17-05-2025
Ask Chris: Where did people arrive in L.A. before LAX was built?
When the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce published their map to the L.A. airport shortly before it opened in 1928, there were more than 50 locations to choose from. The Jurassic versions of LGB and VNY were shown, and thrill seekers could board a flying machine in the barley and lima bean fields where LAX is today.
Terminal One was built a year later and is still in use by maintenance crews. Artifacts from this era are on view at the Flight Path Museum, not far from Terminal One. That spot, called Mines Field, is also where 61 passengers arrived to great fanfare in 1929 aboard the giant dirigible Graf Zeppelin, which had traveled from Tokyo on a 'round-the-world' expedition. A few years later, blimp tourism exploded with the Hindenburg. It wasn't until 1946 that American Airlines, United and others set up passenger terminals at LAX.
Passenger ships from around the world disembarked at General Steamship in San Pedro and, later, Matson in Wilmington, but those slips are gone and those old berths are unrecognizable after decades of freight embiggening. Relics from the 1950s Matson terminal — which was once compared to a Palm Springs resort — remain, including statuary, urns and 'angel' light posts. Route 66 brought interstate traffic to Southern California in 1926, but a century ago, rail was probably the most common way to arrive in L.A. Before Union Station opened in 1939, you could greet visitors at Southern Pacific's Central Station at 5th & Central or Santa Fe's La Grande Station at 2nd & Santa Fe. Stars travelling in from the East liked to disembark at Pasadena's restored Santa Fe Station (which until recently housed the lovely restaurants La Grande Orange and Luggage Room Pizzeria) to avoid the paparazzi.
An iconic palm tree salvaged from an earlier SP location downtown, Arcade Depot, was relocated and still sways above the Coliseum. You can also still visit La Grande as a teensy miniature at the Velaslavasay Panorama. All aboard!
