Expo '81 was a planned world's fair that would have been held in Ontario, California, near Los Angeles, in the United States, on the site of the Ontario Motor Speedway. The universal exposition, with the final proposed theme "People to People: Pathways to Understanding", would have run from May 2 to November 2, 1981. In 1976, Expo '81 was officially recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the international organization responsible for regulating world's fairs. However, the BIE and the U.S. government revoked their support for the fair in 1978 due to a lack of funding, leading the event to be canceled.
Santa Clarita Valley "Expo '80" was first publicly proposed by Kenneth Hahn, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Dick Pittenger, an executive of Farmers Insurance Group, on May 16, 1974. Hahn and Pittenger, both on the board of directors of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and supporters of the city's bid to host the 1980 Summer Olympics, believed that Los Angeles was capable of holding both the Olympics and a World's Fair at the same time, and that the two events would complement each other. The two men told the Board of Supervisors that they would seek a location within the county for the Expo.Zeman, Ray. "'Expo 80' for County Urged by Hahn as Spur to Business", Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1974, Part II, page 1. Meanwhile, the Olympics were awarded to Moscow over Los Angeles in October 1974."Los Angeles versus Moscow", Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pages 32–45.
A nonprofit group named Expo '80 was created to work alongside Hahn and Pittenger's committee on the Board of Supervisors to plan the fair. Pittenger said that the committee went to "great extremes to avoid publicity" while investigating possible sites for the Expo. In December 1974, he announced that five sites within the county had been identified as potential locations, and the first choice among the five was a property at the mouth of Pico Canyon in the Santa Clarita Valley. Pittenger and the Los Angeles Times both stated that this property was owned by the RAND Corporation, while the Newhall Signal reported that it was owned by the Newhall Corporation of Beverly Hills. As a symbol of the fair, Pittenger proposed building an artificial waterfall into a nearby mountain peak. Instead of building a midway, the entertainment portion of the fair would have been provided by the nearby Magic Mountain amusement park. By the end of December, Expo '80 had placed an option on the site and began seeking the approval of various levels of government.Lubas, Ken. "Option Taken on Possible Site for World's Fair", Los Angeles Times, December 29, 1974, San Fernando Valley Eastern Edition, Part VII, page 1."World's Fair Idea Finds Support", Newhall Signal, December 16, 1974, front page and page 4.
In January 1975, plans for the Expo were pushed back to 1981, to mark the bicentennial of the founding of Pueblo de Los Ángeles in 1781. At Hahn's request, Expo '81 received the endorsement of the County Board of Supervisors on January 16, with instructions to report back to the board on the fair's progress in July."Supervisors Endorse County 'Expo '81'", South Pasadena Review, January 22, 1975, page 3."County OKs World EXPO '81", Long Beach Independent, January 17, 1975, page C-13. In February and March, organized opposition to the Expo began to emerge among Santa Clarita residents, some of whom formed the Community Coalition Against Expo."Opposition To Expo Organizes", Newhall Signal, March 26, 1975, front page and page 10. Bill Welsh, president of the Expo '81 nonprofit, said that the proposal was received well at first, but when he met with local residents in February, "I thought they were going to lynch me." By April, the committee was reconsidering the Pico Canyon site because of this opposition, but continued to pursue official approval there.McGonigal, Steve. "Expo 81 Backers View Other Sites", Newhall Signal, April 21, 1975, front page and page 3.
To raise funds for the Expo committee, a $100-a-plate dinner was held on June 3 at The Beverly Hilton (whose owner Barron Hilton was a member of the committee), where retired general Jimmy Doolittle was named as the committee's honorary chairman. This event provoked further local opposition, as no Santa Clarita residents were invited to the dinner.McGonigal, Steve. "Expo Backers Wined, Dined", Newhall Signal, June 6, 1975, front page and page 5. A Los Angeles County Superior Court decision in an unrelated case on July 11 voided the county's 1973 master development plan, making it more difficult for the county to develop rural lands like the Pico Canyon site."County Master Plan Void", Newhall Signal, July 11, 1975, page 3."Expo 81 Dream: The Waterfalls Seem To Be Disappearing", Newhall Signal, August 29, 1975, front page and page 2. The Expo committee's progress report to the County Board, scheduled for July 15, was canceled."Valencia Drops As Fair Choice", Newhall Signal, July 14, 1975, front page and page 4. By the end of August, a member of the committee admitted that the Pico Canyon site was only "being considered very weakly" and that a new site was to be found.
Ontario Motor Speedway On September 30, 1975, the committee approached the city of Ontario, located in San Bernardino County, with a proposal to buy the Ontario Motor Speedway and convert it into the fair site.Rinehart, Floyd. "World's fair to OMS", San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, October 4, 1975, page B-1. The U.S. Department of Commerce, the federal agency responsible for regulating the country's involvement in world's fairs, had set a deadline of December 1 for cities interested in hosting an exposition to formally apply. For this reason, the committee asked the Ontario City Council to approve its plans for the speedway property quickly, but the council said it would take several weeks to consider the proposal, a delay which Welsh warned could be "disastrous"."Ontario Expo 81 awaits decision", United Press International, via the Torrance Daily Breeze, October 9, 1975, page A5. On November 13, the committee announced it had reached an agreement with the city and that it would pursue organizing an Expo on the speedway site.Cleveland, Jan. "Expo 81 officials choose OMS as site for fair bid", San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, November 14, 1975, pages B-1 and B-3.
Other American cities which were considering competing proposals for a world's fair at the time included Knoxville, Tennessee; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; and Kansas City, Missouri. The Department of Commerce tentatively approved the Ontario bid on December 10, 1975, with the proposed theme "Peace, Progress Through Knowledge". By January 1976, Ontario was the only city in the world with a formal application before the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) seeking to host an exposition in 1981. Barcelona had previously been planning an Expo for 1981, but this had been canceled by the time the California proposal was submitted.Rogers, L.T. "Expo '81 chances enhanced for OMS", Pomona Progress-Bulletin, January 8, 1976, front page and page 3.
Commerce Secretary Elliot Richardson announced on April 23, 1976, that he had asked the U.S. delegate to the BIE to request the Bureau's official recognition of Expo '81, while Knoxville was encouraged to reapply for a future exposition (it ultimately did host the 1982 World's Fair). Ontario's planned theme had since been changed to "People to People: Pathways to Understanding",Burke, Kathy. "L.A. Gets Initial OK for '81 World's Fair", Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1976, Part I, page 3. and the fair was scheduled to run from May 2 to November 2, 1981. Pittenger then traveled to BIE headquarters in Paris to present the committee's plans for Expo '81. On April 27, the BIE unanimously voted to tentatively set aside that six-month period exclusively for the California proposal and no other international expositions, pending final approval from the Bureau's General Assembly in November 1976."Expo '81 at Ontario Gets Tentative OK", Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1976, Part II, page 24.
Federal and BIE approval Under a federal statute passed in 1970, Public Law 91-269, the fair could not receive full approval from the federal government unless the Commerce Secretary determined that, among other requirements, "guaranteed financial and other support has been secured by the exposition from affected State and local governments"."Public Law 91-269: An Act, To provide for Federal Government recognition of and participation in international expositions proposed to he held in the United States, and for other purposes", May 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 271–272, via congress.gov.Cannon, Phyllis. "Federal law on financing could hamstring Expo '81", Pomona Progress-Bulletin, September 2, 1976, front page. Expo '81 had intended to fund itself solely through private contracts, but the law required the committee to receive at least some of its money from public agencies, which proved difficult. California governor Jerry Brown said of the Expo proposal in January 1976: "It sounds like a pretty good idea, as long as we don't have to give you any state money. I'll give you a proclamation but not an appropriation."Feit, Harvey. "Brown still running a tight ship", San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, January 31, 1976, page B-1.
In July and August, the Los Angeles City Council turned down two requests to lend $1 million to Expo '81, with the city administrator stating that Los Angeles "would not significantly benefit from any increase in tourism or economic activity resulting from an exposition held in Ontario.""Council Unit Rejects Loan for Expo 81", Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1976, Part II, page 2."L.A. refuses loan for Ontario Fair", United Press International, August 19, 1976, via the Redlands Daily Facts, August 19, 1976, page 3. Pittenger told the Commerce Department in July that the boards of supervisors of both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties supported the sale of $100 million in municipal bonds to fund the exposition, but when asked about this by the Los Angeles Times in October, members of both boards (including Kenneth Hahn) denied that they had ever given such support.Hurst, John. "Plans for Expo '81 Clouded in Contradictions", Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1976, Part II, pages 1, 2, and 3, and 4.
The Ontario City Council did not learn of the federal requirement for public financing until the week of August 30, when members of the local Chamber of Commerce were asked to personally chip in $1,000 each. Ontario mayor Paul Treadway promised that he would do the same "if I have to go out and borrow it." By late October, a total of only $20,000 in public funds had been committed to the fair project, half from the city of Ontario and half from the city of San Bernardino. The councils of other nearby cities, including Upland and Claremont, passed resolutions opposing Expo '81 altogether, out of concern that the fair would create air pollution and traffic congestion in their area.MacLaren, George. "Won't support Expo 81–Claremont", Pomona Progress-Bulletin, September 29, 1976, front page.
The endorsement of President Gerald Ford was needed before the BIE could grant official recognition to Expo '81, and Ford was at the time preoccupied with his campaign in the 1976 United States presidential election, which he ultimately lost on November 2, and then with the transition to the incoming administration of Jimmy Carter. Ford took no action on the Expo endorsement before the BIE General Assembly meeting in Paris on November 17. At that session, the BIE conditionally approved the Ontario fair as an official Expo, with the one condition being that Ford or Carter still needed to endorse it.Cooper, Steve. "Expo 81 clears huddle", San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, November 18, 1976, front page and page A-2.