Latest news with #JFK
Forbes
37 minutes ago
- Forbes
Dreams Take Flight At JFK's Iconic TWA Hotel
The stunning TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York. David Mitchell Remember when flying used to be glamorous? No? Well, it's time for a stay at the gorgeous TWA Hotel, a welcoming oasis in the chaos and construction that is the current state of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The former TWA terminal, which was built in 1962 by renowned architect Eero Saarinen (who also designed the legendary Gateway Arch in St. Louis) and is considered an architectural masterpiece, has been transformed into a breathtaking space that's part hotel, part gathering place for dining, musing and even swimming, and part museum with fascinating historical artifacts and mid-century modern eye candy everywhere you look. Staying here is such a unique experience but is also practical because it's the only hotel on the actual airport property — and it's Air Train-accessible. This makes it an ideal place to spend the night when you have an early morning flight. Even better if your flight is leaving from Terminal 5, which connects to the hotel via super-cool flight tubes. Room with a (runway) view at TWA Hotel David Mitchell There are 512 rooms at the hotel and, although I've stayed in their standard rooms, which are fine, it's absolutely worth splurging for one with a runway view. Unlike the photo above, our king bed directly faced the floor to ceiling windows, providing a bird's eye look at the planes taking off and landing. Honestly, we didn't need a TV in the room (although there was a nice big screen one) because this was a show in itself and we actually spent much of the evening guessing where they were going, talking about where we wanted to go and reminiscing over past trips. We even put away our phones. What's amazing is that, despite the up close and personal views of all the action, you can't hear any of it, thanks to the second-thickest windows in the world. We were also glad to have blackout shades for sleeping but put them right back up as soon as we rose in the morning. I loved the flattering Hollywood-style vanity in the bathroom and the adorable vintage TWA toiletry kit. My husband was happy to grab a *few* (LOL) of his favorite TWA pencils from the well-stocked holder on the desk. Dining at TWA Hotel Enjoy a drink at Connie Cocktail Lounge in a retired 1958 Lockheed Constellation airplane. David Mitchell On previous stays, we usually end up grabbing something to eat in the hotel's expansive Food Hall, which features New York staples like bagels, pizza, Feltman's hot dogs and Mister Softee ice cream. This time, though, we decided to up our game and try Paris Cafe by Jean-Georges instead. Our fish and chips were pricey but delicious and we were intrigued by the fact that the menu was inspired by old TWA in-flight menus. If all the '60s Mad Men vibes are making you crave a martini, head outside, climb the stairs up into an actual 1958 Lockheed Constellation airplane turned cocktail lounge and order a Vodka is My Co-Pilot. Connie Cocktail Lounge, named one of the best hotel bars in the world, is a fun place to have a drink or at least post some selfies. Things to see and do at TWA Hotel Step back into the '60s in the Twister room. Lois Alter Mark TWA Hotel is an Instagrammer's dream, from the eye-popping Twister room (where you can actually play the game) to the pretty in pink Sweet'N Glow Salon to the beautiful lines and curves of the architecture. One of the many exhibits on display at TWA Hotel. David Mitchell It's also a mecca for aviation geeks and historians, who will appreciate the free museum-quality exhibits curated by the New York Historical Society. You can see TWA uniforms from 1945-2001, vintage in-flight amenities and original TWA travel posters, interact in period-perfect recreations of historic rooms and study dozens of photos and timelines. The rooftop infinity pool at TWA Hotel. StephanieBC There's an infinity pool on the roof that's as inviting in the winter, when it's set to a balmy 95 degrees, as it is for cooling off during the hot New York summer. If you feel compelled to work out during your stay, the world's largest hotel gym is complimentary for guests and offers 14 Peloton bikes, lots of other machines and equipment and a full yoga studio. A stay at TWA Hotel is a must for anyone who loves to travel. If only your pre- and post-stay flights were as civilized and sophisticated as the ones celebrated here.
Boston Globe
13 hours ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
The federal government could soon sell these three big downtown Boston buildings
Together, the buildings span 2.6 million square feet — more than two Millennium Towers' worth of office space — and have an assessed value of more than $586 million. (As government properties, the buildings are exempt from paying property taxes to the city of Boston.) Should they hit the market, they'd be among the largest office buildings sold here since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opportunity to develop a huge amount of prime property in downtown Boston is likely to be of intense interest to the city's real estate development world. But there's no guarantee that the PBRB would recommend the three properties for sale yet. It's still considering potential cost savings of consolidating offices, along with the expected cost of deferred maintenance. Advertisement The Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building on Causeway Street in Boston. Lane Turner/Globe Staff But Dan Mathews, a PBRB board member and former commissioner of the public buildings service at the General Services Administration, said at Wednesday's meeting that he felt the buildings could fetch a strong price. Advertisement 'In this market, the value proposition is very, very strong, and I think there's a path forward to actually implement it,' he said. 'There, frankly, couldn't be a better time to be securing long-term leases in the private market.' Much like the private office market — Meanwhile much of the federal government's 180 million-square-foot property portfolio needs extensive repair, and is riddled with expensive problems such as antiquated air systems, leaking roofs, unusable elevators, and flooding basements, the board said. Buildings managed by the GSA are on average more than 50 years old. 'Congress cannot appropriate its way out of this maintenance backlog,' said Nick Rahall, a former congressman from West Virginia and PBRB board member. 'The inventory needs to be shrunk so tax dollars can be invested in properties where employees are actually coming to work.' Earlier this year, the Office of Management and Budget Advertisement For all the buildings it studies, the JFK, O'Neill, and McCormack buildings, the board said Wednesday it would consider a number of different disposal options, including an outright sale, a joint venture, or a ground lease. But 'That's part of the discussion,' he said. 'We can sell the building, but if we only get $1 for it, is it worth selling at that point?' The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse at 5 Post Office Square in Boston. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Capuano said the likelihood of the federal government selling all three of the buildings 'is probably not very high,' adding that, 'if we did, that would have an impact on the local market.' Since the pandemic, many downtown Boston office buildings have been selling at steep discounts. The JFK building at 15 New Sudbury St. spans 1 million square feet on 4.5 acres adjoining City Hall Plaza and finished construction in 1966. It has twin 26-story towers and an attached four-story low-rise portion, and is on National Register of Historic Places. Also on the National Register is the McCormack building, a freestanding granite-clad building with three towers in a U shape — a 22-story recessed tower and two other 17-story towers, oriented toward Post Office Square. The McCormack building in particular 'lends itself very well to residential' development, Mathews said. Advertisement And the Tip O'Neill Federal Building, an 810,407-square-foot pink granite office of 11 and 5 stories, dates to 1985 and is on the same block as the multibillion-dollar The Hub on Causeway mixed-use project above North Station. Beyond the three major downtown federal buildings, the PBRB is also considering recommending the sale of a warehouse and parking lot at 11 Channel St. near the Seaport's eastern edge South Boston, along with the Philip J. Philbin Federal Office Building in Fitchburg and the US Customs and Border Protection office in New Bedford. The PBRB has until December 2026 to make a recommendation, but Mathews said the recommendations would ideally come sooner than that. The John F. Kennedy Federal Building (center) on Sudbury Street in Boston. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Catherine Carlock can be reached at
The Age
13 hours ago
- General
- The Age
More houses, more trees pose urban challenge
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. CLIMATE ACTION Suburban trees are an ongoing conundrum (' They bought a knockdown-rebuild and got a fight over Thornbury's tallest trees ', 30/7). We need as much urban shade and carbon storage as we can get, but we're short of houses. The more we build on the total block to maximise the urban amenity the more we deny replenishment of the water table sustaining these trees. And the more hostile the climate becomes to more the likelihood of these trees become dangerous to from falling limbs. One solution could be to grant those who harbour such sylvan giants a rate exemption for their upkeep. It may even encourage some imaginative architecture other than the boring masonry piles being erected all over Melbourne. John Mosig, Kew The right to bear elms Great to save trees but what about also saving houses? In the US, the right of the people to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right. Nowadays, most of us here think this is 'crazy' and not a good idea. In Australia, it seems people think it is their right to buy and demolish houses. This house in question might perhaps be beyond repair, but often people pull down perfectly habitable houses, ones which fit in with the character of the suburb. This is 'crazy' and not a good idea. Replacing an existing house with another does not increase housing stock. But it does use labour and resources (such as timber). Then many Australians travel to Europe to admire their beautiful street scapes and buildings, not appreciating that in Europe there are strong protections for existing buildings and strong requirements for demolition permits. We need to introduce much stronger protection of buildings here. Elspeth McCracken-Hewson, Camberwell Go bold on climate action Chair of the Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean has said any Australian target should be 'ambitious, responsible and achievable' (' Carbon tax call as PM told to 'go big' on climate ', 30/7). After decades of government denial and procrastination, the climate challenge is now immense. JFK didn't set the USA the goal of landing on the moon before the '60s ended by targeting what is 'ambitious, responsible and achievable'; he said 'we do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard'. We need a JFK to take our reins right now. Chris Young, Surrey Hills Joyce's illogical arguments Further to your contributors' comments on Barnaby Joyce (Letters, 30/7), of which I couldn't agree more strongly with, let's remember that this is the man who opposed the HPV vaccine program in 2006. At the time, he concocted all sorts of illogical arguments about it increasing teenage promiscuity and claimed community sentiment in support. He lost this argument because he was so blatantly wrong on that subject, as he is about global warming and climate change. Andrew Barnes, Ringwood Dilemmas of a third party Apropos ″ Their founder now calls them unlikeable and authoritarian. Can the Greens change their spots? ″(31/7). 'They wanted action on building more houses', columnist Shaun Carney writes, 'Labor's prescription might not have been ideal, but it did offer action while the Greens ... delivered inaction and boasted about it.' What were the Greens supposed to do? Simply support 'Labor's prescription' and forget about twisting its arm for more? And thereby invite voters to wonder what was the point of voting for them? Carney's article fails to take seriously the dilemmas of a third party in a balance of power. Indeed, it simply repeats Labor's own self-serving argument. Colin Smith, Glen Waverley THE FORUM Peris' language Former Olympian and former Labor senator Nova Peris is well known as an outspoken and very active supporter of Israel. She has recently been elected as a director of Hockey Australia, only weeks after sharing a stridently Islamophobic post on social media which calls Muslims 'Satan worshipping cockroaches that need to be eradicated″ (The Age 28/7 and 31/7). Another of her re-posts claims 'Islam should be banned in the West'. While Hockey Australia's website claims the organisation is inclusive and embraces diversity, it apparently sees no problem with Peris's Islamophobic rhetoric. It reportedly said its 'various stakeholders have their own views which do not always reflect the views of the organisation and the Hokey Australian board'. The Australian Sports Commission which granted Hockey Australia $9.5 million in 2024-25 is similarly nonchalant, claiming 'this is a matter for Hockey Australia'. Doubtless, had these posts been antisemitic in nature the backlash would be deafening. Whatever her sporting achievements, Peris' conduct is not suitable to lead a government-funded national sporting body. Jody Ellis, Thornbury What drives division You would think that if a former ALP senator was revealed to have shared social media posts describing a section of the Australian community as vermin ″that need to be eradicated″ and not welcome to worship in this country mere weeks after the release of a major anti-racism plan, the Albanese government would have made some comment, or even criticism of the former senator. Together with the apparent abandonment of the special envoy for social cohesion, it feels as though the Albanese government lacks the courage to adequately address some of the matters that drive division in our community. Wil Wallace, Wangaratta
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
A First: Two Airports Are Perched Atop The U.S. Ranks In 2025
New York's JFK International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ranked first and ... More second among all of the United States' airport, seaport and border crossings through May, the latest data available. No airport has finished in the top spot in at least two decades. For the first time ever, the top two 'ports' for U.S. merchandise trade are airports. This is particularly counterintuitive given that the nation's top three trade partners largely rely on border crossings (Canada, Mexico) and seaports (China) and account for more than one-third of all U.S. trade. Through May, New York's JFK International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ranked first and second for the value of their trade, according to my analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. Until this year, trade at JFK was fairly balanced between exports and imports. Not this year, as ... More imports have surged. Trade at JFK has increased 99.72%, just short of doubling from the same five months of the previous year, while O'Hare's trade is up 57.66%, a percentage that would be astronomical in normal times but seems not-so-extraordinary in the shadow of JFK. Despite President Trump's focus on diminishing the U.S. trade deficit through a trade war with the world, much of the increase for JFK is in imports while the preponderance of O'Hare's is imports. In what has historically been the relatively stable world of export-import trade, it is just one of many disruptions unleashed by the whirlwind two terms of President Trump as he took aim at the $1 trillion U.S. trade deficit. Here are a few other disruptions: That disruption shows up in many ways. Consider that the United States has had three different top trade partners in five years (China, Canada, Mexico), three top exports in three years (civilian aircraft and parts, oil, refined petroleum), two top imports in three years (passenger vehicles and oil), and two top ports in three years (Port Laredo, Port of Los Angeles). But never have two airports ranked first and second annually. Driven by an enormous surge of imports, O'Hare have seen tremenous overall growth in its trade, much ... More of it related to medicine and much of it from Ireland. Through May, JFK's $197.1 billion total was the most for any U.S. airport, seaport or border crossing. O'Hare's $176.4 billion put it in the No. 2 position. Port Laredo, the reigning No. 1 on an annual basis, was third, at $145.8 billion, and the Port of Los Angeles ranked fourth at $130.2 billion. At this time last year, JFK ranked fourth, not first, and O'Hare ranked third, not second. I wrote about the phenomenal growth in the value of trade at these two airports two months ago but here's a quick summation: Gold has been rushing into JFK, overwhelmingly from Switzerland, where much of the world's gold is processed. It's generally seen as a sign of jitters among the investor community, which often seeks the shelter of gold in uncertain times. Medicines of numerous stripes have been rushing into O'Hare, largely from Ireland. If you will allow me to tie the gold trade to Wall Street, certainly an oversimplification, then say the increased trade at O'Hare can be tied to Main Street, people across the country in need of medicines to fight every imaginable problem. Given the $30 billion difference between O'Hare in second place and Port Laredo in third place, it looks like 2025 might just be the year two airports rank first and second among all the nation's airports, seaports and border crossings for the value of their trade.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside JFK's first love, a suspected Nazi spy who stole Adolf Hitler's heart
omantic life might have turned out different had his father Joe Kennedy, allowed him to marry his first love, Inga Arvad, a woman Joe referred to as a 'Nazi b***h'. In the new book JFK: Public, Private, Secret, author J Randy Taraborrelli claims that JFK never truly got over the heartbreak and being forced to split from Arvad - and held it against his father until the day he died. The young Kennedy met Inga Arvad in October 1941. At 28, the Danish journalist was four years older than him and already twice married. But their attraction was electric, writes Taraborrelli. 'He had charm that makes the birds come out of the trees,' the book reports that Arvad wrote of Jack, 'natural, engaging, ambitious, warm, and when he walked into a room you knew he was there, not pushing, not domineering but exuding animal magnetism.' Arvad's son, Ron McCoy, told Taraborrelli: 'For my mom it was pretty much love at first sight. That's how she described it to me anyway. She called it an "awakening," her chemistry with Jack Kennedy being so instantaneous. 'It was as if they'd known each other in some other life and were now picking up where they'd left off. It felt natural. It felt organic. Above all, she said, it felt real.' For his part, Jack was apparently also smitten. She had it all: brains, beauty, and the uncanny ability to see him for who he truly was. And, according to Taraborrelli, Jack referred to her as 'Inga Binga,' and they spent every night they could... in bed. But just two months into their romance, America was on the brink of war, and Arvad was accused of being a Nazi spy. The source of the accusation was an alleged photograph of her with Hitler. Unsurprisingly, the FBI - and its powerful director J Edgar Hoover - got involved, and Hoover demanded nothing less than weekly updates on the case. Arvad was forced to admit that she had, indeed, met the Hitler in Berlin six years earlier, when she'd interviewed him for a Danish newspaper. The following year, Hitler invited Arvad to join him in his box at the 1936 Olympics, then to a private lunch, during which he'd given her a questionable gift: a framed photograph of himself. 'She accepted it,' said Taraborrelli, 'but it made her nervous because it was starting to feel to her that maybe he was interested in her.' She had reason to worry. Hitler was likely infatuated with her, having described her as 'the most perfect example of Nordic beauty'. Arvad told Jack - and the FBI - that, following the lunch, 'someone with strong Nazi connections suddenly tried to recruit her as a spy' but she 'immediately rejected the proposition'. Terrified at the implications of her refusal, she escaped to Denmark, then Washington, where she met Jack. While disturbed by the revelations, Jack believed his lover, according to Taraborreli. They'd been together only three months, but they'd already discussed marriage. He was determined to fight for her. But Joe Kennedy was reportedly having none of it. During a heated showdown with his son, he demanded that Jack break it off with the 'Nazi b***h' immediately. The FBI eventually dropped its investigation in August 1942, finding no evidence against Arvad. But, ultimately, it wasn't enough to save the affair. Jack had caved under pressure and broken off the relationship five months earlier. It would be 10 years before he was ready to commit again. Like Arvad, Jacqueline Bouvier was incredibly intelligent, and independent. And, while her dark hair and close attention to her perfect makeup were in stark contrast to the free-spirited Dane, what she had on her side was timing. The family was all in agreement: Jack needed a wife if he was ever going to be president. They worried that he was 'obviously lukewarm' about Bouvier - but if not her, then who? Joe reportedly responded: 'I actually don't care who, so long as she didn't go to Hitler's funeral.' Jack proposed the following summer, but the author suggests that it took a long time before it became a love match. He reports Bouvier's mother, Janet Auchincloss, asked her daughter, upon hearing of their engagement: 'Do you love him?' 'It's not that simple,' she replied. 'It is, Jacqueline,' her mother shot back. 'Do. You. Love. Him?' The future First Lady's response remained non-committal: 'I enjoy him.' Taraborrelli also claims Bouvier confided in Betty Beale, the society columnist at the Washington Evening Star, around the same time, saying she felt 'Jack had been pulling away ever since the engagement was announced'. 'True to his character,' writes Taraborrelli, 'while they had been dating, he was interested in her on some days, less interested on others. She said she saw in him what she often noticed in his father toward his mother: indifference.' Just a few weeks before his wedding, Jack insisted on going on a boys-only vacation to the famous Cap-Eden-Roc hotel in Cannes where, if he'd had his way, he would have begun a torrid affair with a woman who bore more than a passing resemblance to Inga Arvad, according to Taraborrelli. Gunilla von Post was Swedish, and just 21 when she met the future president in the south of France. She was 'definitely young,' writes Taraborrelli, 'but he didn't see that as a problem.' Both blondes also bear an uncanny resemblance to the woman who would be forever inextricably linked to the Kennedy: Marilyn Monroe. On Jack's return to the U.S., he made the unusual step of asking his future mother-in-law to add his first love, Arvad, to the wedding guest list. But under questioning about this last-minute addition, he let it drop. Taraborrelli notes: 'While Jack hadn't seen Inga in six years, apparently he was still in touch with her. Maybe it shows the bond he still had with her that he wanted her at his wedding, but it also shows a foolish lapse in judgment. Certainly not much good would come from Inga's presence.' Two years after his wedding, however, it seems Gunilla von Post's rejection of his sexual advances was still very much on his mind. And, in the wake of a devastating miscarriage, which left his now-wife with crippling anxiety attacks, Jack made the astonishingly selfish proposition that they go on separate trips: she to visit her sister in England, while he would attempt once more to get von Post into bed on her home turf. Kennedy and von Post reportedly spent a week together in Sweden, with Jack's partner in crime Torbert Macdonald as fixer. And this time, he got what he wanted, says Taraborrelli. 'Some of Gunilla's descriptions of her time with Jack that week - "We were wonderfully sensual. There were times when just the stillness of being together was thrilling enough" - sound a great deal more like some sort of starry-eyed, fictional version of JFK than a realistic one,' reasons Taraborrelli. 'Much of what she'd recall… sounds unlikely given what we now know of his remote personality of the 1950s. It does, however, maybe sound like the JFK of the 1940s, the more romantic version of him back in the days when he was with Inga Arvad. Maybe, in this case, the devil isn't in the details, though. 'There are enough witnesses to Jack and [Gunilla von Post's] public outings, including close friends and relatives she identified by name, to confirm that they were definitely together.' On the flight home, Macdonald told a friend that Jack suddenly felt the weight of what he'd done, and was filled with remorse. 'This was a s****y thing to do to Jackie,' the book reports him as saying. 'This was a mistake.' While von Post was convinced it was just the start of their affair, in the end, the two never saw each other again. 'Jack told intimates… that he'd been rationalizing his bad behavior for so long, it had become second nature to do so,' writes Taraborrelli. 'His father was to blame, he'd sometimes reason. After all, if not for Joe, he would've ended up with Inga Arvad, someone he truly loved, instead of Jackie, someone he married for political purposes and then grew to love.'
