Cops: Teens climb towers from '64 New York World's Fair
NEW YORK - Some teenagers got into trouble last week for making a dangerous climb up a New York landmark -- the towers on the old New York State Pavilion that date back to the 1964 World's Fair in a a Queens park, reports CBS New York.
The space so-called Astro-Towers loom above the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and have been vacant, rusting and decaying for about 50 years. Still, they tempted some teens looking for that breathtaking photo that leads to "likes" and bragging rights on Instagram, reports the station.
"Yeah, I took a lot of pictures," said one of the teens accused of making the ascent.
A total of five teens were caught scaling the towers Sunday, March 8 after Parks Enforcement officers spotted them all the way up the tallest of the three structures, according to CBS New York.
The City Department of Parks and Recreation said it has padlocked a fence and secured the area around it. But a hole the kids crawled through was still there as of Thursday -- CBS New York had no trouble getting in.
"(That) is incredibly dangerous," Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates, told the station. "First of all, it's been abandoned since 1965. And the staircases are rotting away."
Croft said the rusty staircases are death traps, and an accident waiting to happen.
"People should stay away from them -- especially kids," he said.
One teen acknowledged he didn't think about the dangers.
"I mean, I didn't see it that way," he said.
He also admitted it wasn't his first time up there, but said it will be his last.
"Nah, I'm not going back there," he said.
(The) Two teens were charged with trespassing and having graffiti markers.
Croft said there is no reason the iconic towers shouldn't be fully restored so that anyone can go up there safely and take a picture.
"And it's really sad that the city has allowed them to fall apart," he told the station.
When the pavilion was open for the fair, the three space-age towers were accessible by capsule elevators. The shorter two towers held cafeterias, and the tallest - measuring 226 feet - held an observation deck.
In the 1997 movie "Men in Black,"one of the disks atop the pavilion towers revealed itself to be a spaceship, took off, and then crashed into the nearby Unisphere -- the most famous '64 World's Fair landmark.
But the actual pavilion has stayed right where it was, shuttered and rusting.