Grand Central Air Terminal Interior 17 November 2015

Grand Central Airport is a former airport in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

. Also known as Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT), the airport was an important facility for the growing

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

suburb of Glendale in the 1920s and a key element in the development of United States aviation. The terminal, located at 1310 Air Way, was built in 1928 and still exists, owned since 1997 by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

as a part of its Grand Central Creative Campus (GC3). Three

hangars A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

also remain standing. The location of the single concrete runway has been preserved, but is now a public street as the runway was dug up and converted into Grand Central Avenue. The terminal building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on March 27, 2017.

Beginnings

The concept for the airport probably began with Leslie Coombs Brand (1859–1925), a major figure in the settlement and economic growth of the Glendale area. He had purchased land on the lower slopes of Mount Verdugo overlooking the city, and in 1904 built an imposing residence that became known as Brand Castle (which today houses the Brand Library). Just across the mostly dry

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

he could see the Griffith Park Aerodrome's grass field, built in 1912. Just three years later he decided to build his own grass airstrip below his mansion. He built his first hangar in 1916, put together a fleet of planes, and held fly-in parties. The only requirement was that guests had to arrive in their own planes and bring passengers. From this modest beginning, plans were soon hatched by local

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

s to establish an airport with commercial possibilities a little further down below his field. In 1923 the Glendale Municipal Airport opened with a -wide paved runway long, and came to be renamed "Grand Central Air Terminal" when it was purchased by other venture capitalists, who expanded it to . On February 22, 1929, a terminal with a control tower had been built, and was opened to much fanfare. Designed by Henry L. Gogerty, the intention was to construct an air terminal along the lines of a classic railroad terminal. It combined a style consisting of Spanish Colonial Revival with Zig-zag Moderne influences (Art Deco). GCAT became a major airport of entry to Los Angeles and provided the first paved runway west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. Within a year, the entire enterprise was sold to the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, managed by

C. C. Moseley Corliss Champion Moseley (July 23, 1894 – 1974) was a United States Army aviator and later civilian trainer. He won the inaugural Pulitzer Air Race in 1920. Following his service in World War I, where he was credited with one aerial victory, he ...

, a co-founder of the future

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

. It became the city's largest employer. It was also at Grand Central that Moseley established the first of his private flying schools,

Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute The Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute was an early professional trade school operated by the Curtiss-Wright corporation for aircraft maintenance training. Director Major C. C. Moseley was one of only three school directors selected across Ameri ...

(later renamed Cal-Aero Academy).

Pioneering people at GCAT

Many famous aviation pioneers made their home and their mark at GCAT, as pilots, designers, mechanics, teachers, salesmen, and airplane/power-plant builders, often serving in some combination, including: *

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, who piloted the nation's first regularly scheduled coast to coast flight from Grand Central's runway as organizer of

Transcontinental Air Transport Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) was an airline founded in 1928 by Clement Melville Keys that merged in 1930 with Western Air Express to form what became TWA. Keys enlisted the help of Charles Lindbergh to design a transcontinental network ...

which, after merging with Western Air Express, came to be Transcontinental and Western Air, later renamed

Trans-World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

. *

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

used the airport and bought her first plane there. *

Laura Ingalls Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, mostly known for the ''Little House on the Prairie'' series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, which were based on her childhood ...

became the first woman to fly solo across the country when she landed at Glendale in 1930. * Albert Forsythe and Charles Anderson were the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

pilots who made the transcontinental flight, completed at Glendale in 1933. Their achievement paved the way for the black

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

who fought in World War II. *

Thomas Benton Slate Thomas Benton Slate (December 2, 1880 – November 26, 1980) was an American inventor and businessman. Slate was born in Tangent, Oregon, to Nathaniel Porter Slate and Alice Slate.dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

and hangar in 1925. It was long, and supposedly fireproof. He named it "City of Glendale". It left the ground briefly in 1929, popped some rivets, and crashed. *

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...

built his record-setting H-1 Racer in a small building at 911 Air Way in 1935, thus beginning the

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other ...

. The building burned to the ground in the late 1990s. *

Jack Northrop John Knudsen Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and designer who founded the Northrop Corporation in 1939. His career began in 1916 as a draftsman for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing C ...

started his Avion Aviation company on the field in 1927, where he built multi-cellular metal structures. *

William Boeing William Edward Boeing (; October 1, 1881 – September 28, 1956) was an American aviation pioneer who founded the Pacific Airplane Company in 1916, which a year later was renamed to The Boeing Company, now the largest exporter in the United S ...

bought the business from Northrop, and moved it to Burbank's United Airport (now

Hollywood Burbank Airport Hollywood Burbank Airport, legally and formerly marketed as Bob Hope Airport after entertainer Bob Hope , is a public airport northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. ef ...

). *

established overhaul facilities there, and operated a flight academy whose pilot and mechanic graduates traveled to Europe as the all-volunteer

Eagle Squadron The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II (circa 1940), prior to America's entry into the war in December 1941. Wit ...

who flew against Hitler at the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

before America entered the war. * Actor

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as '' The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in ...

was an active pilot and flight instructor who used this airport. Airlines originating at GCA included TWA, Varney,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, and Pickwick Airlines (1928–30).

Movies and movie stars

The airport was the setting of several films, including

' '' Hell's Angels'' (1930),

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

's '' Bright Eyes'' (1934), '' Lady Killer'' (1933) starring

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

, ''

Sky Giant ''Sky Giant'', also known as ''Ground Crew'' and ''Northern Flight'', is a 1938 drama film directed by Lew Landers. The film stars Richard Dix, Chester Morris and Joan Fontaine. The plot revolves around a love triangle with two pilots in love with ...

'' (1938) with

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

, ''Hats Off'' (1936) with John Payne, the musical ''Hollywood Hotel'' (1937) with

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...

, and the adventure film ''

Secret Service of the Air ''Secret Service of the Air'' (also known as ''Murder Plane'') is a 1939 American adventure film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Ronald Reagan. This film was the first in Warner Bros.' Secret Service series. The series consisted of four ...

'' (1939) starring

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. Episodes of the 1941 movie serial ''

Sky Raiders ''Sky Raiders'' is a 12-episode 1941 Universal film serial. The serial was directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor. ''Sky Raiders'' stars Donald Woods, Billy Halop, Robert Armstrong and Eduardo Ciannelli. ''Sky Raiders'' has little in common wi ...

'' show the terminal and other GCAT structures. The terminal was a favorite shooting location. The airport was also known for stunt flying and supplying planes for use in the movie industry by people like

Paul Mantz Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races. Early years Ma ...

. Just about every airplane design flying during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s could be seen at GCAT for use in movies, or there to be serviced.

Wartime

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, Grand Central Airport (like all other west coast airports) was immediately closed to private aviation. (The remaining airlines had already moved to Burbank.) The government moved in, heavily camouflaged the place, and converted it into an important defense base for Los Angeles. In 1942 the runway, which originally ended at Sonora Avenue, was extended North to Western Avenue, giving it a 5,000' length to accommodate large airplanes and future jet aircraft. Training of United States Army Air Forces flying cadets began under contract to Grand Central Flying School, Cal-Aero Training Corporation, and Polaris Flight Academy. The facility was assigned to West Coast Training Center (later Western Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield, which also instructed Royal Air Force flying cadets. Some who would go on to become members of the Eagle Squadrons. ( 71 Squadron: Bob Sprague, J.J. Lynch, 121 Squadron: Kenneth Holder, Don McLeod, Jim Peck, Forrest Cox, John Lynch. 133 Squadron: James Coxetter, Hugh Brown). The

Fairchild PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contemp ...

was the primary flight trainer, along with

Vultee BT-13 The Vultee Aircraft Corporation became an independent company in 1939 in Los Angeles County, California. It had limited success before merging with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1943, to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporati ...

s. The Grand Central Flying School (GCFS) started out at the airfield and evolved into the Cal-Aero Flight Academy (CAFA). Cal-Aero had schools at

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Mira Loma at Oxnard, and Polaris at War Eagle Field.

Glendale Junior College Glendale Community College (GCC) is a public community college in Glendale, California. History The college was founded as Glendale Junior College in 1927, to serve the Glendale Union High School District which at the time included La Cr ...

staffed flight ground school at Grand Central Air Field.A Journey Back In Time Grand Central Air Terminal, Airport Journals, AJ staff writer, JULY 1, 201

/ref> A P-38 training base was built on the west side near the river which prepared the 319th Fighter Wing for action in Europe. Hundreds of

P-51 The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

s and others transitioned Grand Central Airport in Glendale for refurbishment and reconditioning. Larger aircraft, like the

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

, were sent to the Grand Central Service Center in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, Arizona. On April 14, 1944, a fire destroyed three buildings, burned seven aircraft, and injured five workmen, one of them seriously.

Postwar

In 1947 the runway was cut back to 3,800' (southeast of Sonora Ave) due to pressure from local government. The airport was returned to private use, renamed Grand Central Airport, ceased to be profitable, and was closed in 1959 to make way for the development of the Grand Central Business Park. Before its closing, the airport hosted a

SCCA National Sports Car Championship The SCCA National Sports Car Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America from 1951 until 1964. It was the first post- World War II sports car series organized in the United States. An amateur champions ...

race on November 13, 1955 that attracted 6,000 spectators. The closed airport was then used as a private heliport for the Los Angeles Police Department's fleet of police helicopters, some

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

s ("recips") and some

Bell 206 The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter prog ...

s ("Jet Rangers"), until the new

LAPD Hooper Heliport LAPD Hooper Heliport is a city-owned private-use heliport located one nautical mile (2 km) northeast of the central business district of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. History Hooper Heliport is located on t ...

opened on top of the Piper Tech Building in downtown Los Angeles in 1983. In 1961, WED Enterprises then a part of

Retlaw Enterprises Retlaw Enterprises, originally Walt Disney Miniature Railroad, then Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI), and then WED Enterprises (WED), was a privately held company owned by the heirs of entertainment mogul Walt Disney. Disney formed the company to control ...

, opened a creative workshop in the business park. Major Corliss C. Moseley established the

Grand Central Rocket Company The Lockheed Propulsion Company was a division of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation located at 1500 Crafton Avenue in the Mentone, California area northeast of Redlands, California, adjacent to the Santa Ana River, from 1961 to 1975. It developed, ...

in the vicinity of Grand Central Air Terminal in 1955. It was there that the

third stage ''Third Stage'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 26, 1986, on MCA Records. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, strained, six-year period "between floods ...

s of early Vanguard rockets, including the first two to reach orbit, were built.

Grand Central Creative Campus

Glendale Grand Central Air Terminal 2005

Plans were announced for the Grand Central Creative Campus redevelopment of the Grand Central Business Park in September 1999. Additional details were released in March 2000 indicating that it would have 3.6 million square feet in several four to six story buildings for office, production and sound stages and hold 10,000 employees. In 2001, The Walt Disney Co. was planning to expand at the location from a single building to a campus of 6 million square feet. In early May 2004, the Disney Company received design approval for its first phase of this redevelopment. This expected to spearhead the redevelopment of the San Fernando corridor of Glendale. This phase consisted of two 125,000-square-foot office buildings on a company owned 100-acre lot at 1101 and 1133 Flower St. which were to fit in with the Art Deco motif design of the

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...

studio facility nearby the campus (KABC had relocated from their previous home base at

The Prospect Studios The Prospect Studios (also known as ABC Television Center est'') is a lot containing several television studios located at 4151 Prospect Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, at the corner of Prospect and Talmadge Street (named i ...

, formerly the ABC Television Center West). A Disney employee day care for the campus was given design approval in July 2008. Disney's Pixar sequel unit,

Circle 7 Animation Circle Seven Animation (or Disney Circle Seven Animation) was a short-lived division of Walt Disney Feature Animation specializing in computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation and was originally intended to create sequels to the Disney-owned Pi ...

, was started in a converted warehouse on Circle 7 Drive in 2004, only to be closed in 2006. The campus' second phase began construction in September 2010 on a 338,000-square-foot six-story building with a five-story wing and a parking structure. 1,200 employees were expected to be working in the new building. In mid-November 2018, the Disney Stores USA headquarters moved out of the

Royal Laundry Complex The Royal Laundry Complex is a historic laundry plant located at 443 S. Raymond Avenue in Pasadena, California, Pasadena, California consisting of close to 72,500-square-foot. Gordon Kaufmann, a prominent architect who also designed the Hoover Dam ...

to G3C. Disney units on the campus are: *

(2004-2006) *

Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

* DisneyToon Studios (1990-2018) * Marvel Animation, 623 Circle Seven Drive *The Disney Children's Center, Inc. *

Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...

(1961–present) *

Disney Store The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products s ...

headquarters * Mickey's of Glendale, Imagineering exclusive store The KABC-TV studios are adjacent to the campus, but not a part of it.

Notes

External links

Free Tours of Grand Central Air Terminal & Museum

Grand Central Air Terminal
by the City of Glendale
Grand Central Air Terminal Register
by Delta Mike Airfield *

by Paul Freeman * * * {{USAAF 4th Air Force World War II History of the San Fernando Valley Defunct airports in California Aviation history of the United States 1928 establishments in California History of Los Angeles County, California Airports in Los Angeles County, California Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California Transportation in Glendale, California Buildings and structures in Glendale, California Airports established in 1928 Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Air transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Historic American Buildings Survey in California The Walt Disney Company