Theme Building
The distinctive white googie "Theme Building," designed by Pereira & Luckman architect Paul Williams and constructed in 1961 by Robert E. McKee Construction Co., resembles a flying saucer that has landed on its four legs. A restaurant with a sweeping view of the airport is suspended beneath two arches that form the legs. The Los Angeles City Council designated the building a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1992. A $4 million renovation, with retro-futuristic interior and electric lighting designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, was completed before the "Encounter Restaurant" opened there in 1997. Visitors are able to take the elevator up to the roof of the "Theme Building", which closed after the September 11 attacks for security reasons and reopened to the public on weekends beginning on June 10, 2010. Additionally, a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001 is also located on the grounds of the Theme Building, as three of the four hijacked planes were originally destined for LAX that day.
Read more about this topic: Los Angeles International Airport
Famous quotes containing the words theme and/or building:
“She is a theme of honor and renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame in time to come canonize us.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world.”
—Heraclitus (c. 535–475 B.C.)