Open House New York just announced that the TWA Flight Center at JFK will be open to the public on Sunday, Oct. 16, 1pm to 4pm! No reservation is necessary.
Open House New York is an annual two-day event showcasing hundreds of architecturally and historically significant places around NYC. The TWA event is not listed on their website yet, but they tweeted it about an hour ago.
http://nycaviation.com/newspage//wp-...r/img_8388.jpg
WOW!!! This is awesome news!! What a treat folks...really take the day and go step back in time! I really can't stress enough what a treat this will be for all who attend. Places like this simply do not exist anymore and the feeling you'll get from traveling back in time to an age of air travel that is all but extinct will be inspiring. I was lucky enough 2 months back to visit and I was blown away...Shameless plug below ;) I'd love to once again visit but I'm leaving for LA the morning of the 16th.
https://picasaweb.google.com/TAlfano...eat=directlink
Love your photos Tommy!
Shame that the Arrivals Board appears to be gone now. Of course that wasn't a Saarinen design (or even if it was, not part of the building) but it was of the time at least.
I was fortunate enough to be happening through the terminal in Summer 2000 when it was still up and running with TWA, but its been 10 years now. I'm going to have to try to make it out there for the Open House.
Tom
Is it free?
Def. would like to go out.
OHNY has now added a page about the Flight Center: http://ohny.org/site-programs/weeken...-flight-center
And yes, it is a free event.
I'll be going!
Lrusso and I are going :)
I plan to be there as well on Sunday, and do some planespotting to boot!
I'll be there around 2-ish or slightly there after, then hopefully some spotting afterwards.
I'll get there a little after 1. Very excited. :)
I will be going their too at 2/3ish.. It's going to be fun.
Some of my shots from today. Great seeing a bunch of friendly faces..
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...G_5906_7_8.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-IMG_5927.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...G_6004_5_6.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-IMG_6029.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-IMG_6052.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-IMG_6061.jpg
God, that corridor brings back so many amazing memories of trips to Switzerland and Greece. For a long time, TWA was the only carrier who flew to GVA and ATH from JFK non-stop. I took so many trips with them I can't even remember them all. 747-100, 747-200, 767-200 among many others are my fondest memories.
TIS
Here is my first attempt at HDR....I took a series of 4 photo's to get this image. More to follow:
The TWA Lounge Area
http://mbsphotography.smugmug.com/Av...6Oct2011-L.jpg
It was good to see so many people out for this today. In addition to the NYCA characters, a bunch of folks from a photography group I'm in made the trip, and I met about a dozen people who knew my father (he's an old grump, and didn't come out today...)
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter001-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter003-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter004-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter015-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter020-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter021-L.jpg
The Duty Free Shop (and the hallway leading down to baggage claim) wasn't supposed to be open. But the door was open, and a bunch of us wandered in and took pictures before one of the Port guys herded us out...
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter030-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter032-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter046-L.jpg
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...enter025-L.jpg
More photos here
i really, really, really wish i could've made it but it was my mom's bday and that took priority. were the period cars parked out front as well?
Nice collection Moose!
dumb question .. is this terminal still in use, or is it kept around for historic / nostalgic purposes? Everything seemed so clean, and crisp. Like a time warp.
It's closed and hasn't been used and has hardly been touched much at all over the past decade. According to wikipedia, there was a fashion show in there in 2004, which is probably the last gathering of people since it closed over a decade ago.
Port told me yesterday that they still intend to try to make it a hotel. How, I don't know. But hats off to them for keeping it in such great shape. :)
Visiting the Flight Center on Sunday, I had mixed feelings. As a photographer, I kept thinking "How can I get good photos with all these people in the way..." As a TWA Brat, I kept thinking "It's great to see so many people in here again..." I imagined they were all waiting to board those big red and white TWA jets parked outside, and head off to exciting, exotic, faraway places.
Lrusso and I stopped by. We got lunch in T4 and took the Air Train over to T5. Admittedly I don't know too much about the history of TWA but I enjoyed the trip.
Thanks for sharing the restoration photos. The terminal looks great. Sadly, that great view from the main waiting area has been destroyed by the terminal's extension; probably Jet Blue. On my last visit, the visitor could see out past Rwys. 22R and 22L and see all of those arrivals/departures. The view now is very limited.
;
The TWA Terminal was briefly seen in the film "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks. However most of the scenes were filmed in Palmdale,CA. I heard that Spielberg built a replica of the old TWA Terminal out there but I have no confirmation of this.
Looks like Moose and Mark (maybe some others) made it on Wikipedia :tongue:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...A_Terminal.jpg (not my photo)
It was awesome to go back to visit T5.
I first flew out of T5 in 1975 on my 2nd trip to Italy (my first with TWA). I was around 6 years old, but the images of the terminal stuck with me. For some reason I remember there was a small airplane suspended from the ceiling back then. I don't remember the details but I do remember the airplane. Chances are it might have been a Spirit of St Louis replica. Anyone remember this way back then?
I flew out again in 2000 on a business trip to DFW but I pretty much ran through the terminal to make my flight and didn't have time to take any pictures.
Last time I was at JFK was in 2002 when I flew jetBlue to Long Beach, CA, and took some time to take pictures of the exterior of the building. So sad.
So when I saw the newsfeed on Facebook about the open house I jumped on it. It was a gorgeous day too.
I wasn't paying attention, though, did the Sundrome (T6) get completely demolished? I took a picture of an old TWA Terminal 6 sign but I don't remember seeing the building anymore, though honestly I wasn't paying attention.
Anyway, that got me thinking about the Pan Am Worldport (Delta T3) that I just found out is also slated for demolition in a few years. Unfortunately I found out after I got home and didn't think to go over to T3 and take some pictures. Anyone get any shots/video from T3 they'd like to share?
I've posted some of my photos here:
http://caryliao.com/blog/2011/10/20/...er-open-house/
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6097/...9e2ef0af_o.jpg