Theme building at LAX to reopen soon

Air Wear is sold at LAX in Terminal 4, a short walk from the Theme building. We're happy to read the building will re-open soon.

View LAX t-shirts, travel bags, and mugs

New York Times
April 17, 2010
In Los Angeles, the Saucer Is Ready to Land Again
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
LOS ANGELES — Before they face traffic on the 405 freeway, grab an In-N-Out burger or zip off to Rodeo Drive to see whatever they think is there, visitors who arrive here through LAX first stare up at the futuristic spider-shaped building at the center of the airport, welcoming them to the edge of America.

The structure, the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport, is one of the most famous emblems of this city, right up there with palm trees, surfers and the Hollywood sign.

For the last three years, it was shrouded in scaffolding after a 1,000-pound chunk fell off one of the upper stucco-covered arches and landed on the roof of a restaurant. No one was injured, but the need for serious renovation was highlighted.

As the building was being repaired, and retrofitted to better withstand earthquakes, it served as a disorienting eyesore, rather than a welcoming icon.

Its completion was delayed several times, to the consternation of airport officials.

But now the $12.3-million project is nearly done — all but some roof treatments and a few coats of paint — and it will soon be back to its former glory, only with earthquake protection.

Maintaining the Theme Building’s midcentury flying-saucer shape while correcting for significant flaws in the design that threatened its structural integrity was a major challenge for architects, engineers and contractors.

Read the full article - please click here

Tel Aviv mug from Air Wear

We're shipping a Tel Aviv Air Wear mug to Alison in Seattle

View all Tel Aviv travel bags, mugs, t-shirts, and more - click here

Air Wear gift certificates shipped to Cape Air airlines

We just shipped gift certificates to Cape Air airlines in Massachusetts. They are giving the Air Wear cards to employees as part of an employee appreciation event. Sounds like a cool company to work for. ; )

www.capeair.com

blogs despoke and Spot Cool Stuff feature Air Wear

Thanks to the blogs despoke.com and Spot Cool Stuff for giving Air Wear a shout out. We found SCS's write up entertaining:

Well, there’s lots of fun to be had combining airport codes. Get an airline ticket from San Vito, Costa Rica to Helsinki, Finland to Anderson, USA and then to Baku, Azerbaijan and your luggage tag would read TOO-HEL-AND-BAK.

As for single airport codes here are Spot Cool Stuff’s five favorites:

#5 SEX – Sembach, Germany

Want to send your luggage away for a weekend of debauchery? Apparently this airport is ideal.

#4 FAR – Fargo, North Dakota, USA

The thing of it being that Fargo is indeed not close to much of anything.

#3 SUX – Sioux City, Iowa, USA

Sioux City isn’t really that bad.

#2 FUK – Fukuoka, Japan

Spot Cool Stuff’s former home airport; our admittedly juvenile selves had to snicker a bit whenever we checked a bag to there.

#1 YYZ – Toronto

All airports in Canada have an airport code that starts with Y. Most have some logic to them; eg. YQM is Quebec’s Montreal airport. But for some inexplicable reason Toronto is YYZ. We love the randomness of that. YYZ is also the only airport code to become the title of a popular song, an instrumental from Canadian rock band Rush. The song is meant to capture the spirit of the Toronto airport, from the stop-and-go nature of waiting for flights to the roar of jet planes. Click below to hear snippets of two versions of YYZ-the-song: the first is the 1981 Rush original, the second is a more mellow version from The Vitamin String Quartet (which does cool classical music renditions of every Rush tune from their album Exit… Stage Right as well as covers of popular hits from Metallica, Michael Jackson and Queen among others, though now we are really getting off topic).

Click here to read the full post at SCS