Grand Central’s Grand Past

Planes no longer land on Grand Central Avenue in Glendale as they once did when that stretch was a main runway for the Grand Central Air Terminal.

Today, the only reminder of the historic landing field where the memorable ending of “Casablanca” was filmed, is its elegant old Terminus building--centerpiece of an evolving 100-acre Grand Central Business Centre.

Located just north of the Golden State and Ventura freeways on Airway Boulevard, the airport site once served as a U.S. Customs port of air entry and serviced Pan American Airways and Mexican Aviation aircraft.

It was the headquarters of the Grand Central Flying School and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s air squadron, and during World War II also served as home base for Lockheed’s P-38 fighter planes.

Such greats as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post flew in and out of Grand Central Air Terminal in its earlier days, and the “crate” in which Douglas (Wrong Way) Corrigan “lost his way” on an announced flight from New York to California in 1938, landing the next day in Ireland, was pieced together and tuned up on this field.

Established in 1928 by a small group of aviation enthusiasts, the original 500-acre field passed into the hands of Curtiss-Wright Corp., which enlarged and developed it, but was superseded by the Union Air Terminal at Burbank.

The site, now occupied by the 2-million-square-foot Grand Central Business Centre, is owned by Prudential Insurance Co.

In addition to the Terminus building, two of the original hangars still exist and 69 other single-level buildings are leased out as warehouse and light-industrial facilities. And, thanks to its owners, some of the history of Glendale has been preserved in the historic Spanish-style Terminus that remains the centerpiece of the modern business/industrial park.

With good reason. At one point, the Glendale air terminal was the premier airport of the Southland and offered the first transcontinental air service between New York and Los Angeles.

And who was the first pilot to inaugurate it? None other than Lucky Lindy (Charles Lindbergh).