Disney’s Grand Central Air Terminal

I am one of the few people lamenting the upcoming opening of Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.  Though renderings certainly look cool (it is Disney, after all!), I fear the massive crowds the new 14-acre land is expected to draw are going to ruin the park.  The Happiest Place on Earth is crowded enough!  The powers that be majorly blundered on this one, IMHO.  Galaxy’s Edge should have been its own park, a la California Adventure, leaving DL a separate entity for purists like myself.  One thing The Walt Disney Company did get right recently?  The restoration of Glendale’s historic Grand Central Air Terminal.  The former airport/prolific film star, now part of Imagineering’s Grand Central Creative Campus, had been sitting boarded-up and vacant for years, as I chronicled in both a 2012 blog post and a 2015 Los Angeles magazine article.  When my friend/fellow stalker John informed me that it was finally ready for its close-up once again following a painstaking renovation, I knew I had to get back out there to document its new look.

Though I covered the history of Grand Central Air Terminal in both my previous articles, I figured a recap was in order here.  The land where GCAT is now situated was originally part of what was to be Glendale Municipal Airport, a plan that never really, ahem, got off the ground.  In 1928, investors bought the site (which at the time basically consisted of a hangar and a 1,200-foot runway that private pilots had been using since 1923) and began a major overhaul to transform it into a modern commercial airport.

Architect Henry L. Gogerty was brought in to design the main terminal building.  His creation combined Spanish Colonial Revival, Art Deco and Zigzag Moderne styles.

The interior boasted such modern amenities as a coffee shop, a checkroom, a spacious waiting area, and, after Prohibition ended, a bar.  You can check out what the inside looked like in these historic images, though I am unsure of when exactly they were taken.

Grand Central Air Terminal opened to the public on February 22nd, 1929 and quickly cemented itself as Los Angeles’ main airport.  Its tenure didn’t last long, though.

During WWII, the site was transformed into a military base and its runway extended to accommodate large P-38 fighters.  The move would have been crucial to GCAT’s survival, but when the war ended, the city demanded the runway be returned to its previous length, which was too short for modern jets, essentially rendering the facility obsolete.  Commercial air travel migrated to the larger Hollywood Burbank Airport and Los Angeles International Airport and GCAT was finally shuttered in 1959.  Its runway was subsequently removed, as were several ancillary buildings, but the terminal was left intact and transformed into offices.  Walt Disney Imagineering leased much of the space in 1961 before purchasing it in its entirety in 1997.  Following the acquisition, plans were announced to redevelop the former airport into a 125-acre creative campus featuring 3.6-million-square-feet of offices, production space, and soundstages.  Local citizens balked at the idea, though, and plans were stalled, leaving the once grand terminal building boarded-up and vacant.  I visited the locale in May 2012 and found it looking like this.

In 2013, the city finally approved a new renovation plan and Disney got to work.  The revamped Grand Central Air Terminal, which consists of a visitor center, event space and offices, was completed in late 2015.  As you can see, the finished product is phenomenal!  What a difference!

Unfortunately, the property is not open to the public, but tours are offered monthly.  You can find out more information on visiting GCAT here and you can check out some post-renovation interior photos on the Disney Tourist Blog here.

Considering its proximity to Tinseltown and its gorgeous architecture, it is no surprise that location scouts came a-knocking on Grand Central’s doors from the beginning.  The place was such an onscreen stalwart in the ‘30s and ‘40s, in fact, that for those partial to Old Hollywood, it should be deemed a must-see.

Grand Central Air Terminal pops up at the beginning of the 1933 drama Air Hostess.

Thomas (Walter Johnson) and Shirley Blake (Shirley Temple) pick Adele Martin (Judith Allen) up there in 1934’s Bright Eyes.  (Off subject, but could Shirley Temple have been more of a doll?!?  Talk about adorable!)

Rosero (Luis Alberni) lands at GCAT, said to be in Texas, in the 1936 comedy Hats Off.

Ronny Bowers (Dick Powell) also lands there in 1937’s Hollywood Hotel.

That same year, GCAT portrayed the Le Bourget Airport in Stolen Holiday.

Thanks to fellow stalker Constant who commented on my 2012 post, I learned that the terminal also appeared in the 1939 thriller Five Came Back.

I am unsure if the interior shown in the movie was Grand Central’s actual interior or a set, but portions of it do seem to match these images.

GCAT very briefly masked as Transatlantic Airway’s London Terminal in 1943’s Sherlock Holmes in Washington.

Grand Central has appeared in more recent productions, as well.  In the 1985 comedy My Science Project, it portrayed the Carson Police Department.

That same year, in arguably its most famous role, the terminal popped up as the Texas bus station where Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) ran into Simone (Diane Salinger), who was finally on her way to Paris, in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

GCAT also played a bus station in the Season 6 episode of Simon & Simon titled “Ancient Echoes,” which aired in 1987.

And in 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, the terminal served as the inspiration for Genovia International Airport, which was actually just a backdrop.  For whatever reason, the orientation of the building was flipped for the scene.  You can check out a photo that shows a matching (but non-flipped) angle of Grand Central for comparison here.

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for letting me know the renovation of this location was complete! 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Disney’s Grand Central Air Terminal is located at 1310 Air Way in Glendale.  You can find out more information about tours of the property here.

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