A photo history of nightmare LAX travel, from 1928
 

The airport is expected to be the busiest in the US this Thanksgiving season, with 2.1 million passengers traveling through in the last 10 days of November.

So as holiday travel season dawns, let's take a look back at LAX through the years, and realize it was always kind of a giant pain:

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2015/1...story.php#more

Thanks for sharing this, the article has some really great photographs in it. I didn't realize that it took them so many years to add two levels to the roadways outside the terminals.

Thanks for posting. Love these kinds of photo time capsules.

The upper roadway, Terminal 1 and TBIT were build in the early 80's in preparation for the 1984 Olympic games.

That is really cool, thank you for sharing!

I don't know the history, but what we have in LAX today seems like the result of separate terminal projects, with little or no thought to how the airport would work as a whole.

The airport was built primarily for O&D traffic, not as a connecting hub. I remember when there were only six terminals in the late sixties. T2 was the international terminal, Pan Am and National also operated from there, T3 was primarily TWA, T4 American, T5 Western, T6 Continental and T7 United. I don't recall where PSA was located; probably with WA or CO. Other smaller operators, such as Braniff and Delta, were scattered around.

Looking at the pictures reminds me that emerging from baggage claim was a whole lot less awful in the old days. Arriving visitors' first view of LA is really dismal now: a fume-filled, noisy, grey tunnel with very little to suggest you're near the beach or that the sky is probably blue.

Do you recall the history of car rental facilities at LAX? I'm curious if they used to be located in the parking area surrounded by the terminals.

LAX is a nightmare for families with young children when they are renting cars. I mean that literally. With one or more car seats and lots of baggage in tow, you have to wait for your shuttle bus on a narrow concrete strip, with traffic zooming past on each side. If your kid were to dart off in either direction, it might be tragic (wonder if that's ever happened).

Maybe there are airports even more badly-designed than LAX, but it tops my list.

Being that it is my main home airport, I've never had to rent a car at LAX. However, I have taken a parking shuttle more times than I can count and I agree with you 100% about the pickup area for the shuttle buses on the narrow concrete median.

As I recall, prior to the construction of the upper deck, there was no traffic island/median in the middle of the roadway - it was probably constructed to house the upper deck support columns - and the shuttle buses stopped at the curb, right outside the terminals doors.

Not just car rentals- coming back home and waiting for the WallyPark shuttle is just as bad! Thankfully our kids are past the darting age, but I can't think of an airport with a worse pickup design.

I wished they had posted a photo of Mike Lyman's restaurant at the old LAX. When we were very little, it was such a fun place to go and watch the planes.

http://i1.wp.com/www.martinturnbull....k-building.jpg

Is anyone aware of any long-term plan for LAX, similar to the one SFO had a little over a decade ago? The most pressing need I see is for an airport train that would connect the terminals with a new car rental facility, parking lots and the Green Line station.

Thanks, but I get "Sorry, that page was not found" when I click the link.