L Los Angeles International Airport is in the midst of its most dramatic transformation since the Jet Age. Once defined by traffic snarls and dated concourses, LAX is now emerging as something else entirely—a multi-billion-dollar gateway designed for ease, elegance, and experience. At the heart of this renewal is architecture, both old and new. The iconic Theme Building still stands like a sci-fi relic from 1961, its white, swooping arches an unmistakable symbol of mid-century optimism. Once home to a futuristic revolving restaurant, the structure now awaits a new purpose. While closed to the public, it looms with potential, and whispers suggest it may soon be repurposed for dining, events, or even an adjacent boutique hotel. Elsewhere across the sprawling campus, the future is arriving gate by gate. New concourses stretch out like minimalist glass cathedrals—bright, efficient, and lined with interactive signage. Solar-shaded facades keep heat at bay, while landscaped plazas soften the airport’s once-concrete image. These aren’t just terminals—they’re civic spaces, designed to reflect the city they serve. Dining has seen a significant evolution. Gone are the uninspired fast-food counters of travel’s past. In their place are local brands, chef-driven menus, and even the introduction of ghost kitchens, allowing passengers to order meals from a wider range of restaurants throughout the airport. It’s part of a growing effort to turn LAX into a taste-driven experience as much as a transportation hub. Even the seating areas, with their soft leather banquettes and power-equipped communal tables, feel more like hotel lounges than holding pens. But the biggest change might be what’s happening beneath it all. Below the taxiing jets and rental car garages, a new electric train line is gliding into place. The Automated People Mover—set to open soon—is an elevated, driverless system that connects all terminals with offsite parking, the consolidated rental car facility, and the regional Metro line. For the first time, visitors will be able to arrive in Los Angeles and access the city without ever stepping into a car. It’s a vision of frictionless travel, long promised, finally realized. As LAX readies itself for the 2028 Olympics, the changes aren’t just cosmetic. They speak to a broader redefinition of the airport’s role in Los Angeles life: not just a way in or out, but a cultural threshold—one that’s being reimagined with purpose, polish, and a deep nod to LA’s architectural heritage. The Jet Age never truly ended here. It’s just been upgraded.

Terminal 1: Trejo’s Tacos, Urth Caffé (Coming soon) Terminal 2: Built-to-order ghost kitchens with app-based ordering Terminal 6: Top Chef–curated pizza, Peet’s Coffee Tom Bradley (TBIT): ink.sack, Petrossian Champagne Bar, Border Grill Highlights: – Local brands featured: A focus on SoCal favorites elevates airport dining – Tech meets taste: Order from your phone, pick up at your gate – Design-forward spaces: No more plastic trays and fluorescent lighting

Track Length: 2.25 miles (elevated guideway) Stations: 6 total (3 inside LAX, 3 outside) Operating Speed: ~47 mph Capacity: 10,000 passengers per hour Frequency: Every 2–3 minutes Fully Electric: Yes – zero emissions Opens: Expected 2024 Connects To: Metro C Line + Consolidated Rental Car Center (ConRAC) – Design-forward spaces: No more plastic trays and fluorescent lighting

– MSC South Concourse: Opens 2025, adds 8 new gates – Terminal 9 + Concourse 0: Massive expansion east of Sepulveda – Theme Building Revival: Still unannounced—but a top priority – Olympics 2028 Prep: LAX’s total makeover aims for global debut

In the mid-20th century, as jet travel promised to shrink the world and catapult humanity into a new era, Los Angeles International Airport aimed to embody that optimism in concrete and steel. Rising like a spaceship on launch, the Theme Building, completed in 1961, was both a symbol of the future and a love letter to a city infatuated with speed, glamour, and style.

Perched in the heart of LAX, the Theme Building is more than just an architectural oddity—it’s a testament to the space-age dreams of postwar America. Its sleek white arches and suspended central pod look like something straight out of a 1960s sci-fi movie, which makes sense: it was built during a time when Americans were equally captivated by air travel and outer space.

But behind its futuristic façade is a story of collaboration, adaptation, and vision.

The Minds Behind the Marvel

The original vision for LAX’s redevelopment was bold: a central terminal topped with a glass dome, surrounded by satellite boarding areas connected by underground tunnels. The design was ambitious—too ambitious, it turned out, for the airport’s budget and timeline. As plans were scaled back, one element remained too striking to scrap: the central theme structure.

The design that became the Theme Building was the work of a veritable dream team of architects:

• William Pereira and Charles Luckman, whose firm conceived the overall plan for the new LAX. Pereira would go on to design the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco and several major campuses in California.

• Welton Becket, whose architectural fingerprints are all over Los Angeles, including the Music Center and the Capitol Records Building, helped execute the final design.

• And Paul R. Williams, a pioneering Black architect revered for his residential work with Hollywood’s elite, contributed key refinements that helped give the Theme Building its distinctive style.

What emerged from this collaboration was a 135-foot-high flying saucer-like structure supported by two massive concrete parabolic arches. These arches, which appear to effortlessly hold the hovering restaurant pod, are in fact separate from the pod and serve as an illusion of suspension—a structural and aesthetic sleight of hand that still amazes visitors today.

From Rotating Restaurant to Cultural Icon

Inside the Theme Building, travelers once dined at Encounter Restaurant, a retro-futuristic dining spot that opened in 1997 after a major renovation. Though the restaurant closed in 2013, it left behind memories of martinis under spaceship ceilings and panoramic views of departing flights.

For years, the building’s observation deck offered one of the best public views of the LAX runways and the Hollywood Hills beyond. Closed after 9/11 for security concerns, it reopened after extensive retrofitting and seismic upgrades, reinforcing the structure while preserving its original flair.

Designated, Respected, and Reinvented

In 1993, the city of Los Angeles officially designated the Theme Building a Historic-Cultural Monument. Since then, its presence has become more nostalgic than functional—a beacon of LAX’s Jet Age glamour amidst today’s sprawling, security-driven terminals.

Yet, despite the changes to the airport around it, the Theme Building endures. It’s appeared in films, inspired countless photographers, and remains one of the most recognized architectural statements in all of Southern California.

It’s not just a building. It’s a time capsule.

And it’s still standing, quietly defying gravity and reminding travelers—just before takeoff—that L.A. has always had its eyes on the sky.