The Neglected Crown Jewel of LAX

THE FIRST THING YOU  see on the approach into LAX from ground level is our most recognizable landmark — a clear, physical symbol of the city itself. Of course, I mean the traffic: the chrome-and-rubber anaconda slithering through the airport, always threatening to choke L.A.’s beating heart.

Los Angeles International Airport is a notoriously miserable place to visit. This is a great municipal irony because it was designed to be not only a delight for travelers, but also an attraction for those who had no plans to get on a plane. The envisioned centerpiece of that joy was the airport’s Theme Building — the Space Age crown jewel of the jet-set dream. It was created to make LAX sexy, futuristic, and a place for Angelenos to gather outside of those damn cars we’re always stuck in. The building is an official historical landmark — and is also emblazoned on postcards, coffee mugs, and T-shirts. 

Tourists could be forgiven for thinking they might be able to visit as they pass through the airport. They cannot. The building, once a swinging destination, has gone from a lively social hub to an empty husk. There it sits like a giant, futuristic white spaceship, rising up in the center of the airport, fully visible to any of the more than 70 million people who pass through each year. And accessible to almost none of them. This closing off took place, like many things pertaining to both LAX and Los Angeles historic preservation, with little public input and scant evidence of thoughtful planning. 

Los Angeles just finished welcoming tourists here for the World Cup, and plans to host millions more for the Olympics in 2028. The reviews of the airport are … not good. “I’m Still Lost,” read the headline of one story that was republished in newspapers around the world this spring, recounting tourists’ bafflement at trying to navigate the airport. Restoring the Theme Building might be one way to address the shared alienation so many different people from so many different cultures all experience together at LAX. (Fixing the public transportation might be another, but that’s a different story.) Yet airport officials refused to answer even basic questions about the landmark, ignoring repeated requests for comment. So I launched my own mini-investigation into how the symbol of our airport’s Space Age future deteriorated into a sad shell from the past.