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I had a short layover and a long walk at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport yesterday, but had to stop and take a picture of this little guy outside the Shoe Hospital at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in Terminal 1, near Gate B10.

I was also in search of a souvenir to feature for Souvenir Sunday (Rules: under $10, no generic shot glasses.) So I stopped to chat with Hector Diaz, who was patiently waiting for customers.

His family runs the airport’s five shoe shine stands and this full-service Shoe Hospital, which has been open for just nine months. He says with the downturn in the economy and the shop’s inability to advertise in the airport, business has been slow. His best customers: pilots and flight attendants who have discovered how convenient it is to have a shoe repair shop at the airport that not only repairs shoes, but can also fix broken zippers and bags.

The shop carries shoe polish and other accessories, but Diaz says, thanks to the TSA, his bestselling item is two-packs of shoelaces, which sell for about $5.  “Lots of shoelaces get broken when people are putting their shoes back on after going through security.”   A great – and useful – souvenir for Souvenir Sunday!

Categories: Souvenirs
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Here’s a great reason to hope you get stuck at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) sometime soon:

A new exhibit at the airport features work by Mark Khaisman who uses packing tape – yes, packing tape – as his artistic medium.

For this airport show, Tape Noir, he’s recreated scene stills from film noir movies, including Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (1953), Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935) and Spellbound (1945), and John Huston’s Key Largo (1948).

Here’s Frame 18 from Pickup on South Street.

Photo courtesy Mark Khaisman

The exhibit is located between Terminals C and D, past the security checkpoint, and runs through November 2009.

See you at the movies!

Categories: Art
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Cashless:

On Monday, June 1^st, American Airlines becomes the latest airline to go cashless. If you’re flying on an American Airlines flight in the continental U.S. or on a flight to or from Hawaii, Alaska and Canada and want to buy headsets, meals, snacks or alcoholic beverages, you’ll need a credit card to do so.

The new policy does not apply to American Eagle or AmericanConnection flights; there, it’s still cash only.

Clothes-free

Air New Zealand is getting a lot of attention for this fun commercial in which the airline’s CEO and several employees are pretty much naked.  They’ve got clothes painted on, so at first glance they don’t look naked. But they are. The  “making of” video is also fun to watch.

Goopy garages

According to an article in the News & Observer, some cars left in the parking garage at Raleigh-Durham International Airport have been getting slimed. The airport can’t quite figure out where the goop has been coming from, or what’s in it, but since 2004 the airport has spent more than $20,000 reimbursing parking garage customers who have had to repaint gunk-splattered cars.

Categories: Fun Stuff
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A new exhibition at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California includes 56 paintings that became cover art for Westways, the magazine of the Automobile Club of Southern California.  The work includes California watercolor, Pop Art and most of the major movements of California art in the 20th century.

(Maynard Dixon’s Clipper Ship)

The club began publishing its member magazine in 1909, as Touring Topics, and changed it names to Westways in 1934.  Original cover art was being commissioned as early as 1928.

(Phil Dike’s Balboa)

Ticketed passengers who have passed through security will find the collection across from Gates 1 – 4 and 11 – 14.  The show will stay up through October 19th, 2009.

Categories: Art
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As part of the transformation of concessions at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), travelers can once again pick up souvenirs and gifts from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum Store.

There’s used to be a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum Store at the airport, but this is a new, larger and hopefully  improved shop out on Concourse B.

What will you find? Clothing, Hall of Fame memorabilia, pins, magnets, patches, and other items, including a Rock n’ Roll trivia card game.  The store also has seven plasma screens that will be showing rock videos and clips of  “famous rock moments.”

Hopefully they’ll be selling these  cute wallets, which I found on the museum Web site.

Categories: Museums, Music
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