Defunctland: The History of the 1964 New York World’s Fair

47 thoughts on “Defunctland: The History of the 1964 New York World’s Fair”

1. @13:24 I don't see the problem.

2. Moses: “I don’t want public transport to my fair cause then minorities and people of low class will come”
   Later…
   Press: “hey why he not have any black people working there?”
   Idk maybe cause he’s a racist piece of crap?

3. Elon musk is the new Robert Moses

4. Off topic. But Robert Moses was responsible for tearing down the beautiful Penn train station in NYC.

5. Why don't we do World's fairs anymore? Do we still do them?

6. Love the music at 32:43 when the fair opens.

7. "…to the people of Seetle" LMAOOOO

8. Jesus Christ, "Golden Era" American history is some of the most cartoonishly evil periods of time. Not the worst of times though (they caused it around the world), but for the most casual of reasons. And racism of course, that's a must-have for American history.

9. your title sequences are amazing

10. "Moses would be remembered by many as a racist, power hungry man that displaced the poor to give to the rich."
    Everyone: "lol"

11. Minor correction: at 34:17, I believe you meant 220,000 people. Had to rewind back to the original quote to check😅

12. I feel so bad for that poor, innocent marsh.

13. 28:43 “some had hesitancy about the nature of reanimating a dead man, but walt disney assured them it was being done with the utmost respect and care” and nowadays Disney is using deepfakes to put dead people in their movies lmfao

14. Sometimes I come back and watch this video and it cracks me up every time. The dry humor + the absurdity of the story is just amazing

15. My family got to visit this world’s fair. They had just come to this country from Cuba after the revolution and didn’t speak any English (except for my grandfather who went to college in the states). My tia (who was like 15 at the time always talks about seeing the carousel of progress. It wasn’t until like the 80s when she saw it again in Disney world and (with a better grasp on English) could actually understand it

16. Wait, MEOW WOLF produced this???

17. I wonder how different transportation in NY would be if this turd of hate didnt do everything he did in his power to prevent lower income people to see his work.
    He destroyed so many homes, and didnt even have a ounce of regret for it.

18. Death, taxes, and shitty rich white men.

19. I was looking for a Defunctland video to watch to help with my insomnia and realized I hadn't watched this one, just after hearing my uncles talk about the '64 World's fair!!

20. One of my father's first memories is being on his father's shoulders at the 1964 World's Fair at 2 years old. I don't think he or I ever knew any of the crazy background to the fair or how downright evil and impossible to work with Robert Moses was.

21. "WOD FIR?!?!"

22. is Robert Moses one of the people blamed for how messed up New York became in the 70s?

23. Brilliant work! Fantastically well researched, edited and narrated.

24. @30:54 the people were becoming enlightened to the injustices happening around them, that was 1964, what happened? Why are we living in a dystopia? The rich get richer and the poor starve to death.

25. We will never have something this beautiful again. 1965 really was the end.

26. This was a great documentary. Great production values and the perspective is spot on and focused. I knew a little about Robert Moses and of course we all knew uncle Walt but I didn't know this story. Thanks for taking the care to tell a story we need to understand.

27. “Instead of just telling Dano what he wanted, he decided to break him himself”

28. 32:46 That song is called Bachelor on the Move by Ritchie Everett

29. Horrible dialogue, horrible delivery, horribly skewed.

30. this was the most satisfying trainwreck i've ever witnessed

31. 22 is everywhere 🙂

32. Bro in the first ten mins just wants to kill fun. I mean the definition of whitewashed

33. Bring back the world's Fair https://youtu.be/0tx9DFcRIPg

34. I went to this fair and thought it was cool, but I was only about ten years old. I look forward to seeing a video about the 1939 New York World's Fair.

35. My mom attended this, I love all of the Worlds Trade Fairs that they used to have in the US.

36. Geez the 1964 worlds fair is very interesting, I might go to flushing meadows one day to have a look around.

37. What a ride! This was an excellent video; fast-paced, well-researched, and really funny. Well done, Kevin.

38. 1:55 There was an unfortunate smudge on the article and it really makes “Long Island” look a lot like “Dong Island”! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

39. "Lincoln would be ashamed, as he had a vigorous insistence on obedience to the law. Lincoln, the first president to suspend habeas corpus, was not available for comment, mostly due to the fact that he still wasn't working."

    my god that transition kills me every time.

40. I love the snide deadpan comments scattered all across the video, I'm listening as I try to fall asleep and I keep laughing instead as I register yet another wonderful dryly witty comment.

41. 6:16….and the man destroyed baseball in New York (Dodgers Giants)

42. What is the music that plays during the credits?

43. Darth Moses

44. Moses: I don't want to be remembered for being a massive peice of shit
    Also Moses: Was a massive peice of shit and didn't even do it for money

45. Hey, there's still a lot of "spicy" fun to be had ABOVE the Adam's apple and BEHIND it!

46. I remember my father taking us there. I remember some of the exhibits. I'm sure he filmed 8mm and took pictures. I would have been about 4.

47. How the frick does cave diving disaster stories auto play into the story of the effing worlds fair???

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