Saturday, January 17, 2009

Long Beach 1928: Avenue of Nations.....

The Avenue of Nations was located along the south side of the Pacific Southwest Exposition's main exhibit palaces, and lined with structures containing exhibits from twenty-two countries. Running east to west, the avenue began at the Latin-American Building and ended at the Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, and New Zealand Building. Between these two structures were situated ten additional buildings, representing the nations of Belgium, Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Persia. Two countries not represented by buildings along the Avenue of Nations were China, whose displays were located in the Palace of Fine Arts; and the Republic of Argentina, which was unofficially represented by exhibits in several of the main exhibit palaces. An arched-gateway, located in the exposition's garden-court, formed the main entrance to the Avenue of Nations; with an additional entrance opening from the main court, between the Palace of Fine Arts and the California Building. Dr. Henry C. Niese and Arnold Kruckman, both members of the exposition's Board of Control, were credited with the success of the Avenue of Nations; and had managed to assemble an impressive array of foreign participation within a relatively short period of time.

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