How LA almost created an airport island for the supersonic age

LAX is the butt of many jokes around Southern California.

People often dislike driving there because of the intense traffic and time it takes. Still, it’s an important part of Los Angeles life if you want to fly.

But what if air travel here had turned out differently? Back in the late ‘60s, eye-popping plans emerged to reshape flight in the U.S., along with a dream to create a sort of LAX extension — on an island.

The supersonic age

The aviation industry was looking into high-speed passenger flight in the 1950s — and it was a technological race the U.S. wanted to win.

Commercial supersonic travel was in early development around the world. Countries were trying to build new aircraft that could fly passengers across long distances faster than the speed of sound.

But the U.S. was losing ground to the Soviets, who were further ahead in development. That’s largely why in 1963, federal aviation officials created the supersonic transport program, also known as SST.

At this point, the U.S. still was in the mockup stage. The SST program called for aircraft that could reach at least Mach 2 with 300 passengers on intercontinental flights.

But breaking the sound barrier like that comes with very loud booms — which residents protested. Noise and environmental concerns slowly became a problem. How would these new potential planes fit into the populated LAX area?

Santa Monica Island

A map of Santa Monica Island.

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R. Donald Jaye

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Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

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One answer was to construct an island off the coast. It would’ve been a few miles into the Pacific Ocean, between Santa Monica and Marina del Rey.

Architect R. Donald Jaye rendered a design of it in 1968. It included a subway route that connected the island to the main LAX airport. Travelers also could hop on a route right off PCH near Santa Monica Pier to get to the island.

The island could’ve had room for the whole shebang — a commercial area, hotels, apartments, and even an aerospace university. There also would’ve been two 15,000 foot runways, which gave the planes plenty of takeoff room.

It’s unclear how seriously city officials pursued this dream, but it clearly didn’t happen. Why?

Plans never came to fruition

The plan eventually was scrapped.

In 1968, the city of L.A. and the county decided to put all their supersonic chips in a spot north of the city, which was called the Palmdale Intercontinental Airport.

Thousands of acres were purchased for this airport, just west of Air Force Plant 42. While a small terminal opened in 1971, it doesn’t have commercial service today. The city of Palmdale hopes to bring it back, according to its website.

Ultimately, while the U.K. and France jointly introduced the supersonic Concorde in 1976, commercial supersonic development fell apart in the U.S. mostly because the SST program became pretty controversial.

Part of this was because of how the aviation industry and policymakers handled the program’s negative ramifications, like intense sound levels and pollution.

According to physicists Joel Primack and Frank von Hippel in “Advice And Dissent: Scientists In The Political Arena,” there were active attempts to hide information from the public, including suppressing unfavorable reports and commissioning others to criticize or supersede them.

After years of backlash, Congress canceled the SST program in 1971.