Time Capsule: Idlewild Airport, 1961
The mammoth facility now known as John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) was once known as Idlewild Airport. Idlewild, officially designated as New York International Airport, Anderson Field, received its first commercial flight on July 1, 1948. It was renamed after the late President Kennedy on December 24, 1963, just one month after he was assassinated in Dallas.
Life magazine photographer Dmitri Kessel traveled to Idlewild in 1961 to capture some outstanding photographs of the facility for their September 22 issue. What he found — especially with the interiors — was a marvel of mid-century decor and airlines gone by. To look at this photo gallery is to walk right into an episode of Mad Men. So grab your fedora and your suitcase, and let’s go to Idlewild!
(And for more time capsules, click here.)
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- Pan American terminal at night.
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- Central heating & refrigeration plant.
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- Van Wyck Expressway approach.
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- “Flight” sculpture by Alexander Calder, International Arrivals terminal.
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- American Airlines terminal, with stained glass windows designed by Robert Sowers.
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- New Trans World Airlines (TWA) terminal under construction.
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- Interior of the lobby of the International Hotel.
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- Fountain of Liberty at night, in front of the International Arrival Building.
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- Pan American Airlines terminal.
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- Interior view, American Airlines terminal. Stained glass window designed by Robert Sowers.
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- Pan American and Eastern Airlines terminals.
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- Idlewild control tower.
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- Zodiac sculptures at the Pan American Airlines terminal.
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