Burbank Airport has been through more names than a Hollywood divorcee. It’s had 7 names since it opened as United Airport in 1930. This shot of the airport’s main restaurant, The Sky Room Café, was taken when the facility was known as Lockheed Air Terminal, from 1940 to 1967. We can trace this photo to the war years because attached to the post is a “Black-Out Switch” needed when Los Angeles was under black-out conditions following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Understandably, Angelenos feared they might be next. Also, the land behind the sign is largely undeveloped, a situation that wouldn’t stay that way after the war, when LA experienced a huge boom.
Matchbook cover for the Sky Room Restaurant at Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California:
Menu cover for The Sky Room Restaurant at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California:
Airplane-shaped children’s menu of the The Sky Room Restaurant at Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California:
When I was a young boy living with my family in Burbank, my Dad would often take all of us, in the evening, over to Lockheed to watch the airplanes take off and land. This would have been in the early 1940s. Dad loved aviation and knew about all the different planes. We, my two sisters and me were always excited when we went on this special family outing, even though Lockheed was only a few miles away. One reason we were excited to go was because we new that Dad an Mom would always finish the evening by taking us up to the Sky Room at the top of the air terminal for ice cream. It was a thrill for me to be in this fancy restaurant. We could not afford to have dinner there, but Dad managed to always get us desert. I remember the Children’s menu, shaped like a big Lockheed plane. Your posting today brought a lot of wonderful childhood memories back about those days so long ago. Thanks for posting this Martin.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for posting this. For most of us, places like best only exist in photographs but sharing your memories with us the way you did makes them feel so much more real.
Martin
Burbank Airport has been through more names than a Hollywood divorcee. It’s had 7 names since it opened as United Airport in 1930. This shot of the airport’s main restaurant, The Sky Room Café, was taken when the facility was known as Lockheed Air Terminal, from 1940 to 1967. We can trace this photo to the war years because attached to the post is a “Black-Out Switch” needed when Los Angeles was under black-out conditions following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Understandably, Angelenos feared they might be next. Also, the land behind the sign is largely undeveloped, a situation that wouldn’t stay that way after the war, when LA experienced a huge boom.
When I was a young boy living with my family in Burbank, my Dad would often take all of us, in the evening, over to Lockheed to watch the airplanes take off and land. This would have been in the early 1940s. Dad loved aviation and knew about all the different planes. We, my two sisters and me were always excited when we went on this special family outing, even though Lockheed was only a few miles away. One reason we were excited to go was because we new that Dad an Mom would always finish the evening by taking us up to the Sky Room at the top of the air terminal for ice cream. It was a thrill for me to be in this fancy restaurant. We could not afford to have dinner there, but Dad managed to always get us desert. I remember the Children’s menu, shaped like a big Lockheed plane. Your posting today brought a lot of wonderful childhood memories back about those days so long ago. Thanks for posting this Martin.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for posting this. For most of us, places like best only exist in photographs but sharing your memories with us the way you did makes them feel so much more real.
Martin