who Elvis was. That would change over the years, obviously.

Our family went to the fair every couple weekends. I guess it’s like going to the Magic Kingdom when you live in Florida.

“Hey, what do you want to do this weekend?”

“I don’t know… how about ___________?”

I was only four then, so I don’t remember a lot of it. I vaguely remember walking through a few of the exhibits. I remember watching Col. Keds take to the sky on a jet pack in front of the Mural Amphitheater. You remember Keds. Yes, I know they still make them, but they don’t have a guy with a jet pack crossing the country promoting them these days.

I also remember the Bubblelator. It was in the Food Circus after the fair, but during Century 21 it took visitors to the Washington State Pavilion (the Coliseum) up to the top so they could start their look into the state’s future.

Years later, thanks to my friend Penny, I got to go in the Bubbleator again. She was sharing the house of Gene Achziger, who worked for the Seattle PI. He installed it in his front yard and used it as a greenhouse to grow citrus trees. If you drive around Redondo Beach for a while, you’ll happen upon it. And yes, I have some pretty cool friends.

I still want to live like George Jetson though. I have come close here in Florida, being on the 8th floor. But I still can’t push a button and have the building lift itself above the clouds or smog. Someday perhaps, someday.

Out on the Treasure Coast, pushing all the buttons I can find and still not going anywhere, and why doesn’t this building have a damned Bubblelator or a dog walk on the balcony?

– Robb