The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition Part 10

The Zone A Holiday Gathering

The Zone, while providing excellent entertainment and relaxation, is above the standard established by the amus.e.m.e.nt sections of former expositions, many of its concessions being of an educational nature.

This is notably true of the Panama Ca.n.a.l, which appears on the left of this picture. Because of its value as a faithful reproduction of the great work which the Exposition commemorates, many consider it as deserving a place in the main grounds. Almost equal to this in educational interest and quite ranking it in beauty are the reproductions of the Grand Canyon with its Hopi and Navajo Indians, and Yellowstone Park. Old Faithful Inn in the latter is a favorite place for social gatherings.

For pure fun and gaiety, Toyland Grown Up, that whimsical conceit especially built for youngsters, old and young, has provided merriment for thousands. Of thrillers that raise the hair and make the heart beat high and without which no amus.e.m.e.nt section would be complete, the Zone announces its full quota with much rattling of machinery and many shrieks of joy.

And the presence of strange peoples, one of the recognized features of these places, is also noticeable along the Zone. A Maori tribe from New Zealand, Samoans, Hawaiians, Aztecs from Old Tehauntepec, and others bring their customs and costumes from unfamiliar lands.

The Zone The Bizarre Decorations

There is something naive about the Zone. It presents its colossal grotesques--its gargantuan Uncle Sam, its monstrous elephants--rather with an air of acknowledging that it cannot compete with the beauty one leaves behind when one turns in under its gay flags ad lanterns. Here is frankly the spirit of abandon. To the right and left the bawling barkers shout their enticements, begging one's patronage. Up and down the street the endless patter of the feet of men and women, the wheeze of the little electrics and the blare of bra.s.sy music ebb and flow. Here and there is the dominant note of the Exposition, its pastel shades of burnt orange and red, and its indefinable blue. They flutter forth, hooped about the flagpoles with Oriental effect. Those wonderful lanterns, that delightful medieval touch which one finds through the grounds, are here employed with great effect.

When one is tired of gigantic horses with ever-impending hoofs, tired of large plaster ladies whose complete poise does not entirely atone for a rather excess of buxomness, one can always turn to these reminders of the beauty that is the essential characteristic of the Exposition itself.

The Fireworks Star Sh.e.l.ls and Steam Battery

Notwithstanding the excellence attained by the Exposition in the beauty of its coloring, the poetry in its courts and architecture, the mystery and glamour of its illuminations, the spectacular element could not be overlooked. This finds expression in the fireworks that are let loose on the Marina several evenings each week. Here, however, a distinct advance has been made upon the familiar pyrotechnic display of former events.

The use of powerful scintillators with their colored rays playing upon smoke clouds and flying devices from exploded bombs high in the air, or upon weird shapes of steam sent out by the engine on the border of the yacht harbor, lends infinite variety and beauty. In several of the numbers the scintillators secure the effects unaided, their lights making strange figures in the heavens. "Spooks' Parade," "Aurora Borealis," "Devil's Fan," are some of the ideas suggested.

Zone Salvo The Final "Big Noise"

The Exposition Fireworks are under the direction of William D'A. Ryan, Chief of Illumination. On each occasion a set program is followed consisting of twenty-four numbers. At the opening, a salute of ten detonating bombs and a large rocket announce the event. This is followed by features of the scintillator lights, combinations of these with steam, with smoke bombs and with orange showers and j.a.panese daylight sh.e.l.ls, and by fancy star sh.e.l.ls, festoon rockets and candle fountains.

The climax is reached in the Zone Salvo when a tremendous explosion of hundreds of detonating devices occurs, with rockets and star sh.e.l.ls exploding in the air, the rays of the scintillator coloring the smoke clouds in brilliant hues; and amidst it all, high above, suddenly appears a beautiful American flag caught and followed by the ray of a powerful white searchlight as it floats away from sight.

Here ends The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition, with an introduction by Louis Christian Mullgardt. The descriptive t.i.tles have been written by Maud Wotring Raymond and John Hamlin.

Edited by Paul Elder. Published by Paul Elder and Company and seen through their Tomoye Press under the typographical direction of H.

A. Funke in the city of San Francisco during the month of September, Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen.