Long Beach Airport

Cool new COVID-fighting airport amenities

Airports are rolling out new COVID-fighting amenities faster than we can keep up with them.

Here are few I’ll be talking about this week during the virtual Travel 2021 Summit taking place on October 7 and 8.

We’ll be talking about airports and airlines on Thursday at 10 a.m. east coast time.

The line-up includes lots of experts talking about what’s going in travel now – and what might happen in the near future. Registration is free.

Use your toes in the elevators at Tucson International Airport

At Tucson International Airport (TUS), elevators are now touch-free. Thanks to the addition of toe tap buttons.

Free gadget cleaning at Toronto Pearson International Airport

It looks like a copy machine. But if you put your gadgets in these machines at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) they will get zapped by a UV-C light that destroys novel coronavirus cells.

24-hour kiosk stocked with essentials at Edmonton Int’l Airport

This self-serve Rexall Drug Store machine at Edmonton International Airport (EIA) has 85 different items.

Long Beach Airport wants you back

Long Beach Airport (LGB) has a new video out to remind travelers that they’ve got outdoor concourses and other amenities that are reassuring for travelers.

https://twitter.com/LGBAirport/status/1313279134068400128?s=20

LGB: 5 Things We Love About Long Beach Airport

The “5 Things We Love About…” series on StuckatTheAirport.com celebrates features and amenities at airports around the country and the world.

Today we’re landing at California’s Long Beach Airport.  Founded in 1923 it is the oldest municipally owned airport in California.

Keep in mind that some amenities we list here may not currently be available due to health concerns. We are confident they’ll be back.

5 Thing We Love About Long Beach Airport

1. The outdoor atrium at LGB 

The open-air atrium at Long Beach Airport has palm trees and a drought-tolerant garden. It is a rare treat to have an outdoor space an airport and this one even has a wine and beer bar (4th Street Vine) with a fire pit.

2. Outdoor boarding at LGB

LGB’s boarding experience harkens back to the golden age of flying; the outdoor boarding takes advantage of the year-round Southern California sunshine.  

3. Art and History at Long Beach Airport

The LGB terminal was built in 1941 in the Streamline Moderne style, with smooth walls, flat roofs, railings and porthole windows that make it look more like a ship than an airport terminal.

The airport also boasts floor mosaics and wall murals designed as part of the Works Project Administration (WPA) in the 1940s

Newer pieces include the sculpture below, by Aaron De La Cruz. Before being purchased by LGB, the untitled work was a temporary installation at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. There it was displayed vertically.

To accommodate LGB’s layout and keep sight lights to the airfield open, the artist’s team reconfigured the piece so it would hang from the ceiling.

“The sculpture is now in the shape of an arc to represent the motion of flights taking off and landing,” says the airport.

4. Local dining options at LGB

All the dining venues at LGB are local, which is pretty unusual for an airport.

Options include Long Beach Burger Bar, Polly’s Coffee, Sweet Jill’s Bakery, George’s Greek Café, Boathouse on the Bay, and the 4th Street Vine Wine & Beer Bar mentioned above.

5. Shopping at LGB 

Some airports sell snow globes in the gift shops. But at Long Beach Airport travelers can pick up sand globes.

Bonus: two cool videos from Long Beach Airport

Here are two fun videos from the Long Beach Airport website.

This first one features Earl S. Daugherty, who was a pioneer aviator, an advocate for the creation of the Long Beach Airport, and one of the earliest aviation photographers. He was known locally as the “King of Aviation” and is the person for whom the airfield is named for.

This video shows the barnstorming legend flying over Long Beach in the 1920s.

The expertly edited film below shows a day at Long Beach squeezed into two and a half minutes.

Did we miss your favorite feature of Long Beach Airport? Let us known in the comments section below.

And be sure to check out the other airports in our “5 Things We Love About…” series.

Marvelous mosaics in Long Beach Airport

On Wednesday, December 5th, California’s Long Beach Airport (LGB) will unveil an expanded and upgraded passenger concourse in its Art Deco style terminal building, complete with a garden court and new local retail outlets and eateries.

Of special interest are the Works Progress Administration (WPA) mosaics by Grace Clements that were (re)discovered when the maintenance team took up the carpet. Made in 1941, the mosaics pay tribute to Long Beach’s origins in aviation, oil and communications with images of a large map, birds, a ship, an oil well and a hand dialing a telephone.

Here’s a link to a few more images of the mosaic tiles at Long Beach Airport on the airport’s Flickr photostream.

Solar powered airports? Yup!

Earth Hour, Earth Day and Earth Month may be over for this year, but the trend to go green is becoming a year-round thing at many airports.   Rare is the terminals that doesn’t at least have recycling bins these days.  And now many airports are embracing solar power and wind power.

My recent column in USAToday.com has a round-up of aiports generating some of their own juice.  Included: Denver International Airport, Fresno Yosemite International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom Interrnational Airport, Long Beach Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and several others.

Here’s a link to the story: Solar Airports? It could happen.

denver-solar

7 acres of solar panels field at Denver International Airport