- - NYC giving $50M facelift to ‘magical,’ iconic movie landmark: ‘A dream come true’

Marissa MatozzoDecember 25, 2025 at 8:49 PM

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Once a vision of tomorrow — now a project of today.

A crumbling NYC architectural marvel that notably doubled as an alien spaceship in the 1997 movie “Men in Black” is finally getting its comeback — with a $50 million glow-up fit for a Hollywood reboot.

The New York State Pavilion — the soaring, space-age icon built for the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens — is undergoing a massive restoration after decades of rust, neglect and scaffolding purgatory.

The New York State Pavilion from the 1964 World’s Fair is getting a multimillion-dollar restoration after decades of decay — bringing a beloved Queens landmark back to life. Getty Images

Nicknamed the “Tent of Tomorrow,” the retro-futuristic gem boasts a giant elliptical crown and three Jetsons-style observation towers that shoot up as high as 226 feet — a once-dazzling shrine to mid-century optimism now gearing up for its second act.

And for longtime local residents, this isn’t just a facelift — it’s a portal back in time.

Helen Day, who toured the Pavilion when it debuted, still remembers the jaw-dropping wonder of the World’s Fair.

“You walked down the roads, and everything was wide and beautifully constructed and just a magical place,” she told CBS News.

Day hopes the overhaul will help younger Gothamites finally understand what the strange concrete colossus off the expressway really is.

“There were two groups of people,” she recalled — those who experienced it firsthand, and “those who had never experienced it, who would drive past it on the expressway and wonder what it was.”

The city’s Parks Department signed off on a $56.8 million stabilization effort to rescue the Pavilion’s weather-beaten concrete, steel and towering platforms — with guided tours of the site to begin as soon as late 2026.

Preservationists say the revival isn’t just cosmetic — it’s personal.

Locals are heralding a $56.8 million stabilization effort to rescue the Pavilion’s weather-beaten concrete, steel and towering platforms. Getty Images

Queens Historical Society executive director Jason Antos said the long-neglected landmark is finally getting the respect it deserves.

“It’s a wonderful thing for Queens,” he told the Queens Chronicle. “For so many decades it was inaccessible and now can be enjoyed as the ultimate historic relic of New York City’s last and greatest World’s Fair.”

Forest Hills resident and local historian Michael Perlman called the project nothing short of a wish granted.

“It’s one of the few buildings remaining from the World’s Fair. Restoring it and creatively reusing it would be a dream come true,” he said to the outlet.

Designed by famed architect Philip Johnson and commissioned by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, the Pavilion was meant to be the biggest and boldest structure at the fair — a gleaming symbol of “man’s achievement on a shrinking globe in an expanding universe.”

Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable captured the buzz best after it opened, calling the landmark a “runaway success… a sophisticated frivolity… seriously and beautifully constructed. This is carnival with class.”

After the fair — which drew a staggering 51 million visitors — the Tent of Tomorrow didn’t fade quietly into history.

It moonlighted as a roller rink and concert venue, briefly swapping world’s-fair wonder for disco lights and guitar amps.

But once its massive suspension roof was declared unsafe in 1976 and torn down, the space-age showstopper was left defenseless — battered by rain, time and an army of pigeons that moved in like they owned the place.

Once mistaken for an alien spaceship in “Men in Black,” the “Tent of Tomorrow” is getting revamped — and locals say it’s about time." data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/iwUZznWdBk9zVwJXQ.cU4A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02Njg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_ny_post_us_news_articles_123/22a9a5d04033476ac6cadfb3bdf788eb>Once mistaken for an alien spaceship in “Men in Black,” the “Tent of Tomorrow” is getting revamped — and locals say it’s about time." src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/iwUZznWdBk9zVwJXQ.cU4A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02Njg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_ny_post_us_news_articles_123/22a9a5d04033476ac6cadfb3bdf788eb class=caas-img>Once mistaken for an alien spaceship in “Men in Black,” the “Tent of Tomorrow” is getting revamped — and locals say it’s about time.

The Pavilion limped along with only scattered use before finally being shuttered that same year, its skeletal frame baking in the sun for decades.

Salvation didn’t come until 2008, when it landed on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places — a lifesaving designation that stopped the wrecking ball in its tracks.

Phase one of the rescue wrapped last year, repairing cracked concrete, replacing suspension cables and reinforcing the iconic towers.

The next phase could eventually see the observation decks reopened — letting visitors climb back into the retro-future skyline once again.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”