In 1928, the Los Angeles City Council selected 640 acres in the southern part of Westchester as the site of a new airport for the city. Mines Field, named after William W. Mines, was dedicated and opened as the official airport of Los Angeles in 1930, and the city purchased it to be a municipal airfield in 1937. The name was officially changed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941, and then to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1949. This distinctive white Theme Building was part of a $50 million over-all Los Angeles Jet Age Terminal Construction project, which began in April 1960 and was completed in August 1961 at a cost of $2.2 million dollars. Architects Pereira & Luckman Associates, Welton Becket & Associates, and Paul R. Williams designed the building's 135-foot-high parabolic arches to symbolize the optimism of a futuristic Los Angeles in the space age. A restaurant that provides a sweeping view of the airport is suspended beneath two intersecting arches that form the legs. Approximately 900 tons of structural steel was required for the entire building. In 1992, the Los Angeles City Council designated the Theme Building a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Aerial view of Los Angeles International Airport.
Los Angeles International Airport Theme Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Airports--California--Los Angeles Parking lots--California--Westchester (Los Angeles) Automobiles--California--Los Angeles Streets--California--Westchester (Los Angeles) Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Aerial photographs Williams, Paul R.,1894-1980 Westchester (Los Angeles, Calif.) Welton Becket and Associates Pereira & Luckman
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
