It was quite a Monday for some airports around the country. The day started out like this at Denver International Airport
Who else caught the dramatic sunrise in Denver today? Talk about drama! 🌄 Thanks to IG: denverdave1968 for capturing the beautiful colors over the airfield at DEN! pic.twitter.com/rd3wYBjUh0
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) announced that the SFO Wag Brigade, a team of certified stress-relief animals, is back on duty in the terminals after a 20-month absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The San Francisco SPCA certifies all participating animals through their Animal Assisted Therapy (ATT) Program. And, prior to returning to SFO, all Wag Brigade animals were recertified. We hope that means LiLou the airport therapy pig that used to visit SFO about once a month will return soon too.
Good news — the #SFOWagBrigade is back at the airport!!! Tristan is rolling out in Terminal 3 this morning — ready for smiles, pets, and to make your heart melt. 💙 🐾 pic.twitter.com/KVxA0BJJG6
— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) October 18, 2021
Fire at DFW, No Water at CLT Airport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) had to deal with a water main break nearby today.
The City of Charlotte has experienced a water main break in the vicinity of the Airport. There is little to no water pressure in the terminal at this time. The Airport is in contact with Charlotte Water to assess the situation.
And at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), there was a fire in one of the parking garages.
🚨 Customer Alert: There is a small fire located in our Terminal D garage. Customers are being asked not to access the garage at this time and the parking lot is temporarily closed for incoming or outgoing traffic.
We will have more information here once we receive it.
🚨 Fire Update: The fire is under control in the Terminal D garage and there are no injuries. It is available for drop-off traffic ONLY, but we are still asking customers to avoid the garage. Additional details follow in this thread ⬇️
Several vehicles sustained damage from the fire. Our DFW Team is providing claim forms on site for anyone whose vehicle was damaged, and we will also add those forms to https://t.co/GhrbmhxCv8 tonight. We will also be reaching out to owners of damaged vehicles proactively.
Now that we’re back to traveling more, we’re delighted to have the opportunity to visit San Francisco International Airport (SFO), home to the SFO Museum, which is fully accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
SFO is both an airport AND a museum. So, we always make sure to choose the longest layover we can when changing planes at SFO. Not just because we love airports, but because we also love museums. And the SFO Museum always has multiple exhibitions scattered throughout the terminals.
One of the newest exhibitions is The Victorian Papered Wall, which is on view in the International Terminal Main Hall.
Why have an exhibition about wallpaper?
From the press release:
From its inception, wallpaper imitated luxurious materials, providing a more affordable alternative to tapestries, fabrics, mural paintings, and architectural elements. Crafted in repeating rolls and pasted to walls, this decorative art has an ephemeral quality unlike any other. Wallpaper reflects the design styles popular at the time, and in the late nineteenth century during the Victorian Era (1837–1901), walls richly came to life. English “design reformers” insisted on abstract, flat patterns, opposing fashionable French three-dimensional designs. Meanwhile, the Aesthetic Movement, which burgeoned in England, emphasized artful interiors in the 1870s and ‘80s. Eclecticism prevailed—designers drew freely from world cultures and centuries past.
This exhibition features art wallpapers created by Bradbury & Bradbury, based in Benicia, CA. The company hand silkscreens hundreds of historic designs using oil-based paints. Their most complex paper, St. James, requires seventeen individually applied colors. In addition to Victorian-era patterns, the company makes wallpaper using patterns from the Art Deco era, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We’re hoping to find the wallpaper from our childhood home in there somewhere.
Here are more samples of the wall and ceiling papers you’ll see in six Victorian-era room sets at SFO.
Facebook and Instagram may have been down on Monday, but Twitter was there for airports to share news and fun tidbits. Here are some items that caught our attention.
Not vaccinated yet?
Please get with the program so you can travel safely. Many airports around the country make it easy to get the jab.
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY: COVID-19 vaccines are available this month at LAS. Don't miss your chance to protect yourself and your community.💉 pic.twitter.com/IhAh50wUGJ
— Harry Reid International Airport (@LASairport) October 5, 2021
Airports are celebrating National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month
To celebrate National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month we'll be spotlighting a few #Latino history making #aviators.
The red Arrow Sport plane hanging in our terminal has become an iconic symbol at #LNK and one many love taking photos under. Next time you #FlyLNK stop by our Customer Service desk and nab yourself one of our new, red foam glider planes. #FlyLocal#RedPlanepic.twitter.com/svf5y1QJP7
✨ TRAVEL BAG GIVEAWAY ✨ Ready to pack your bags? Enter for your chance to win one of ours! We're giving away a few of these awesome #SFO travel bags so you can be ready for your next trip. Enter 👇
— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) October 4, 2021
At a glance, they are clearly works of mechanical know-how and art. But these objects also tell a story about the emergence of modern science and the specialized instruments scientists built and used to explore the world.
From the exhibition release:
When modern science emerged in the seventeenth century, scientists invented specialized instruments to explore the world and universe in a closer, more logical manner. These intriguing devices facilitated the careful study of almost all facets of life through the research and demonstration of ideas and theories. During the nineteenth century, new technologies allowed for the precision manufacturing of scientific instruments. An array of instruments assisted some of the most brilliant minds on Earth as scientists made early discoveries in the fields of electrodynamics and atomic theory.
This exhibition in the Harvey Milk Terminal 1 of the San Francisco International Airport displays a selection of antique scientific instruments and explores their uses. Dates: September 11, 2021, to April 3, 2022. The exhibit is accessible to ticketed passengers but non-ticketed guests may get access by emailing curator@flysfo.com.
SFO Museum: Geissler tube rotator [with modern tube] late 19th centurySFO Museum: Helmholtz resonators c. 1890
Mathematics: Vintage and Modern displays slide rules, early calculating machines, and other math-related objects from the past. Included are teaching tools that help students learn arithmetic, geometry, and calculus, as well as vintage children’s toys and games. To make brains work harder, several works of art in this exhibit demonstrate complex mathematics through sculptural forms. Examples from modern math—knot theory, topology, and ambiguous models—illustrate how math deals with the very dimensions of space.
Klein Bottle by Cliff Stoll
Here are some more images from the exhibit.
Thacher’s calculating instrument c. 1903Millionaire calculating machine c. 1904
Today we use our lightweight telephones as calculators. But in 1893, Swiss engineer Otto Steigler’s invention, the Millionaire, likely seemed miraculous.
“Made of brass and weighing sixty-seven pounds, this revolutionary machine could perform a direct multiplication,” the exhibit notes tell us. “With a single turn of the hand crank, it multiplied two numbers together and calculated results up to eighteen digits. For decades, banks balanced their books and figured compound interest on Millionaires. “
Rubik’s Cube and other mathematical puzzles
Mathematics: Vintage and Modern is located post-security in Terminal 2 of San Francisco International Airport through May 1, 2022.
The exhibition is accessible to ticketed passengers but non-ticketed guests can arrange access by emailing curator@flysfo.com,
Like you, airports are celebrating the freedom to travel (again) and also marking July 4th.
And we’re gathering up some of the best July 4th messages airports are sharing.
Kicking us off: the patriotic water feature show in Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport. Also: a cool mural you can watch being made at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome featuring some celebrity travelers. And aviation-themed matchbooks from the SFO Museum collection at San Francisco International Airport.
A COVID-19 vaccination site at Miami International Airport will be providing free one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals 18 and older daily through June 18, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., except for June 8-9. Walk-ups are accepted with no appointment or pre-registration necessary.
The vaccination site is located at MIA’s Concourse D, 4th Floor Auditorium, upstairs from Door 1.
Fresh exhibits at SFO Airport, courtesy SFO Museum
United Air Lines uniform 1973 Designed by Jean Louis (1907–97)
The inaugural exhibition in the new Harvey Milk Terminal 1 gallery at SFO features bright an colorful flight attendant uniforms from the past from the 1960s to 1970s.
Braniff International Airways “727 Braniff Place Blue Pant Collection” uniform 1972 Designed by Emilio Pucci (1914–92)Braniff International Airways “Classic Collection” uniform 1968 Designed by Emilio Pucci (1914–92)
Look for Flight Patterns: Airline Uniforms from 1960-1970s post-security in SFO Terminal 1 through mid-March 2022.
SFO Museum also just launched a next exhibition titled Stoneware Stories in the pre-security area of the International Terminal on the Departures Level. This exhibition will be on view through January 23, 2022.
Pieces on exhibis include antebellum alkaline-glazed stoneware made by Thomas Chandler, David Drake, Collin Rhodes Factory, and other Edgefield District pottery manufacturers from South Carolina.
The Women’s History Month factoid about Willa Brown – who was the first Black woman to earn both a pilot license (1938) and a commercial license (1939), courtesy of Long Beach Airport (LGB).
And the announcement from Tampa International Airport (TPA) about TPA To Go – a new food delivery service in the airport.
NOW PLAYING: "Letters of Fire" by Glen Milner. Actor @DominicWest narrates explorer Ernest Shackleton's observations on the unforgiving nature of Antarctica’s landscape in this short that evokes the region’s fragility. Watch the short film: https://t.co/IUZl6r8KIt#VideoArtsSFOMpic.twitter.com/DVw8jcLEMz
Flying Merkel twin-cylinder racer 1912- courtesy SFO Museum
If we can’t fly anywhere right now, how about a ride on a motorcycle?
A new exhibition by the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) explores the history of motorcycling from the 1890s to 1915. On display are fourteen motorcycles that were made prior to 1916, rare engines, and photographs from the pioneering era of motorcycling.
Harley-Davidson Model 6 1910 – Courtesy SFO Museum
From the exhibition notes:
“Along with the automobile, the motorcycle was one of the earliest and most exciting applications of another new invention, the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. Motorcycle technology progressed rapidly during the early 1900s, and as motorcycling gained traction, riding evolved from a novelty to a hobby, sport, and reliable source of transportation. By the 1910s, there were approximately 100 motorcycle manufacturers in the United States, all vying for consumer attention with distinctive attributes and designs.
Today, early American motorcycles are prized by collectors around the world who showcase their bikes on vintage rides, endurance runs, and at special events.“
Here are some photos of the motorcycles on display in the Early American Motorcycles exhibitionin the International Terminal of San Francisco International Airport. The exhibition will be on view through September 19, 2021.
Jefferson twin-cylinder racer 1914 – Courtesy SFO Museum Pierce Four Cylinder 1911- Courtesy SFO MuseumTwo women on a Pierce Four and sidecar c. 1910 Courtesy of Pierce-Arrow Museum
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is home to the SFO Museum, which does a great job of bringing top drawer exhibits to the terminals.
The SFO Museum’s newest offering runs through August 22, 2021, in Terminal 1, Departures Level 2, and is all about hairstyles and styling aids.
Objects in the exhibit include historical tools, hair products, and novelty items ranging from early curling irons and hair dryers to one-of-a-kind hair sculptures.
“The Flip” – Jeff Hafler, Beauty Bubble Salon and Museum
Here are more images from the exhibition, courtesy of the SFO Museum, as well as some exhibition notes about hairstyles in the 20th century:
Short bobs of the 1920s were made famous by entertainers such as Clara Bow and Josephine Baker.
Waves prevailed in the 1930s, and movie star Jean Harlow became Hollywood’s first “blonde bombshell” with her novel platinum tresses.
During the 1940s, large, voluminous curls, called Victory rolls, adorned the tops of women’s heads.
The late 1950s and ’60s gave way to voluminous hair, namely the bouffant—with hair puffed high at the crown and curled under at the sides.
Counterculture hippies preferred to wear long, free-flowing hair in the late 1960s. Around this time, a growing sense of ethnic pride inspired many African Americans to embrace their hair’s natural texture and wear afros.
During the late 1970s, actress and model Farrah Fawcett established one of the most iconic styles of all time with her feathered locks. Millions of women and girls went to salons requesting the “Farrah” cut.
Polar cub electric hair dryer c. 1923 – The A.C. Gilbert Company
