TEMPORARY? NO WAY!

THE DAILYPASSPORT WEBSITE RECENTLY POSTED A TANTALIZINGLY TITLED “10 Iconic Structures That Were Supposed to be Temporary.” I could guess at several I’ve visited (The Eiffel Tower, The London Eye, 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair something or other, ditto for San Francisco’s Treasure Island and San Diego’s Balboa Park). Here are tidbits on several DailyPassport’s choices and a few of my recollections.

Eiffel Tower. DailyPassport writes, “The iron-latticed Art Nouveau landmark so indelibly associated with the City of Light wasn’t originally intended to last longer than 20 years. The Eiffel Tower was erected for the World’s Fair in 1889 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution…. Fortunately, the landmark was spared from destruction when its value as a radio tower was realized.” 

Washington Square Arch. “To honor the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration in 1889,” DailyPassport recounts, “a local businessman named William Rhinelander Stewart raised money to erect a monumental arch in New York City’s Washington Square Park. The arch, meant to stand only as long as the three-day spring celebration, was made of plaster of Paris and wood.”

Photo Credit: Kirkikis/iStock via DailyPassport.

So popular was the edifice that architect Stanford White (of The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing fame) was commissioned to design the elegant white marble version that stands today  at the southern terminus of Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village.

Museum of Science and Industry—Chicago. Like others built for Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, DailyPassport recounts, “Since the buildings were meant to be temporary, their whitewashed facades were made of plaster of Paris, hemp fiber, and glue masquerading together as stone.”

Photo credit: Thomas Barrat/Shutterstock via DailyPassport.

Daily Passport continues, “But one important building remained: the Palace of Fine Arts, the interior of which was built from stronger materials than other buildings because it was meant to hold valuable artworks. It became a museum exhibiting artifacts from the 1893 fair. In the late 1920s, the building’s failing plaster exterior was replaced by carved limestone, making it a permanent structure. Beginning in 1933, it became the home of the Museum of Science and Industry, a temple to modern technology and one of the city’s most popular museums.”

The Hollywood Sign. A familiar one to SimanaitisSays readers, the Hollywood Sign, says DailyPassport, “was originally intended to last only a year and a half. Almost a century later, the first nine letters remain standing.” (Its original expanse hyped a Hollywoodland real estate development.)

My GMax Neilson Golden Bear buzzes the sign on Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The London Eye. DailyPassport observes, “The London Eye’s previous name, the Millennium Wheel, hints at why it came to be: The 443-foot-tall Ferris wheel was erected as part of London’s Millennium celebration in 2000 and was intended to turn on the banks of the Thames for only five years.” 

Image from the attraction’s in-flight mini guide.

The structure has 32 capsules, one for each of London’s boroughs. Respecting triskaidekaphobia, they’re numbered 1, 2, … 12, 14, … 33. I forget the capsule number of my Bentley-hosted superb sightseeing of London.

Venice Los Angeles Pride Monument. DailyPassports notes, “You’re probably familiar with Southern California’s iconic lifeguard stands (think Baywatch or Point Break), but one of them got a rainbow-striped makeover in 2017 as one of several public art installations honoring Pride month. When the stand was unveiled for June, the agreement was that the regular blue color be reinstated in September.”

Photo credit: Brendon McCartney/Shutterstock via DailyPassport. 

DailyPassport continues, “An online petition, signed by more than 10,000 people, asked for the Venice Beach tribute to remain a permanent monument to LGBTQ+ culture in Los Angeles. The motion to save the paint job passed the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously, and the stand has stood on the beach at the end of Brooks Avenue ever since.” 

Like Parisians who still complain about the Eiffel Tower or New Yorkers who have never visited the Empire State Building, I confess I’ve yet to visit the Venice Pride Flag Lifeguard Tower. Gee, it’s only 45.1 miles up the 405. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024