Gambling

Museum Monday: Games of Chance at SFO Airport

If, by chance, you’ve got some time before or between flights at San Francisco International Airport, you’re in luck.

That’s because the SFO Museum has just kicked off a new exhibition featuring more than sixty examples of early gambling devices, including the first automatic payout, three reel slot machine.

 

 

According to the exhibition notes, at one time San Francisco was a hotbed for these types of games:

In no part of the world did gambling take place so openly and on such a large scale than in San Francisco during the Victorian era. The city’s residents were largely pioneers or one generation removed from those who risked all to relocate and gamble on a new life in the West. San Franciscans wagered in nearly every possible manner, including horse races, sporting contests, card games, wheels-of-fortune, and impromptu barroom arguments on every conceivable subject. At the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 3,000 machines operated freely, enticing customers from busy sidewalks into the saloons and cigar stores that proliferated throughout San Francisco. “

 

 

The devices on display range from very early models that rely on simple clock mechanisms and a payout by the bartender to automatic slot machines with elaborate carved-wood, cast-iron, or painted-aluminum bodies – and each was designed to part a person with a small bit of their money.

 

 

All the objects in this exhibit (and all photos used here) are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California and will be on display at SFO Airport in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F through June 18, 2017.

You can see descriptions of the gambling devices featured here – and photos of others – in the SFO Museum’s online exhibition.  But I bet the exhibition is far more entertaining if you see it in person.

The PDX Carpet – now a jam & a parade leader

2_PDX_Foot-forward selfies with the PDX carpet are very popular at Portland Int'l Airport

The carpet at Portland International Airport gained cult status long before the announcement that the flooring was being replaced.

T-shirts, water bottles, caps, socks, a beer and other souvenirs bearing a copy of the carpet pattern were created and the airport recently announced the distribution of large patches of the original flooring to local companies and creative-types for repurposing.

The latest news came Friday during the airport’s “Carpetfest,” where it was announced that the carpet will be the grand marshal of the Starlight Parade on May 30, 2015 during the city’s Rose Festival.

Also unveiled yesterday: the newest product created to honor the carpet: “Preserve The Memory” Triple Berry Preserves jam – from Columbia Empire Farms and now on sale in the airport at the Your Northwest store.

PDX JAM

 

Drink up: liquor store opens in baggage claim at Las Vegas airport

Smoking lounges, children’s play areas, an aviation museum and 1600 slot machines are among the popular passenger amenities at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

This week there’s a brand new amenity for arriving passengers who are ready to party: a liquor store in the baggage claim area in Terminal 1.

Called the Liquor Library, the store is the first packaged liquor store located within the baggage claim area of any airport in the country.

On the shelves: beer, wine, spirits, cigars, cigarettes, small packaged snacks, mixers, travel cups and glasses. The store also stocks wine and beer openers, wine and beer insulated bags and ice.

According to Liquor Library spokeswoman Diane Boyle, there will be product tasting most days of week and, to go with the library-inspired decor of dark hardwood floors and shelves reached by library ladders, there are “librarians” on duty who wear “charcoal grey pencil skirts, white button down shirts, black stockings, and very cute spectacles” while working on the sales floor.

Make the best of America’s busiest airports – part 2

Here’s part 2 of the recent slide show I put together for Bing Travel highlighting some of the best amenities at the country’s busiest airports. (Part 1, which includes the airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth can be found here.)

No. 5: Denver International Airport
Some travelers are still smarting from Christmas 2006, when a blizzard closed Denver International Airport for 22 hours, stranding more than 3,000 passengers. The airport’s snow-removal skills have vastly improved, but weather-related delays can still happen. Wait those out with free Wi-Fi or a self-guided tour of the art collection (brochures are available at any information booth).

Defeat the delay:
If any planes are moving, watch them on the active taxiway that runs beneath the glass and steel pedestrian bridge linking the A gates to the main terminal. (That bridge also leads to security checkpoint lines reliably shorter than those in the main terminal.)

No. 6: John F. Kennedy International Airport

When winter weather hits, all of the always-busy New York-area airports — LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International and John F. Kennedy International — quickly become zoos. At JFK, seven separate terminals mean delayed travelers must make do with services at hand. That’s not a problem in JetBlue’s amenity-rich T5, which offers free Wi-Fi throughout the terminal and more than 40 shops and restaurants, including Deep Blue Sushi — all after you go through security. Elsewhere, it’s a post-security challenge. Your best bet is Terminal 4, which has the most pre-security options, including public art by Alexander Calder and a retail hall with shops and restaurants, such as the Palm Bar and Grill.

Defeat the delay: When planes are grounded, the AirTrain from JFK to the New York City subways usually keeps running. The trip to the city might take an hour, but will cost less than $10 and can be its own adventure.

No. 7: George Bush Intercontinental Airport
At Houston’s Bush Intercontinental, delayed passengers can view space-related exhibits on loan from NASA and shop for their own space-themed souvenirs at a branch of NASA’s Space Trader store. There’s also a revolving steakhouse restaurant, CK’s, at the Houston Airport Marriott located in the center of the terminal complex, and an interterminal train below the terminals designed in 1981 by the Walt Disney Co.

Defeat the delay:
It may be an airport, but you can still get a taste of Texas. Three Stelzig Ranch shops offer boots, hats and other Texas-style accessories, while Texas Trail Boss Jerky sells beef, pork, turkey and bison jerky.

No. 8: Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
In addition to free Wi-Fi and complimentary recharge work stations, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas offers delayed travelers entertainment in the form of the Howard Cannon Aviation Museum, art exhibits, an aviation-themed kid’s play area, an interactive Dance Heads video booth and bars serving oxygen cocktails.

Defeat the delay: McCarran also has approximately 1,200 slot machines. And, as the saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t play.

Part 3 tomorrow…