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Topline:
It’s prime time for holiday travel and thousands of people are flying through LAX. With all the commotion, it’s easy to get pulled into stress. Fight that by looking for the airport’s most fascinating parts.
What’s out there? There’s a lot! First is that hard-to-miss concrete spaceship in the center: the Theme Building. Walk up to it! It’s a relic of Googie architecture, that mid-century modern style influenced by the space age. Or, try to find all 26 glass pillars outside that comprise the Kinetic Light Installation — those giant color-changing glow sticks have been there since 2000.
What else can I see? LAX has an art program, believe it or not. If you’re flying through the Tom Bradley terminal, look out for a bell-shaped object above TSA. That’s Bell Tower, a type of hanging collage made of construction site materials from around Los Angeles. That terminal also has wavy aluminum roofs that you can see on takeoff, shaped to mirror the Pacific Ocean.
Explore more art: LAX Explained: Your Guide To Navigating The West Coast’s Most Infuriating Airport
