The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) was a World's Fair held at Treasure Island in San Francisco, California, U.S.

Day and George Kelham were assigned to consider the merits of potential sites around the city, including Golden Gate Park, China Basin, Candle Stick Point, and Lake Merced.

[12]: 8 Built by the federal government, Treasure Island was intended to serve as the municipal airport for San Francisco, an idea which had first been advanced in 1931.

The theme was physically symbolized by "The Tower of the Sun;" by an 80-foot statue of Pacifica, goddess of the Pacific ocean; and by architect Mark Daniels' Chinese village,[17] built and managed by San Francisco's George Jue.

San Francisco stands at the doorway to the sea that roars upon the shores of all these nations, and so to the Golden Gate International Exposition I gladly entrust a solemn duty.

May this, America's World's Fair on the Pacific in 1939, truly serve all nations in symbolizing their destinies, one with every other, through the ages to come.The San Francisco Downtown Association created the 49-Mile Scenic Drive to promote the exposition and the city.

Day, a locally prominent architect, was appointed director of works and George W. Kelham served as the chief architect until his death in October 1936, when he was succeeded by Arthur Brown Jr.[20] The fair was built in a specially created architectural style called 'Pacifica', a streamlined mix of Art Deco incorporating various Asian and Latin American (such as Maya or Inca, but also Spanish Colonial) architectural elements.

As part of the exposition, the California Coliseum, located near the grounds' northeast corner, hosted the Western Regional semifinal and Final rounds of the first-ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

(Unfortunately a proposal to place Thunderbolt Roller Coasters on both bridges never got beyond the blueprint stage inasmuch as their projected speed of 175 to 200 miles per hour would have distracted drivers.

[31] The adventurer and travel author Richard Halliburton, sailing his Chinese junk Sea Dragon to San Francisco from Hong Kong, perished in a typhoon while crossing the Pacific on his way to the exposition in March 1939.

In 1939, James A Kilpatrick's Travel Talks issued "A Day on Treasure Island" a ten-minute Technicolor short exploring the Golden Gate International Exposition.

[32] In 1940 it was followed by "Night Descends on Treasure Island", an eight-minute short focusing on the art exhibitions among other features of the GGIE, anticipating its closing in September 1940.