Vintage Mystery Airports
I have two photos featuring some vintage airports - locations unknown. It drives me bananas not being able to figure out where these buildings were (it is possible that the structures in these photos have been torn down and replaced with bigger, more modern edifices).
This first one shows what appears to be a fairly large terminal, I'm assuming that it is in a major city. I thought it might be La Guardia, but it doesn't match. I like the architectural style, it was probably quite modern in its day. I'm pretty confident that one of you will know this one!
I guess this one is less about the airport than it is about the hat-wearing people. But I am still wondering where this could be! I know, there is very little to go on, I don't have much hope of anyone ID-ing this one. But I appreciate the effort!
17 comments:
I too, like the architecture in the first photo. It reminds me of the 1939 World's Fair style of buildings; grand, but sturdy. The radio telescope-looking thing (radar?) atop the terminal looks like "Luxo Jr.", the Pixar logo. The crowd of people on the right are dressed in their finest outfits and suits. You've noted this before in some of your other airport pics. And I also noticed it as a kid back in the late 1950s, early '60s. I remember thinking at the time that it was both, 'neat' and 'strange'.
2) More suits and fine frocks. But wait!... What is this?!? There's a guy wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans!... And NO hat! Probably a farmer who just fell off the turnip truck. ;-) That's how I would dress too.
How convenient that they have a phone booth for the waiting passengers to call the plane that's en route to the airport, and let the stewardesses know which dinner entree they would like: the roast goose, the prime rib, or the freshly-caught Alaskan salmon.
Sorry, Major. No idea where these airports are. (No surprise, there.) Thanks for the travel pics.
Wow! That second airport had a phone booth exactly like Disneyland's Adventureland! Go figure!
I've spent a good part of the last two decades in airports...and I will figure this one out! Pic #2 might be in your own backyard: it may be Burbank....in the Partridge Family episode where the Princess of somewhere...I think played by Season Hubley...the Partridges take Princess Something to the airport to fly back to her home country...and this scenario looks familiar....as does the chain link fencing and smoking....I will be back after some forensics....
Pic 1: Area 51
Pic 2: Men in black before they got the dress code down.
You're welcome.
By the way, some agents want to talk to you...
Google lens says of second photo
It's hard to tell, but this might be the Trans World Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The architecture, particularly the wing-shaped roof, and the presence of people dressed in a style reminiscent of the 1960s could suggest this. However, without more information or a clearer view of identifying features, it is difficult to confirm. Additionally, the search results did not provide a definitive answer. Therefore, while it's possible this is the TWA Flight Center, it remains uncertain.
Several similar photos found
1st pic: Old Washington National? seems to match some architecture...2nd: Not Burbank....Not San Jose....Not Santa Rosa...Not San Francisco....but I do think it's a CA airport....
Ok....Pic #1 Pittsburgh Airport....the rounded corners on the facade give it away, although where the flag is there seems to be a fountain in other photos....
yay, Bu. funny how Pittsburgh airport once screamed it's name across the facade during a part of this era...
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393502086182198683/
I love airports, and have been in a lot of them, but none of these look familiar. The brick building is tantalizingly close to a memory, but nothing quite clicks. I love the straw hats with the dark suits. Straw hats are making a comeback now, about time too.
Bu, thank you for that research!
Thanks for the aeronautical puzzle today, Major!
JG
JB, you’re right, the architecture of that terminal does look very “pre-war”, though who knows, maybe it was built afterwards. Maybe that is Luxo Sr. on top of the building? He has not shown up in any film so far. While I don’t personally remember dressing up for air travel (other than when I wore my Robin costume at age 4 - my brother was Batman), my grandparents ALWAYS dressed up for a trip. I am assuming that the guy with the plaid shirt in photo #2 is a criminal and that he’d soon be apprehended and incarcerated. We can only hope! Prime rib on an airplane, it’s very possible back in those old days!
TokyoMagic!, I’m going to bet ten million dollars of my own money that the phone booth was eventually moved to Disneyland!
Bu, I love the Burbank airport (well, maybe “love” is a bit strong), but the one in that second photo looks more “modern” and fancy to me. Good grief, I think I remember the plot of only one Partridge Family episode, with a pretty girl who sings “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” horribly off-key. Classic! I can’t remember the actress, unfortunately.
Stu29573, YOU DID IT!
Anonymous, I can’t dispute your finding at all - the airport in photo #2 looks (to me) much less “big city” than JFK airport. But that’s only relying on my spidey senses, which are not always right!
Bu, ha ha, you are more knowledgeable about airports than I am!
Bu, oh man, I think you’ve found the real place. The one vintage photo I am looking at right now is so close - there are some details that are missing, but it is definitely the same place. GOOD WORK!
LTL, yeah, that’s the photo I found. So I wonder if my photo is from closer to 1952 (when it opened)?
JG, airports are a strange combination of “this place is fascinating”, and also “crowded, full of bus fumes, get me out of here”! I’m with you, I feel like I’ve seen the brick building before, possibly even on this blog, but nothing is coming to me.
I left my heart in San Francisco...sung by Robyn Millan who played Dora who Keith Partridge was dumbstruck by....Robyn also appeared in Getting Together, starring Bobby Sherman, and a spin off of The Partridge Family. Bobby had a scale model of Disneyland as a kid, then graduated to a much larger scale Disneyland in later life which he had in his backyard https://youtu.be/4WF2SIm7-8w Thoughts go to Bobby as he currently battles stage four cancer.
Major, you had me at “bus fumes.”
Ok, so my initial reaction on the second photo was “say, that reminds me of Toledo,” but I figured it was just some sort of generic 1950s architectural similarity. I’m now positive that that photo actually isToledo Express Airport. Compare with this circa-1955 photo.
I have fond memories of flying in and out of here in the early ‘70s on United on trips to visit my grandparents. I can’t remember when the air bridge was installed, but I do remember exiting a 727 here down the built-in air stairs in the rear of the aircraft and walking across the tarmac to the terminal. For those of you who don’t remember this feature, here’s a photo of a 727 with the air stairs extended, although it’s in the livery of the airline my father flew for rather than United.
The guy in the flannel shirt and jeans is probably picking someone up. Toledo’s airport is in Swanton, OH, a fairly rural area, and it was even more rural in the 1950s. My great uncle’s turkey farm was just outside Swanton, not far from the A.D. Baker machine shop where they built steam tractors (see this post for a prior discussion about A.D. Baker.
Bu, wow I would have bet money that the off-key girl was Carol Lynley, but this is why I don’t gamble, unless it is with TokyoMagic’s money. I was aware of Bobby Sherman’s scale model of Disneyland (or Main Street, at least). I’m very sorry that he is battling stage 4 cancer, terrible.
Chuck, wait until you try model cement!
Chuck, NICE! Great detecting. I sure would have never guessed “Toledo, Ohio”, but I’m happy to know that those people in the photo are genuine Ohio-weenians. I am sure I’ve flown on a 727, but am also sure I did not board via the rear staircase. I hung on to the roof for the whole flight, and was only charged half fare! Thanks Chuck.
Chuck III, yes, I agree, the casually dressed fellow is almost certainly picking up a loved one. Did you spend time on your uncle’s farm? My aunt had a farm in Wisconsin, and during the summers we often spent time being “put to work” (though it was not very arduous). I’m sure they just wanted us to not sit around and watch TV, which is just mean. I look back on those days fondly!
......I don’t gamble, unless it is with TokyoMagic’s money.
HA! HA!
I was never put to work on my great uncle’s farm (in fact, I’m not sure I ever visited except maybe when I was very, very small, although I remember seeing signs for it) but I’m sure my dad was. He would often get put to work when visiting family, and most of them farmed. Both of my grandparents on his side came from big families; many of them farmed and had big families themselves. My dad and aunt had I think 56 first cousins (maybe it was 54; I’ll have to ask).
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