January 6th, 2010 @ 12:11 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure
Way back in the times before powder-packed underwear and digital strip searches, Max R. Jensen gave us this rare look inside a 1950’s Sea-Tac (which had only recently gone international). If I have my bearings straight, the end of this hallway is now the start of a security line. Looks a lot more relaxing back then. Click for the high res copy.
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| The interior of the new $11,000,000 Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, now serving the United States, Alaska, and the Orient. Ektachrome by Max R. Jensen. |
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January 6th, 2010 @ 10:04 am
That’s a great shot — it all looks so “modern”!
Any idea what those light blue kiosks are, with their red- & white-lit displays? At first I wanted them to be ATMs.
January 6th, 2010 @ 3:18 pm
Those are probably flight insurance vending machines, which I just barely remember seeing at airports when I was a child. Photo:
http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/26/sfomuseum005.jpg
25 cents for every $1000 of coverage in the 1950s, according to this article (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19960805/ai_n10095767/). You’d pump in quarters until you’d bought the amount of coverage you wanted. If your plane went down, your heirs got the money. Cheery.
January 6th, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
Good question, Geoff. Maybe they were travel insurance kiosks? Those were pretty popular back in the day.
January 6th, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
I think I preferred the pace of travel back then. Looks more civilized!
January 7th, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
Reminds me of Baden Baden Airport in Germany now.
January 7th, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
The end of the hallway is definitely now where the stairs go down to the north satellite.
January 8th, 2010 @ 8:22 am
I remember being fascinated by those insurance machines. I wonder how many times they actually paid out?
It looks like there are some wooden phone booths visible about where I went through the security line last week.
January 11th, 2010 @ 1:19 am
I remember as a kid, I’d go there with my parents and eat at a steak restaurant there at Sea-Tac. Barinoff’s? Red Lion? Something very royal and they served a piece of cheese with the apple pie for dessert. And then after dinner, we’d slip into the “movie theater” where the only thing on the screen were old industrial and advertising films, with an occasional documentary thrown in for interest. There would always be a service man or some stranded traveler trying to sleep in one of the upright chairs.
January 24th, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
Thanks for this image. I have great memories taking the stairs on either side of this “main lobby” up to the balconies (outside) to watch the airplanes. My dad and I would sometimes hang around the airport after making flower deliveries to air freight… and if it was a “deluxe outing” we’d have something to eat at the “Rim Room” (late 1960’s to early 1970’s — maybe just a tad bit later than this photo?). You could watch the action going on at Western Airlines (concourse-C) from a comfortable seat. I’d always opt for the french dip sandwich.