I don’t have a lot of information on this photo of the interior of a Transcontinental & Western Air Douglas DC-1 aircraft other than it was taken somewhere in Southern California in 1933. But it’s so atmospheric and evocative of the era, that I wanted to post it anyway. I love how the women are all wearing hats and the guy in front is wearing a three-piece suit. And nobody is schlepping three big carry-ons hoping they’ll find room in the overheads and annoyed that they can’t. Mind you, this cabin probably wasn’t pressurized like they are today, so in the air it was probably as noisy as all get-out and that kid in the second-to-last row will start screaming his head of any minute now.

** UPDATE ** From this article it looks like the above photo might have been for publicity:

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/transcontinental-western-air-inc/

Gary H on Facebook says: “re: the “glamour” of flying in this photo. Decades later it was certainly luxurious, and even in the 40s it was more comfortable because of pressurized cabins…but in the 30s it was not only rare and for the rich…it was not comfortable. The dual engine propellor plane had to fly under 10,000 feet before pressurized cabins. Loud, noisy, bumpy, and at the mercy of weather. This photo is for a transcontinental flight on Feb 18-19, 1934. It took 13 hours (a new record) and had to land twice to fuel. A great privilege for the rich, however, anything but a glamorous experience.”

Gary also supplied this photo of the aircraft they were flying on: