The One Day All New York Tour

Tired of snow yet? If you’re in New York consider visiting the Panorama of the City of New York, a very-much miniaturized model of all five boroughs. Each building, park, waterway and highway is accurately represented. The amazing thing is that for the most part it’s up-to-date. It’s in a big recessed area within the Queens Museum, with a path around the perimeter. So you’re basically looking at New York’s outside from indoors.

The Panorama was part of the 1964 World’s Fair. It’s pretty surprising that it still exists. The building where it lives was originally the first home of the United Nations, then part of the Fair. At some point it was an ice skating rink. (I skated there!) It fell into disrepair like much of the park that surrounds it. But it was remodeled into a spectacular structure that is, sadly, still in a park that deserves better.

The Panorama is perfectly scaled. The one thing that has not been updated: The World Trade Center still stands.