Miss Universe 1959, the 8th

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

pageant, was held on 24 July 1959 at

Long Beach Municipal Auditorium The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California. Built on the former site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue is composed of the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Ar ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 34 contestants competed and in the end

Akiko Kojima is a Japanese model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1959, making her the first Japanese and Asian woman to win the title. Biography Kojima was a 22-year-old model from Tokyo, Japan when she bested four other finalists from Nor ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

won the competition, becoming the first Asian woman to win the title. She was crowned by

Luz Marina Zuluaga Luz Marina Zuluaga Zuluaga (; October 31, 1938 – December 2, 2015) was a Colombian beauty queen who won Miss Universe 1958. She was the only Colombian woman to win the Miss Universe pageant until Paulina Vega became Miss Universe 2014. Biograp ...

from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach before it moved to

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, before the establishment of the

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

pageant.

Results

Placements

Contestants

* - Liana Cortijo * - Christine Spatzier * - Hélène Savigny * - Corina Taborga * - Vera Regina Ribeiro * -

Than Than Aye Than Than Aye ( my, သန်းသန်းအေး) was a Burmese model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Burma (1947–1962), Miss Burma 1959. She was the Burma's first contestant in the Miss Universe pageant. In 1959 , th ...

* - Eileen Butter * - Olga Pumajero Korkor * - Zianne Monturiol * - Irma Buesa Mas * - Lisa Stolberg * - Carlota Elena Ayala * - Pamela Anne Searle * - Françoise Saint-Laurent * - Carmela Künzel * - Zoitsa Kouroukli † * - Rogelia Cruz Martínez † *

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

- Patricia Visser * - Peggy Erwich * - Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir * - Rina Issacov * -

Maria Grazia Buccella Maria Grazia Buccella (born August 15, 1940) is an Italian glamour model and film actress, who was Miss Italy 1959. Career Buccella won the Miss Trento, Miss Venice, and Miss Italy beauty pageants, and placed third in the Miss Europe 1959 comp ...

* -

* - Oh Hyun-joo * - Josée Pundel * - Mirna García Dávila * - Jorunn Kristjansen * - Guadalupe Mariátegui Hawkins * - Zuzanna Cembrzowska * - Marie Louise Ekström * - Sodsai Vanijvadhana * - Ecel Olcay * - Claudia Bernat * - Terry Lynn Huntingdon

Notes

Debuts

* * *

Designation

* - Sodsai Vanijvadhana was appointed by the pageant organizers in that time with the coordinations from the Royal Thai Consulate in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Sodsai was an exchange student in UCLA at the time before she competed in the pageant.

Did not compete

* - Arlenne Nesgitt * - Christine Matias * - Nawal Ramli

Awards

* - Miss Friendship ( Sodsai Vanijvadhana) * - Miss Photogenic (Pamela Anne Searle) * - Most Popular Girl (Oh Hyun-joo)

References

{{Miss Universe 1959 delegates

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1959 in California 1959 beauty pageants Beauty pageants in the United States July 1959 events in the United States