Fly Glendale

Long before LAX, for a brief moment in the Golden Age of aviation, flying in and out of Los Angeles meant boarding your plane in... Glendale.

That's right. As this site recounts, Glendale's Grand Central Terminal, built in 1923, was the first official terminal for Los Angeles. (Burbank's United Airport, built in 1930, quickly took over as the region's top airport.)

Notes the site, "It was the arrival and departure point for movie stars and business tycoons, as well as such aviation celebrities as Amelia Earhart, Eddie Rickenbacker, Glenn Martin and Charles Lindbergh."

The airport eventually couldn't handle the age of larger aircraft: Grand Central's runway was shortened after WWII, which denied newer and larger aircraft from landing there. After the Korean war the entire airport area went into decline and in 1959 the airport was closed. The property was purchased by the Prudential Insurance Company. The runways were torn out and many new 'tilt up' manufacturing buildings were built.

Walt Disney Imagineering, the division responsible for designing Disneyland and other attractions, leased several buildings in the area for many years. The Disney Corporation eventually purchased the entire airport area in 1999 and has a 15 year plan to turn it into a corporate "campus". The terminal building is now stripped of its ornamental lighting and detailing; some was stolen and some has possibly been put into storage.



That's right, the old terminal, located at 1310 Air Way, between Sonora and Grandview, is still there, and visible.

(Images and info via Aviation History of the San Fernando Valley. Thanks to Shannon and Akhil for the pointer.)