Directional sign in use during the Flushing Meadows Corona Park World’s Fair from 1964-1965.
Why were blue and orange the Fair’s colors? They are the NY Mets colors, and Shea Stadium opened in 1964, when the Fair did.
WHICH WAY TO THE FAIR?
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If I’m not mistaken, blue and orange are also the official colors of New York State.
I’ve wondered about that, but have never seen anything definitive. The closest thing I’ve seen is a description of Blue and Bluff as official colors, but this was on some web site not affiliated with the New York State government.
Many years ago, the state issued license plates in “deep yellow” and black, with the field and characters alternating from one year to the next (with some inconsistency) between those colors. Even in later years, when a combination of blue and deep yellow was used, there seemed to be no connection to any official state colors.
There is no apparent clue in either the Great Seal of New York or the state flag, so who knows?
OOOPS! Make that Blue and BUFF.
The NY Mets got their colors from the National League baseball teams Brooklyn Dodgers & the N.Y. Giants. It’s a combination of blue from the Dodgers jerseys & orange from the Giants jerseys. How it became the N. Y. World’s Fair colors I do not know.
Blue and Orange are the colors of NYC
“Why were blue and orange the Fair’s colors?” Actually, those are (with white), the official colors of the City of New York.
As for the Mets’ colors, from their web site: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/history/timeline1.jsp
November 16, 1961–“The Mets’ colors are Dodger blue and Giant orange, symbolic of the return of National League baseball to New York after the Dodgers and Giants moved to California.”
Nice that those two colors are similar to the respective shades found in the city’s colors!
Good work Neil!
I’d like to know where the sign came from and are there more
Dave
My father “obtained” (I hesitate to speculate how) this sign when he was a member of the NYPD in the 60’s – 70’s. It adorned a wall in our garage in Lindenhurst for years. We took it with us when we moved to California in 78. I wonder how many others have survived.
Simple you digital children,,, three color printing process (cost). Blue, orange, black- on white background. When you went into four or five colors…big expense.
Yes, blue, white, and orange are the colors of New York City, as found on the City flag. In turn, the reason for that is that New York was originally New Amsterdam, settled by the Dutch in the 1600s, and those were the colors of the Dutch flag at the time.
The colors are the official colors of NYC– look at the flag. The heck with that. Tell us more about this killer sign!
The colors of the Mets have nothing to do with the World’s Fair, they were for the previous NL teams that played in NYC, which were the Giants [orange] and the Dodgers [blue]. As a matter of fact, the Mets even use the same hat logo the Giants used when they were still here, and I know this from seeing a picture of Willie Mays when he was on the Giants before the Mets even existed. Also, their first two seasons before getting to Shea Stadium were actually at the Polo Grounds, which was where the Giants played their home games while still a NY team. On a side note, I could never figure out why nobody called it by its full name, which was William August Shea Memorial Stadium. It could have been because the name was too long. Then again, nobody calls Nassau Coliseum, where the Islanders play, by its full name these days either, which is Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Full names was actually “William A. Shea Municipal Stadium.” Mr. Shea’s middle name was Alfred. He died in 1991. I’m not sure “Memorial” was added to the name after his death. But it would certainly have been a classy touch to name the new stadium that, instead of CitiBailout Field. But, as the old saying goes, “money talks.”
oops, I meant the singular, ” full name.”
These days, when a corporation or major individual has the money for the naming rights, it will be named after them no matter what.
Official City maps mistakenly called it William Shea Memorial Stadium back in the 1970s, so many people thought he was already dead. They were surprised to hear the news when he actually did die.
The flag of NYC is blue, white and orange.
where did you find that sign!! so cool!
My Dad was on the NYPD in the 60’s and 70’s. He brought it home one day. Usually the answer to the question, “where did you get that from?”, got the reply, “on the side of the road.” It now sits on my desk at home in Southern California.
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I have the same sign and it is for sale.