The crowd in this photo had gathered on the roof of the Los Angeles Post Office Terminal Annex on the outskirts of downtown LA to watch this Los Angeles Airways helicopter take off. October 1, 1947 was a special day because it was the inaugural flight of what was soon to become a twice-a-day mail service shuttling between the main post office and LA International Airport, thus cutting down the time it took for airmail to reach the letter boxes of Angelenos. It’s a good thing nothing went awry because that’s a lot of people standing not too far away!
Lisa B says: “From the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News 9/27/1947, according to the article it was “the world’s first regular helicopter mail service and Eddie Cantor and June Haver were on hand to deliver letters for the first flight.”
I learn so much from this blog! Thank you for sharing Martin! 😊
Thank you, Patti. And guess what – I do too!
It seems like this would be expensive, no? Back in those days it wouldn’t take all that long to drive from downtown to LAX?
Of course, were there any freeways yet other than the Arroyo Seco Parkway?
I think you answered your own question – all surface streets!
I see a tie-in to your previous post on the Pantages…Mayor Bowron. One of the best shots of the theater and the Frolic Room is of Mr. & Mrs. Bowron riding in that convertible Roadmaster during the Christmas parade. Boy, that guy got the best photo-ops! Even Jimmie Walker would have to have been turning green, and he was already gone IIRC.