Los Angeles Relocation Guide - Antevia

Grand Central Air Terminal, October 2005The "Grand Central Airport" was an important facility to the city and to the history ofaviation. It provided the first paved runway west of the Rocky Mountains in 1923. In1928 it opened its terminal, making it the first official airport in Greater Los Angeles. Forthe next two decades it was the main airport in the county and references to "Los AngelesAirport" from that era generally refer to the Grand Central Airport, not to Los AngelesInternational Airport (LAX), which was known as Mines Field at the time (commercialairline operations at LAX did not begin until 1946).Jack Northrop built his first aircraft factory here in 1927, though it was soon moved toBurbank's "United Airport" (now Bob Hope Airport). The first regularly-scheduledairline service between Southern California and New York City was initiated on July 28,1929 by Transcontinental Air Transport, with owner Charles A. Lindbergh piloting thefirst flight. Among the passengers on the 48-hour trip were Mary Pickford and DouglasFairbanks. Pioneering female aviator Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly soloacross in the country when she landed at Glendale in 1930. The first transcontinentalflight by African American pilots, Albert Forsythe and Charles Anderson, was completedat Glendale in 1933. Howard Hughes built his innovative and record-setting "H-1 Racer"in a plant next to the airport in 1935. During World War II it became a P-38 base wherethe 319th Fighter Wing trained.After the war the airport eventually returned to private use but its runways were too shortfor jet planes and the airport was closed in 1959. The Grand Central Air Terminalbuilding, with its control tower, was designed by Henry L. Gogerty. The building iscurrently owned by The Walt Disney Company, though the terminal and tower weremade uninhabitable by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The airport was the setting ofseveral films, including Hughes' 1930 Hell's Angels, Shirley Temple's 1934 Bright Eyes,