[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 35 (Monday, March 2, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CELEBRATING THE 2015 PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION CENTENNIAL

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                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 2, 2015

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, with great pride I join my constituents and 
all San Francisco Bay Area residents in celebration of the 2015 Panama-
Pacific International Exposition Centennial--our yearlong civic 
celebration to commemorate the Exposition's historic significance and 
reflect on its legacy.
  One hundred years ago San Francisco welcomed nearly 20 million 
visitors from across the nation and around the world to witness its 
rebirth after the devastating 1906 Earthquake and fire and its 
emergence as a global city.
  Six hundred acres along the western waterfront of the Marina District 
became the site for the ``Jewel City''. Eleven Beaux-Arts Palaces were 
built that contained 21 international pavilions. Beyond the impressive 
architecture were exhibitions of the new technologies of the day--cars, 
airplanes, telephones, motion pictures.
  Most beloved of the surviving structures is the Palace of Fine Arts--
an exquisite and sublime Greco-Romanesque rotunda designed by 
celebrated architect Bernard Maybeck. Other surviving landmarks include 
a Municipal Auditorium, known today as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 
that instilled great civic pride and optimism in a dispirited 
population.
  The Panama-Pacific International Exhibition established our City as 
an economic and cultural powerhouse, illustrating our leadership in 
science, industry and innovation. It was a grand showcase of human 
achievement in the sciences, engineering, architecture and the arts. It 
was a monumental display of, not only San Francisco's vision, 
imagination and innovation, but its confidence and faith in the future.
  San Francisco today is still regarded as an optimistic and audacious 
city, a city of dreamers and innovators, much like the pioneers and 
visionaries of 1915. And as we celebrate the centennial of this great 
moment in our city's history, we are overjoyed that more than thirty-
five Bay Area cultural, civic and business organizations will 
participate in the centennial's events, exhibitions and activities.
  Congratulations and our deepest gratitude to The California 
Historical Society, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, 
the Maybeck Foundation, Innovation Hangar, and all the other 
contributing partners and sponsors for this historic commemoration and 
extravaganza.

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