Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Grand Central Air Terminal, 1940

Google has now made the immense Life Magazine photo archive searchable. Here is a beautiful 1940 Glendale photo from the Life archive:

That of course is the Grand Central Air Terminal with a gorgeous DC-3 in the foreground. The terminal building is still standing, barely. It has been closed since incurring damage in the '94 Northridge quake. The building is currently owned by Disney, which also owns most of the surrounding land that once made up what was formerly the premiere airport in the L.A. area in the days before WWII. The area where the DC-3 is parked is currently used as a parking lot. You can pay a visit to the parking lot and get a good look at the terminal building which is located at 1310 Air Way. Here is a picture I took of the terminal a few years ago.

The best book on the Grand Central Air Terminal is Madcaps, Millionaires and Mose; by John Underwood. It's out of print, but copies are available in the gift shop at the Doctors House.

1 comment:

the b said...

This is a great pic. Looks like a very stormy sky...Some places seem to emit vibes of all that has taken place there. Hearts broken, the joys of something that just took place. The departed spirits who like to flit around when no one is looking...Praise to Disney,,,about time !