Tour iconic New York City aviation sites
Two iconic aviation-related buildings — the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport — are on the list of buildings that will be open to the public Oct. 17 and 18 as part of the Open House New York Weekend.
During the annual free event, hundreds of historical, residential, commercial and industrial sites in the city’s five boroughs throw open their doors to the public and offer tours, talks and behind-the-scenes access.
Dedicated in 1940, LGA’s Art Deco Marine Air Terminal (once called the Overseas Terminal and now Terminal A) was the original airport terminal building and during the '40s served as a base for glamorous transoceanic flights on Pan American’s fleet of giant Boeing B-314 Clipper seaplanes or “flying boats.”
Today, Delta Air Lines operates shuttle service between LGA to both Chicago O’Hare and Washington’s Reagan National from this terminal.
The two-story circular building was designated a historical landmark in 1995. On the outside is a frieze of flying fish. Inside, there are historic photos and a restored, wraparound mural created by James Brooks in 1940 titled "Flight.” The 12-foot-tall, 237-foot-long mural was the last and largest mural produced under the auspices of the WPA and tells the history of flight.
The TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport will also be open to the public during the Open House New York Weekend.
Designed by Eero Saarinen and opened in 1962, the Jet Age TWA Terminal has been closed to the public since 2001 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Major restoration of the often-photographed building has taken place over the last six years and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey recently announced that the terminal will be the centerpiece of an airport hotel complex with more than 500 rooms, a museum, meeting space, restaurants, a spa and an observation deck that is scheduled to open in 2018.
JFK's iconic TWA terminal to become a hotel complex
LGA’s Marine Air Terminal will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17-18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but JFK’s TWA Flight Center will only be open on Sunday, Oct. 18, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
A third aviation-related site, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, is also part of the Open House New York Weekend but, unfortunately, tickets to the behind-the-scenes tour of the museum’s aircraft restoration workshop are already sold out.
Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and USA TODAY Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Follow her at twitter.com/hbaskas.