As part of an $8 million renovation of the New York State Pavilion in Queens' Flushing Meadows Corona Park, it's gone cheesy.
Yes, just in time for Open House New York this past weekend, the Pavilion donned a fresh coat of historically accurate American Cheese yellow paint, and it looks great!
It was originally built for the 1964-65 World's Fair held in the park in Queens, though many of us know it better as the setting of the final showdown between alien cockroach Vincent D'Onofrio, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in the first Men in Black.
The new paint job, costing about $3 million, required 8,000 hours to apply over 1,500 gallons of American Cheese yellow paint, the very same hue that adorned the Pavilion in the middle 60s.
The paint overhaul was handled entirely by donated labor from The New York Structural Steel Painting Contractors Association.
[anad]
Executive director Jed Coldon, commented, "It was a difficult job...painting it was the easy part, but rigging it was difficult because the steel was so intricate."
Suspended about a hundred feet in the air, workers had to power wash away dozens of years worth of rust and grime before applying primer and paint.
daniel.avila American Cheese Yellow. Paint job looks great. Hopefully one day the towers will get one too. Open house this weekend! #fmcp #worldsfair #1964worldsfair #nystatepavilion #tentoftomorrow #nyc #nycparks #newyorkcity #queensny #queenscapes #igersofnyc #instagramnyc
The New York State Pavilion was designed for the World's Fair by architect Phillip Johnson.
It's a massive 350 by 250 foot structure featuring 16 support columns and three flying saucer-looking observation decks, reaching heights as 226 feet above Queens.
The remainder of the restoration will include an updated electric system featuring LEDs as well as replacing staircases with concrete platforms in the observation decks.
Check out 8 Secrets Every Real New Yorker Has (But Will Never Admit).
[via NY Daily News]
[Feature Image Courtesy Brownstoner - Queens]

