TWA Hotel at JFK

[Heel n Toe]

How cool is this? So glad it was given new life and not bulldozed.

https://www.twahotel.com/

[onewhippedpuppy]

That is too cool, I would totally stay there.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

A Romantic time when flying was a privilege, not a strip of the constitutional rites (rights)

Now flying is basically a bus with wings.

I think a Greyhound may be a step up at this point or at least about the same.

https://www.instagram.com/passengershaming/

[NY65912]

I remember going through the terminal first time in 1964 while going with my family to visit Italy. We went first class on a 707. Pretty impressive as a 9 year old kid.

My wife and I live about a half hour away from JFK and plan on going to TWA for a night out.

I still have the in flight Polaroid the stewardesses took. We had to dress up. I remember my dad and I in suit and tie and mom and my sister in dresses and gloves.

I'd go back to that world in a fast minute.

Very cool.

[brainz01]

I hate JFK, but that's admittedly pretty cool. It preserves the optimistic Jetsons feel from an earlier time.

The reality is that JFK is more like a bus station in Calcutta...

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by NY65912

I remember going through the terminal first time in 1964 while going with my family to visit Italy. We went first class on a 707. Pretty impressive as a 9 year old kid.

My wife and I live about a half hour away from JFK and plan on going to TWA for a night out.

I still have the in flight Polaroid the stewardesses took. We had to dress up. I remember my dad and I in suit and tie and mom and my sister in dresses and gloves.

I'd go back to that world in a fast minute.

Very cool.

While we do not wear suits and dresses, my wife and I dress nice to fly, like if we were going someplace with a resort casual dress code for dinner. I feel like I would look like a douche bag if I wore a suit on a flight now.

I saw local big deal attorney flying back on my flight from Atlanta to Florida, he owns a private Jet, another passenger asked him why he was not using it, he said sometimes it makes more sense to just fly commercial. We was in some slacks and polo shirt, like he was going to play golf.

The flight was delayed, I am guess it was going to cut too close for him, he went and changed in a suit. I was heading to a courtroom too, our flight was so late I missed our hearing and I did not have a suit with me to change into.

I agree with you 100% society has declined, we are self centered pigs now with no consideration for those around us.

[Seahawk]

Fantastic.

I will stay there.

[piscator]

Originally Posted by NY65912

I remember going through the terminal first time in 1964 while going with my family to visit Italy. We went first class on a 707. Pretty impressive as a 9 year old kid.

My wife and I live about a half hour away from JFK and plan on going to TWA for a night out.

I still have the in flight Polaroid the stewardesses took. We had to dress up. I remember my dad and I in suit and tie and mom and my sister in dresses and gloves.

I'd go back to that world in a fast minute.

Very cool.

It's seems you and I had nearly identical experience of traveling in the '60s! Only I didn't have a suit at that age, my Mom put me in a blazer and tie. And was I ever cute! :-)

My Dad enjoyed air travel (in those days) and got a kick out of flying on the latest planes. I recall that he took us on a specific flight to Florida, just so we could ride in one of the first jets put into service. I don't recall what aircraft. I also don't recall the flight time from NY to West Palm, but it seemed a much shorter flight than the prop planes we'd flown in previous years. In a dimmer memory, I vaguely remember prop planes that stopped mid-way to Florida for fueling. Or maybe they stopped for some other reason and that's what my Dad told me.

Also, in that ebullient age of modernism, I remember our family driving an hour, just to see the Pan Am terminal. It had just been opened and I don't think it was serving flights, just yet. I think it was a balmy summer evening and I believe we parked right outside the building. I do remember that it was nearly empty, a few workers and other gawkers. And of course, no one bothered us. I suspect we could have walked anywhere in the whole place.

I don't think I'd go back to that world 'in a fast minute' but I could certainly do without much of the weirdness of today, which I find: not self-expressive, but just egotistical and, well, weird.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my earliest memories is a Air Force flight in a C-54 going to the territory of Hawaii, before statehood. We were all just passengers but dad flew the C-54 and many other Air Force cargo planes of the era.

Anyway, to fly to Hawaii, in a converted cargo plane, unpressurized, zipping along at 190 mph (165 kn) at 10,000 ft, dad was is full uniform, Mom was in a dress, high heels, white gloves up to the elbow, full makeup and jewelry. It was the era that everyone was dressed up like it was a formal event. Just to go to Hawaii. Just a different thought process back then. Mostly I remember the flight taking about three days, I thought we had moved again, into the airplae and there was no TV and nothing but waves to look at. The most boring flight in the history of child-kind!

I resist commercial airline travel at all costs today.

[Rick Lee]

It won't be the same if not as smoke-filled as a busy casino in Vegas.

[t6dpilot]

I agree that air travel has declined significantly over the many years I have been traveling. It is really a shame to see how people travel today - basically in pajamas. And what is it with these doofus' that walk around the airport with those U shaped pillows around their necks? It is like a travel pacifier. Also, it always amazes me that no matter what time of day, there is always someone drinking at the bar.

Still, I enjoy air travel and wear a coat and tie for every flight. Then again, I have to and am on the correct side of the cockpit door!

[Rick Lee]

I know this story is nothing compared to many others, but I had a cross-country flight yesterday. Of course, AA canceled my flight from PHL to PHX a few hours before we had planned to leave for the airport. Calling them to rebook required a 90+ minute wait, so I entered the option for them to call me back. We took the only flight we could find seats on online, which left us with about five minutes to pack and get to the airport about 90 minutes away. No time for shower or anything else I had planned to do in the next few hours. AA called me back just before we got to the airport. Gee thanks. Of course, my AA credit card has never once worked in one of their damned check-in kiosks. None of my other cards did yesterday either, so off to stand in line to get our checked baggage tagged. Thank God, I had a good Tom Clancy book to keep me occupied. Mrs. Lee and I couldn't sit together. And, as always, once home in PHX, the baggage delivery carousels were a clusterfook. I can't recall the last time my bags actually came out on the carousel displayed on the screen as the one for my flight. I hate everyone.

[RRico]

Love this!
Nostalgic!

[herr_oberst]

I want to fly in that restored Constellation. What a beautiful airplane.

[Seahawk]

My Father's best friend at West Point took the Navy option and became an A-6 Intruder pilot after tours in A-1's, etc.

He owned his own Cub and I flew with him a lot as a kid. I worshiped him and wanted to be an Intruder pilot. At 6'4" that was not going to happen. I probably had 100 hours in small planes the first time I flew in a commercial airliner.

My Dad became the Head of the Savannah River Nuclear Plant (https://www.srs.gov/general/srs-home.html) in 1973. He moved first and geobached since we owned a small ranch in California that needed to be sold.

I came out next, late summer, in time to start at a new to me HS in Aiken, South Carolina.

My Mom makes sure I am in khakis and a blazer, tie and polished shoes for the trip. I flew out of LAX on a 747 to Atlanta. My first ride in a commercial airliner. I vividly remember how smooth and seamless the flight was in comparison to all the little planes, the wonder of 35K feet.

That and everyone was dressed well.

The flight from ALT to Augusta, GA was a mess. I think the plane was a DC-6, piston powered. Not sure, but it was not a jet.

What a ride: Afternoon turbulence with big, fat, high aspect ratio wings adding to the party. The Cub would have been a better ride.

I remember that Augusta didn't have passenger ramps to the plane...you walked off and down on stairs provided by trucks.

By the time I got to the terminal I was soaked - August in GA: My first experience with air you can wear. I sweated like a glass of iced tea in the sun.

Fish tank.

[widebody911]

What page was the Isetta on?

[petrolhead611]

My first flight was in 56 on an Airspeed Ambassador piston engines airliner from LHR to Munich. I was 7 , and I made the mistake of looking out the window during a turbulent approach Vomited all over my grey wool suit .My parents were so pleased with me

A Connie! I'm in.

[Jims5543]

Just checked the rates, 225 on up, not bad considering location.


I may book a surprise trip with the wife for a long weekend in the fall.

I am a sucker for Mid Century Modern.

[Jims5543]

FYI - if anyone else loves this nostalgia, look into Cabana Bay Beach Resort in Orlando on the Universal Properties.

https://www.loewshotels.com/cabana-bay-hotel

They even play 60's commercials on continuous loop in the general dining area (counter service cafateria)

They have a Jack LaLanne Gym with his old shows on loop too, as well as memorabilia.

And an old school Bowling alley.

It really brought back a lot of memories when we stayed there.