The mostly forgotten LA airports that pioneered early travel

Let’s fly back in time for a moment.

It’s the early 1900s, air travel is just starting to take off and the sky is truly the limit.

In Los Angeles, movie stars, stunt performers, aviation pioneers, law enforcement and the military are experimenting with this new form of transportation. It means a plethora of small airfields and regional airports are springing up, dotted all around the county.

Today most are forgotten. But where were they? And why did they close down?

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Hollywood’s flight era

After the turn of the century, our region was brimming with all different kinds of aerodromes, according to aviation historian Barbara Schultz, who discussed the subject on LAist 89.3’s AirTalk.

In these days, aerodromes, which is a general term for any place with aviation operations, ranged from fancy airports to scroungy airfields. Some of these places were private, such as the military’s Clover Field, which later became the Santa Monica Airport. Other spots were more public.

Sydney Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin’s brother) and director Cecil B. DeMille, for example, were Hollywood stars who tried their hands at flight around the Fairfax district. They owned airfields that offered what were likely the first commercial flights in California. Meanwhile, Thomas Ince, a silent film actor and director, also established an airfield in Venice, Ince Field, named after him.

In 1914, it became the first airfield on the west coast to be officially designated an airport, according to Venice historian Jeffrey Stanton. The airport was located along Venice Boulevard, between Washington Boulevard and Washington Way. It was largely used by stunt pilots who performed for beach crowds and movies.

But it was also the home of one of the first aerial police forces, according to Stanton. Aviator Otto “Swede” Meyerhöfer, who was sworn in as a deputy in 1919, was called on at the airport when the police needed sky support.

The airport itself was short-lived, though. Since Ince Field was surrounded by residential areas, it couldn’t expand to support longer runways. The airfield closed in 1923.

Glendale’s Grand Central Air Terminal

Jean-Christophe Dick, president and chair of the Flight Path Museum at LAX, says these regional airports were also essential for access.

“ Airports that were closer to that downtown area, such as the Glendale Airport… were more convenient to get to than Mines Field [today’s LAX],” he said on AirTalk.

The Grand Central Air Terminal officially closed on July 15, 1959. It's mostly replaced with a warehouse district, but the main terminal survives.

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Herman Schultheis

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Herman J Schultheis Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

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Opened in February 1929, Grand Central was the first major commercial airport in the Los Angeles area. It was also the first with paved runways in the western United States, according to the city of Glendale. The air terminal saw many stars over the years, including Amelia Earhart, who landed there at least once.

Grand Central served as a thriving commercial hub with top airlines, including American Airlines, up until World War II. Commercial flights shut down, and the airport was transformed into an camouflaged camp, largely for the 318th Fighter Wing squadron, according to the L.A. Conservancy.

Amelia Earhart arrives at Glendale's Grand Central Air Terminal in May 1931.

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Courtesy Glendale Public Library Special Collections via Flickr

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After the war, the airport faced the same problem as Ince Field. Its short runways couldn’t accommodate modern jet planes. The airport’s popularity declined and it closed in 1959. Today, elements of the historic airport still stand in Walt Disney’s Grand Central Creative Campus.

Griffith Park Airport

L.A.’s great backyard, Griffith Park, also got into the flying game. Just across the L.A. River to the south was the park’s aerodrome, which was built around 1912.

It was an early site for aviator Glenn L. Martin, one of the co-founders of Lockheed Martin. His first flight school opened in Griffith Park, according to the California National Guard.

However, Griffith Park’s airport was mostly a military one. In the 1920s, the land was given to the guard to use for its 115th Observation Squadron. They built a base and two runways there.

The California National Guard's hangars and a biplane at Griffith Park Airport, circa 1928.

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Courtesy UCLA Library Digital Collections

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It’s unclear when guard members left the area, but L.A. County was eventually left with two airports in close proximity.

“ The airspace overlapped, and also some politics got involved,” Dick said. “So, that’s why Griffith Park closed and Glendale continued on.”

Today, that land is the L.A. Zoo and the Autry Museum of the American West.