A guide to visiting landmarks from the NYC 1964 World’s Fair

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 World’s Fair. Many of the landmarks from the fair are still standing in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. Want to take a nostalgic road trip to see the fair’s artifacts and iconic structures? Here is a guide to what you’ll see.

The following text by Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press travel writer.

Still standing

These unusual landmarks are among a number of attractions still standing from the 1964 World’s Fair, which opened in Flushing Meadows Corona Park 50 years ago, with marvels ranging from microwave ovens to Disney’s ‘‘it’s a small world’’ ride to Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

But visiting the area today is as much about 21st century Queens as it is a walk down memory lane. Many contemporary cultural institutions in Queens — such as the Queens Museum and the New York Hall of Science — grew out of fair attractions and incorporate original fair exhibits.

Other relics are stupendous in their own right, like the Unisphere, a 12-story steel globe so glorious to behold, you almost feel like you’re seeing Earth from outer space. There are also a modern zoo, an antique carousel, and outdoor sculptures.

Rockets

Two NASA rockets stand 100 feet high outside the New York Hall of Science, a museum that opened a few years after the 1964 fair, replacing a temporary pavilion. The rockets were part of a space park at the fair that captured the excitement of the era’s quest to land a man on the moon.

Towering over the Hall of Sciences is an undulating concrete building called the Great Hall, an architectural marvel that was an original fair site. Undergoing renovation now, it is due to reopen in October, when visitors will be able to experience the other-worldly interior covered in blue stained glass.

The Hall of Science has undergone a series of renovations over the years and today houses exhibits exploring everything from microbes to the science of basketball. It also has a small but worthwhile display in a second-floor hallway of brochures, tickets, and other memorabilia from the fair, along with a first-floor display of photos of World’s Fairs going back to the 19th century.

Located at 47-1 111th St. Open Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; adults, $11, children 2-17, $8.

The Unisphere

The fair’s best-known symbol, an elegant steel globe, has appeared in movies such as ‘‘Men in Black’’ and ‘‘Iron Man 2.’’ Visitors enjoy setting up photos so that they appear to be holding the world in their hands. Located in the park, outside the Queens Museum of Art.

New York State Pavilion

You can’t miss the towers topped by flying saucers, surrounded by 100-foot-high concrete pillars. This was the New York State Pavilion, where visitors rode elevators to an observation deck above an enormous suspended roof of translucent colored tiles. Today the structure is padlocked, rusted, and cracked, with preservationists and critics fighting over its future.

Carousel

The carousel dates to the early 1900s and was brought to Queens for the 1964 fair from Coney Island, Brooklyn. Located outside the zoo, near 111th Street and 55th Avenue.

Open weekends and school holidays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., $3.

Restored statue

A restored statue and the Unisphere, the remaining symbols from the 1964 World’s Fair.

Panorama of the City of New York

The Queens museum is housed in a building that dates to the 1939 World’s Fair, which marks its 75th anniversary this year. It also briefly housed the United Nations General Assembly after World War II. Exhibits include posters from both fairs and a replica of Michelangelo’s ‘‘Pieta,’’ which was shown in the Vatican Pavilion during the 1964 fair.

The museum’s most famous display, the ‘‘Panorama of the City of New York,’’ is a scale model of the city that debuted at the 1964 fair. The panorama includes models of each of the city’s 895,000 buildings built before 1992, along with every street, park and bridge, on a scale of 1 to 1,200. The island of Manhattan is 70 feet long, the Empire State building 15 inches tall.

Panorama of the City of New York

A section of the “Panorama of the City of New York,” a scale model of the city on display at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows Park in Corona.

Taking in the Unisphere

A visitor to the Queens Museum of Art takes a photo of the 12-story Unisphere through the museum windows.

Fair poster from 1964

A poster from the NYC World’s Fair in 1964. It is on display at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows Park along with other artifacts from the fair.

Artifacts from the fair

A small display of artifacts from the 1964 World’s Fair on display inside the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park in Corona.

More artifacts

A display of artifacts inside the New York Hall of Science from the 1964 World’s Fair.