LAX Airport

LAX unveils made-over Terminal 6

October 20, 2016Harriet BaskasDesignairport makeover, LAX Airport, Terminal 6 LAX

No, you’re not really on Sunset Boulevard, but the LA icon was the inspiration for the makeover being celebrated this week in Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Part of the long-running LAX modernization program, the project was made possible with a $70.5 million investment from the airport, Westfield and a wide variety of operating partners and unifies three separate buildings built over four decades into a shiny new facility with 21 new retail and dining concepts – including 14 LA brands and 13 airport firsts – laid out in what are described as “interconnected neighborhoods that guide travelers through their journey.”

Restaurants to look for include: Blu20 (L.A. beach-inspired cuisine), earthbar (fresh juices and salads), Habit Burger Grill, The Kitchen, WPizza, The Wine Bar, Osteria by Fabio Vivani (old-world Italian cuisine), Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Point the Way Cafe (craft beers), Wahoo’s Fish Taco and more.

Shoppers will find a chic boutique from M. Fredric, TUMI and MAC Cosmetics shops, a See’s Candies store, a Belkin electronics shop, and plenty of places to pick up travel essentials.

Here’s what the terminal spaces looked like before – followed by some more images shared by Westfield.

Fresh art at Los Angeles Int’l Airport

September 19, 2016Harriet BaskasArtAirport art, LAX Airport

A new temporary, site-specific art installation at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) titled “Transfiguration,” is by LA artist Erika Lizee.

According to a statement about the new installation, the work “explores the idea of a hidden and undefined world existing beyond the visible realm.”

The statement goes on to explain that in the work, trompe l’oeil and sculptural paintings of mysterious and abstract shapes suggest the wall’s surface has been peeled back to reveal a magical otherworld. Hazy cloud-like tendrils and delicate lavender flowers sculpted from Duralar, a translucent film, seem to waft from the wall into the physical realm of the viewer.”

Impressive as it looks, only some connecting travelers will get to see the work up close, as it is installed in the Customs Hallway, Arrivals Level, through mid-February 2017.

So here’s a closer view:

And here’s a link to other art installations at LAX.

Photos courtesy Panic Studio LA

Makeover in the making for LAX

May 7, 2014Harriet BaskasAirports, Delays, Designairport construction, LAX Airport, vintage LAX

LAX has put together a series of short videos to help travelers make their way through the airport during a multi-year, multi-billion dollar major makeover.

Here’s a sample:

Here too, is a great video promoting LAX back in 1963.

Landing at LAX? See the World’s Largest Spinning Record

January 15, 2014Harriet BaskasFun StuffLAX Airport, The Eagles, The Forum, World's Largest

Passengers flying into LAX can look down at what is being billled as the world’s largest vinyl record, The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” – Courtesy The Forum

There’s one more reason to be thankful airlines no longer tell passengers to turn off small electronic devices, such as cameras, at the beginning and end of flights.

Throughout January, what’s being billed as the world’s largest vinyl record is spinning on top of The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and the best place to snap a photo is from a plane arriving at Los Angeles International Airport.

The “record” is actually a 407-foot-wide printed vinyl disc and it has been spinning – at 17 miles an hour – since New Year’s Day. It’s there to promote the re-opening of the Southern California concert and event venue after a $100 million renovation and as a tribute to The Eagles, whose “History of the Eagles” concerts begin Jan. 15 and are the first events to be held in the refreshed space. One of the band’s first hits, “Hotel California”, which was released in 1976, is the song being “played” on the rooftop.

About 75 crew members spent their Christmas holiday transforming 5.7 acres of printed vinyl, 2,000 linear feet of curved aluminum and a mile of aluminum truss into the rooftop “record,” “spindle” and “turntable,” according to Pop2Life, the marketing and promotion company that came up with the idea.

But before any of that could happen, the project had to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“That was due to the fact that The Forum is in the direct flight path for flights arriving at LAX and is only 2.5 miles from the airport, and there are height restrictions on structures or equipment – like a crane – being used to build a structure,” said Erich Murphy, president and CEO of Pop2Life.

The company filed an application with the FAA along with engineered drawings and specifications showing exactly how the record would get built, but Murphy said there were no questions as to whether or not the round, rotating billboard might distract pilots flying overhead.

The Eagles will perform at the Forum Jan. 15, 17, 18, 22, 24 and 25

Art walk at LAX Airport

September 27, 2013Harriet BaskasArtAirport art, Art walk, LAX Airport

Photo credit: Kelly Barrie, Panic Studio LA

While we weren’t paying close attention, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) turned into a cool place to see art.

Through the end of the year, the airport is hosting a public art festival – Influx: Art at LAX – featuring 11 original art installations located throughout the airport that, altogether, include the work of 45 Los Angeles-based artists.

To celebrate and show it all off, this weekend (Saturday, September 28th and Sunday, September 29th) there’s an art walk at the airport.

The public is invited to tour the artwork located in the airport’s public spaces, using maps provided at a welcome table that will set up in the Terminal 1 Arrivals level.

This weekend LAX is also presenting an original performance work – Everywhere Nowhere – a site-specific, multi-sensory performance directed by Sarah Elgart, who created this piece for the airport’s Van Nuys FlyAway last year.

Find more information here.

Kobe Bryant superhero cape big seller at LAX airport

April 14, 2013Harriet BaskasSouvenirs, SportsKobe Bryant, LAX Airport, superhero cape

Sports memorabilia is a big seller at many airports and, as you might imagine, anything relating to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team is very popular at Los Angeles International Airport.

And, even though knee injuries and a torn Achilles tendon seem to have taken Kobe Bryant out of the game – for now and possibly forever – I learned last week that in many LAX gift shops these #24 super hero capes are among the bestselling items.

“For children AND adults,” the salesperson eager to model the cape in this photo told me.

Stuck at LAX Airport

April 13, 2013Harriet BaskasFoodairport seaing, candy, Homeboy Cafe, LAX Airport, Lemonade

Earlier this week I took a quick tour of some of the new amenities, shops and restaurants at Los Angeles International Airport. Here are few tasty tidbits from my tour.

In the shiny new Tom Bradley International Terminal, I was pleased to see that many of the seats are powered and that some have a place to rest weary legs:

In Terminal 4, the Homeboy Cafe and Bakery was doing great business and raising both funds and awareness for a local gang intervention program.

In Terminal 5, I found travelers positively giddy at finding reasonably-priced healthy food and such a wide variety of lemonade flavors at the airport branch of Lemonade restaurant.

And, over in Terminal 2, in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge, they were serving these colorful candies.

More photos next week after my swing back through LAX.

Art made of coffee filters at LAX Airport

December 21, 2012Harriet BaskasArtAirport art, LAX Airport

Drink up! A new art installation at Los Angeles International Airport is made out of used coffee filters and will be on view in the art display case in the Customs Hall of Tom Bradley International Terminal through March 2013.

Detail from Passage by Sophia Allison and Leanne Lee. Photo by Kelly Barrie, Panic Studio LA

The work is titled Passage and is by Los Angeles-based artists Sophia Allison and Leanne Lee, who have sewn together dried, used coffee filters and mixed with them delicate drawings made on rice paper.

Installation view of Passage. Photo by Kelly Barrie, Panic Studio LA

Here’s the explanation of the work:

Passage references a ritualistic domestic action: making coffee. Water passes through ground coffee and filters, staining the ghost image of the process into the paper. Allison and Lee dried and ironed flat the used filters, then stitched them into clusters reminiscent of floral and vegetative landscapes. Adding to the juxtaposition of organic and inorganic, of ritual and daily activity, the artists incorporated cityscape drawings on rice paper which were stained with watercolor and coffee. Informed by traditional Korean symbols and motifs, these drawings were reconfigured by cutting, tearing, and sewing the images into the clusters of coffee filters. As actual geographies, locations and landscapes shift and fluctuate – physically, mentally, and metaphorically –the materials that comprise this work are non-permanent and fragile. As a modular construct, Passage can be repositioned infinitely, becoming site-specific and speaking to the temporal nature of life.