The LAX Theme Building, Then and Now

Among the travel-related art hanging on my walls is a poster of this shot taken by Garry Winogrand in 1964. The subject, of course, is LAX’s Theme Building, which opened in 1961 and is among Los Angeles’ most intriguing landmarks. To me, few buildings say more about Los Angeles, a city ever focused on the future, often at the expense of the past, than this Tomorrowland-esque structure. The two women in the photo, I like to imagine, have donned their finest dresses and highest heels for a transatlantic flight, perhaps to Paris or London. The L.A. sun is beaming down on them. The future couldn’t be brighter.

That was then, and the building is now undergoing a $14 million renovation. Its stucco has been removed and the skeleton is exposed. It’s quite a sight.

The LA Weekly’s Mark Mauer has put together a nice little photo essay about it.

“[T]hough we’re coming up on a year and a half since the building was closed,” he writes, “it’s good to see work being done to preserve and restore an iconic LA structure, rather than just let it rot, or tear it down and start again.”

Here, here.

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