SFO airport

Tiffany glass exhibit at SFO Airport Museum

Art, Exhibits, , , , ,

Here’s another reason to plan a long layover at San Francisco International Airport: there’s an new exhibit featuring the work of Louis C. Tiffany, courtesy of the SFO Museum.

SFO TIFFANY PEACOCK

Peacock panel c. 1910–15. Tiffany Studios New York. Courtesy SFO Museum

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) pioneered new forms of stained glass and his studios created leaded glass windows, lamps and many other items that featured ornamental glass elements.

The SFO Museum exhibit at SFO International Airport includes an exquisite cobweb table lamp, one of only seven known to exist, a one-of-a-kind Zinnia table lamp, a Peacock window panel, oil paintings, glass vases, ceramics and more.

Look for “A Radiant Light: The Artistry of Louis C. Tiffany” pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby at San Francisco International Airport through January 23, 2015.

Here are some more items from the show:

SFO TIFFANY BUG

Scarab mosaic stamp box c. 1910 Tiffany Studios. Courtesy SFO Museum

Presented by SFO Museum

Zinnia table lamp c. 1910 Tiffany Studios New York – Courtesy SFO Museum

Characters on parade at SFO Airport

Advertising, Exhibits, Museums, ,

Baby boomer alert: Tony the Tiger, Charlie the Tuna, Pillsbury’s Poppin’ Fresh Doughboy and more than 300 other advertising mascots are on display at San Francisco International Airport.

SFO MASCOTS

The collection is offered by the SFO Museum and is on loan from San Francisco-based author, consultant and pop culture historian Warren Dotz. On view: advertising, promotional items and other nostalgia-inducing items for the baby boomer generation.

Here are some samples:

Presented by SFO Museum

sfo snap

Presented by SFO Museum

A World of Characters: Advertising Icons from the Warren Dotz Collection is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby at San Francisco International Airport through January 4, 2015.

Presented by SFO Museum

Fresh art at PHL and SFO airports

Airports, Art, , , , ,
PHL Kinnex

7-foot-tall K’NEX exhibit at PHL Airport. Photo by Rick McMullin, Philadelphia International Airport

Fans of the K’NEX Brand building systems will be delighted to see this giant K’NEX structure that will be on display at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), post-security in Terminal A-West, through October, 2014

According to PHL play experts, a team of six designers and engineers worked together for almost 170 hours to create this 7-foot-high structure using more than 48,000 K’NEX parts.

There’s also a new exhibit at San Francisco International Airport  organized by the SFO Museum and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco that features seventy-five contemporary artworks created by some of Korea’s most respected artists.

SFO_YeeSookYoungs

Translated Vases 2014 by Yeesookyung. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24k gold leaf. Courtesy SFO Museum

Look for Dual Natures in Ceramics in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F from Saturday, May 17, 2014 through Sunday, February 22, 2015.

In the meantime, here’s a link to an on-line selection of items from the exhibition.

Souvenir Sunday at SFO airport

Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

sfo magenets

It’s Souvenir Sunday – a day to take a look at some of the fun, inexpensive and locally-themed items you can pick up when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s treats come from the Marin-county-based McEvoy Ranch pop-up shop in the recently re-opened Boarding area E (T3E), which serves United Airlines flights in Terminal 3 at San Francisco International Airport.

The shop, which has a lease for just one year, is selling its locally sourced olive oils and body care products.

McEvoy Ranch pop-up at SFO.

Testing – and buying – their lotions was tempting; especially with the free tube-with-purchase offer. But I settled on one of the shop’s best-selling items: the $7 lip balm made with California certified extra virgin olive oil, vitamin E, peppermint essential oil, beeswax and other organic ingredients.

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Do you spend time in the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If you find a locally-themed item that’s fun, inexpensive and perhaps a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along to StuckatTheAirport.com.

If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a special souvenir from my travels.

Monkey spotted at Reno Airport + SFO Contest

Books, Contests, Fun Stuff, , , , , , ,

Monkey spotted at Reno-Tahoe International Airport

RENO CURIOUS George

About 80 kids and their parents showed up at Reno-Tahoe International Airport on Wednesday for activities in celebration of International Children’s Book Day. (The holiday takes place each year around Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, which is April 2.)

Everyone listened to an airport fire captain and a police sergeant read Curious George books, learned a little about fire safety, did some dancing, visited with the airport therapy dogs and had some snacks.

Sounds like a great event for an airport!

Fly Irish from SFO contest

SFO DUBLIN

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) now has non-stop service to Dublin via Aer Lingus and is celebrating with a sweepstakes on Facebook.

The “Fly Irish from SFO!” sweepstakes asks participants to vote for one of 17 cities in the Aer Lingus network they would most like to visit. Entries will go into a random drawing and one winner will be awarded two round-trip Economy Class tickets on Aer Lingus to the destination they voted for.

Deadline for entry: April 11, 2014.

Good luck!

Fresh airport art: murals in STL; lace in SFO

Airports, Art, , ,

Two new murals by Amy Cheng, titled “Nucleic Life Formation,” have been added to the Terminal 1 Metrolink light rail station at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL).

STL MURAL ONE

The pieces depict a “a universal connection between people and the universe” and are located at the top of and alongside the Terminal 1 Metrolink escalator.

At San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the SFO Museum has a new exhibition about the history of lace from the 1600s to the 1900s.

Included is this fan from the late 1800s.

SFO LACE

According to the museum notes, the folding fan originated in Japan and was introduced to Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century as a fashion accessory and “as a subtle tool for flirting with suitors.”

During the Victorian Era, when a woman drew her fan across her cheek it supposedly meant, “I love you.” Fanning slowly meant: “I am married.”

The exhibit – Lace: A Sumptuous History – includes edgings, lappets, parasols, gloves, collars, dresses and more and is on display on the departures level of the International Terminal, pre-security, through June 2014.

Fresh new amenities at SFO Airport

Airport shops, Design, Food, , ,

SFO HOLD ROOM

Boarding Are E at San Francisco International Airport’ Terminal 3 re-opens to passengers on Tuesday.

With the $138 million renovation comes a long list of fresh new amenities travelers will definitely notice and enjoy, including lounge seating that includes the iconic Fritz Hansen “egg” chairs, the airport’s second yoga room (with loaner mats), 375 power outlets, nine work stations and an interactive “infotainment” center with information about SFO and the city.

The new boarding area, which has 10 gates for United Airlines, has a 23-foot-tall window wall offering views of the airfield and the Bay Area, changing areas (with doors, full-length mirrors, sinks/counters, hooks and benches) in the restrooms and private areas with loungers where mothers can nurse their children.

The artwork includes the re-installation of five paintings from SFO’s art collection, “Sky” (above), which is a suspended light sculpture and “Spirogyrate,” an interactive art installation by Bay Area artist Eric Staller

SFO KIDS PLAY AREA

There are two pop-up stores mixed in with the dining and retail outlets:
Collector offers art from Bay Area artists and McEvoy Ranch presents locally-sourced olive oils and body care products.

Boarding Area E is connected post-security to the rest of Terminal 3, which is also connected to Concourse G of the International Terminal. So if you’re flying on United or any Star Alliance partner, you should be able to access these amenities.

Green light for car-sharing service at SFO airport

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Early flying car – the Aerocar

 

It’s been stop and go for car- and ride-sharing companies such as Lyft, uberX, FlightCar and RelayRides at San Francisco International, but a new agreement has given one business a green light to operate legally at the airport.

That’s good news for fans of RelayRides, a San-Francisco-based peer-to-peer car-sharing company that since August has provided departing passengers free airport parking and car washes, while offering arriving visitors great rental deals on those cars.

RelayRides, which has car shares available in 1,900 U.S. cities, had argued that it was exempt from having to pay the airport the same fees that traditional rental-car agencies pay because it operates in the shared-economy marketplace.

But that didn’t sit right with SFO, which derives about 10 percent of its annual operating budget ($94 million in fiscal year 2011-12) from such fees.

The airport maintained that RelayRides and FlightCar, another business with an almost identical car-sharing service, must pay rental-car concession fees to operate at the airport.

San Francisco International has filed a legal complaint against FlightCar, but under the first such agreement between a sharing-economy company and a major U.S. airport, RelayRides has agreed to be classified as an off-airport rental.

That means that, just like any other off-site car rental company, it will abide by state and airport permitting, licensing and congestion-reduction rules. It also will pay SFO 10 percent of gross revenues from its airport-related transactions, plus a $20 per-transaction fee, said airport spokesman Doug Yakel.

A traveler heading to the airport can reserve a free parking spot for a qualified car at the RelayRides lot, and then take a shuttle to the terminal. RelayRides will wash the car and make it available to qualified renters at a rate the company touts as 20 percent to 40 percent less than traditional car rentals. It also provides owners with a $1 million liability policy.

The agreement, announced Monday, is a win for SFO because the airport “is being creative about new streams of revenue while maintaining and expanding services to passengers,” said airport concessions consultant Ellery Plowman of Elleco.

But travelers also gain, Yakel of SFO said. “We want to provide options that our customers are already seeking out. We also need to enforce safety and fairness, and this shows that it can be done,” he added.

In a statement, RelayRides CEO Andre Haddad said the deal illustrates that “airports and sharing- economy companies can work together” and will serve “as a blueprint for how RelayRides plans to grow its business at airports.”

Though other peer-to-peer car- and ride-share services are not authorized to operate at SFO, that may change in the near future.

FlightCar CEO Rajul Zaparde said vie email that his company is “in dialogue with SFO,” and Yakel said the airport has been meeting with representatives of several sharing-economy groups that it hopes will be soon be authorized to operate there.

The arrangement with RelayRides is being examined by other airports, including some that have taken legal action against FlightCar and other companies operating sharing-economy transportation services without concession agreements.

The stakes are high. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. airports earned $1.5 billion from rental car company fees last year—or about 20 percent of their nonaeronautical revenue.

(My story “Rent-your-car service gets green light SFO airport” first appeared on CNBC Road Warrior)

Japanese Toys on exhibit at SFO Airport

Art, , ,

Here’s a great reason to schedule a long layover at San Francisco International Airport: a new exhibit of Japanese Toys.

JAPANESE TOYS HEADER

Here’s a sampling.

SFO JAPANEST Toys6

SFO JAPANEST Toys4

SFO JAPANEST Toys5

SFO JAPANEST Toys2

The exhibit, post-security in Terminal 3, is officially titled Japanese Toys! From Kokeshi to Kaiju and it’s not only, as “a feast for the eyes and the imagination,” it’s an exploration of the incredible history and craft of Japanese toys and includes everything from Kokeshi dolls and menko playing cards to battery-operated robots, celluloid figures and this dress made entirely of plush Hello Kitty dolls.

SFO Japanese Toys hello kitty

The exhibit: Japanese Toys! From Kokeshi to Kaiju runs from November 2013 through April 2014 in SFO’s Terminal 3, post-security in Departures Level 2.

Can’t make it to the airport? Here’s a link to more information about the history of Japanese toys and a great slide show of some of the items on display.

(All photos from the exhibit courtesy of the SFO Museum)

Faster free Wi-Fi at SFO Airport

Airports, Wi-Fi, ,

SFO PINBALL CONTROL TOWER

 

Yes, some things about hanging around the airport in the old days were better.

But today we have airports with gourmet dining and museum-quality exhibitions.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has all that, as well as a free Wi-Fi service that was recently upgraded to a faster, ad-free version that offers connect times that now last up to two hours.

The service also extends to the Rental Car Center.

Nice.