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bubbleator

Northwestgal avatar
Recipe by
Vickie Parks
@Northwestgal
Renton, WA

This drink is named for the “bubbleator”, a futuristic see-thru bubble-shaped elevator at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair that, without visible cables or tracks, floated people up to the 2nd level of the Coliseum to see World of Tomorrow exhibits. Space-age magic! A Seattle bartender said this is the cocktail she made at the Fair. It wasn’t served at the revolving Eye of the Needle (the fair's main eatery at top of Space Needle). But there were many other restaurants dispersed throughout the different "worlds" of the fairgrounds, so perhaps it was a specialty of one of those other restaurants.

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yield 1 serving(s)
prep time 5 Min
method No-Cook or Other

Ingredients For bubbleator

  • 2 slices
    fresh orange
  • 2 slices
    fresh lemon
  • ice cubes
  • 1 1/2 oz
    light rum
  • 1/4 oz
    orange curacao
  • 1/4 oz
    vanilla syrup
  • 1 oz
    champagne (or sparkling wine)
  • 1
    orange twist

How To Make bubbleator

  • 1
    Muddle orange and lemon slices in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add ice, rum, orange curacao and vanilla syrup, and shake vigorously until well blended.
  • 2
    Strain into a chilled martini glass. Float the champagne on top, garnish with an orange twist, and serve.
  • 3
    NOTE / HISTORICAL REFERENCE: For those who might be interested in a bit of history, the Bubbleator was from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair that kept with the Fair's futuristic theme. It was a see-through bubble-shaped elevator that held up to 100 fair-goers at a time. And without any visible cables or wires, it magically (by hydraulic power) “floated” the visitors up into the air and transported them to the 2nd floor of the Coliseum (now the Key Arena) to see the World of Tomorrow exhibits. In keeping with the Fair's space-age theme, buttons inside the Bubbleator lit up while it was in motion. The Bubbleator operators wore silver lame outfits that were created by top Hollywood costume designers and were made to look like futuristic space suits. After the Fair closed in October of 1962, the Bubbleator was moved to the neighboring building, the Center House, where it remained until it was permanently replaced with a real elevator in 1984, in order to make room for the Children's Museum. The Bubbleator was later purchased by a private individual who didn't want to see it sold off as scrap, and he uses it as a greenhouse in his backyard in the nearby community of Des Moines, Washington.
  • 4
    NOTE: I'm not exactly sure why this cocktail is named after the famous bubble elevator from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, except possibly because the cocktail has a golden orange tint. And the official color for the fair was called "galaxy gold", which was a shade of orange (almost a dusty pumpkin color), and most things were painted that color for the fair. Even the top of the Space Needle was painted in that characteristic "galaxy gold", in keeping with the fair's themes of space and futuristic science in the next century.
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