Los Angeles International Airport - 1970

Lucia Smith-Kramer, Patty Repka, Tom Gundy, Russ Billzing, Randy, John Sinclair and other friends at LAX - 1970.
Video has been edited in slo-mo and color-corrected.

[@GeorgeVreelandHill]

Back then, you got full meals, snacks and more on the flights. No extra charges for baggage and the ticket prices were great. You could bring drinks on the plane too. When your plane landed, well, you went on with your life in an era of innocence and FAR better times. If you have a ticket to 1970, I will take it.

[@ediutama6836]

That was definitely due to being fewer human beings in existence at the time...cheers!

[@AntiMasonic93]

9/11 changed everything. Now, people are paranoid.

[@missisfreddiemercury]

exactly ... now everything is charged extra and no meals. Sucks. the travelling experience is just a mess nowadays.

[@steve5976]

@@ediutama6836 they are working on exterminating us now

[@markescartin1915]

Yeah, and people actually showered, and the plane didn't smell like a greyhound bus!

[@longlifeprinters9]

As a 10 year old, me & my older brother would ride our bicycles to LAX and go up inside to that elevated restaurant & sit down & eat the free peanuts & watch planes take off and land. I think our mom didn't even know where we were. But, our dad worked at the airport so if we got in trouble, we could ask adults to call his department. Imagine, a 10 year old going to LAX on his own, to watch airplanes.

[@1368jeffrey]

In 1967 I was a 9 year old AvGeek from Upland CA and if I was behaving and doing good with school my parents would drop me off at Ontario Airport Saturday morning to watch planes all day- at age 11 I graduated to saving my allowance to buy a $16 round trip ticket from Ontario to LAX on Western Airlines. Out in the morning and back in the late afternoon. I would run like the wind all over the LAX collecting timetables and taking pictures of widebodys, eating a bag lunch on the observation deck of the Theme Building! Talk about IMAGINE! It was a different time for sure. Can't believe the world we live in now but happy and thankful for the memories of those days☺

[@dianadoos1944]

we too loved watching planes take off

[@Jeff-sp7bg]

When I was 8 I would ride my bike over to sfo and watch planes with my friend. This was in the 80s.

[@westerlywinds5684]

I remember how jet engines used to screech and howl while taxiing. They left a black blanket of soot behind them after take off and into their first turn even. Like a crop dusting plane.

[@Logan_Woods-zd2zi]

There plenty of bad people around back then, that would have taken advantage of young kids on their own. You were lucky.

[@TheUtuber999]

When I was a teenager back in 1981, I used to take the Flyaway bus (more like a Greyhound style "coach") from the San Fernando Valley to LAX with a friend, walk around, take pictures, get snacks from the vending machines in the ground floor of the old control tower, watch planes fly overhead behind runways 24 L/R, take the shuttle over to the West Imperial Terminal to watch the planes take off from runways 25 L/R. I still have a photo album with pictures of planes taken from those day trips.

[@Harta23]

Los Angeles International 1970 look so cool Thanks for great sharing greatting from Macau

[@longlifeprinters9]

My dad worked there in the 60's & 70's. He even took home an old Corvair truck they were getting rid of & made it into a dune buggy. Good times, & we didn't know any different.

[@therelaxationstation5258]

Back when it was fun to fly.

[@jamesmack3314]

Too much smoking

[@jasjas-rm9kc]

The airlines used to have a deal called “student standby.” Show up at the airport departure lounge, and if there were any empty seats, you could fly for half price. That was a good deal. One time, the only empty seat was in first class, so that’s what I got.

[@vhalleranch]

The people look beautiful and happy. I've never before seen an airport look like a fun place to go.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Six or seven people seen in a few minutes of film do not make for a complete view of an airport.

[@vhalleranch]

@@brianarbenz1329 Correct, but I don't even see anything like this anywhere anymore, and I do remember the 70s and 80s when good looking people were more common. I am generalizing here. Airports didn't used to be so militarized, either.

[@brianarbenz1329]

@@vhalleranch Well I've done my part to reverse the problem. Since 2008, I've lost 80 pounds. I've gone from 257 to 177, and I'm taking much more care of my health and grooming. In the mid-70s through the mid-200s, I was out of shape, messy and heading for an early grave. So there are success stories out there. 😃

[@brianarbenz1329]

@@vhalleranch I agree airports weren't so militarized and regimented. That's because of Al-Quaida and previous hijackings, many of which had happened before 1970. Airports have gotten worse. The de-regulation of 1978 mucked up air travel in general.

[@staubach1979rt]

@@vhalleranch They're not militarized now either.

[@stevenwolff6866]

Love the shots of those teenagers who would've been same age as me getting into their 64 Cadillac with the brand new Thunderbird parked right to the left of them! Unfortunately those great times will never return so enjoy those memories!

[@douglasdixon524]

0:44 National Airlines, the sunshine airline out of Miami, Florida. I miss that airline.

[@stuartlee6622]

ME, TOO!!

[@russbilzing5348]

Valerie, Thanx for putting this out so that it might be there to refresh all of our memories of one another. I haven't seen most of you for the longest time though I wish it were otherwise. Be of good cheer and faithful to your self.

[@nealsausen4651]

: Ross, are you one of the people one of the kids in this video if so which one are you please come back and tell us more about what you guys were talking about in this video who was leaving who is staying who is coming back in 1970 I was living in Van Nuys near the other airport I didn’t start flying in and out of LAX until 1973 and since then I have used it I don’t know how many times. Boy it has sure changed

[@jerrypolverino6025]

Former airline pilot here. Airline travel absolutely sucks nowadays. I can fly for free and I drive.

[@jamesmack3314]

Well, that may be a little harsh, I mean, considering the complexity of everything and the amount of flights going out daily all over the world. It’s a pretty incredible system that in general works well I’m always amazed about the safety, despite the crowded skies and some airlines actually are quite efficient and on time I have good experiences on Delta and Southwest but yeah, the planes are very crowded with a lot of idiots flying these days.

[@jerrypolverino6025]

@@jamesmack3314 I don’t disagree with you, but I still hate being crammed in a tin can like a sardine. I dislike crowds. The food is horrible. It’s much more peaceful driving than listening to babies cry for an hour.

[@jamesmack3314]

@@jerrypolverino6025 yeah, I hear you on the crying babies. There’s nothing worse than getting stuck on a plane with that right behind you truly annoying. but if you want to go anywhere somewhat far flying is pretty much the only option

[@jamesrecknor6752]

Miss the days when travelling by air was prestigious, pleasant, professional. Miss flying non rev as a Frontier avionics technician's son; 580, DC-3, The Days. Stapleton, DEN.

[@alexanderm8702]

I remember LAX very fondly, it was a big deal to fly and exciting, I remember the Hari Krishna's trying to hand out flowers, you walked out on to the tarmac, you can smoke almost everywhere, there was a smoking and non smoking section on flights, the little booth you can buy insurance lol, a time when flying was an occasion, and you got dressed up, now people at the airport look like they just rolled out of bed hung over, holding their own pillow.

[@brianarbenz1329]

When I was a child, I always thought the insurance booths were an ominous sign, because I figured they were for life insurance. It looked like a lack of confidence in the safety of flying. 🙀

[@turkishantepli7970]

Thank you for sharing this

[@AJLopez44]

I can hear it now….”The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers”….

[@brianarbenz1329]

I made a reference to the movie, too. But yours is great!

[@Ransomhandsome]

Over and over and over again.

[@TheUtuber999]

"We both know perfectly well what you're talking about... you want me to have an abortion!"

[@111danish111]

Listen Betty... don't start up with your white zone shit again

[@theannointed77]

So all those young people are now In there 70s

[@gregh7457]

we drove from the bay area down to LA in the summers of 69 and 70 and to this day i remember the smog just laying over the city all day like a permanent fog bank. I was only 8 years old but i wanted to get out of there to see blue skies again

[@mikegrabowski7483]

Back when LAX was actually a decent airport and not the third world mess it is today

[@joejordan1259]

Now that is a true statement 100%.

[@edwardhale4294]

its much better now

[@TheVaughan5]

@@edwardhale4294 Yeah the airport is better but without the people 😁

[@brianarbenz1329]

"Third World mess" is a deliberately open ended statement. What do you mean, precisely? You may well mean the airport operation isn't as good. But many people code racist messages with terms like that.

[@TheVaughan5]

@@brianarbenz1329 Yes what you say is true however many people also see racism in far too many instances where no such thing is intended. Modern Western society has become obsessed with racism the result being it’s only making the situation worse not better.

[@johnking6252]

Cool , my 1st flight was into LAX 1970 . A growing up moment! Thx.

[@TheVaughan5]

My first was 1972. Because I was booked Sydney to New York there was a long layover in L.A. The airline provided me with a bus to the airport Sheraton, a room to sleep for a couple of hours and take a shower then a full meal in the restaurant, then back to the airport. Can you imagine that today? To top all that as I was under 25 I paid half fare for the whole journey - incredible!

[@johnking6252]

@@TheVaughan5 Same thing, I was 16 alone and treated like an adult, great meal and a great experience. Last flight,....not so much and that was before 9/11 . ✌️

[@brianarbenz1329]

I first landed at LAX in 1984, in my 20s. I deplaned then walked a very short distance to where my rented car was waiting, and left. It gave me no sense of the expansiveness of the airport I had heard and seen so much about. I enjoyed LA, but the airport seemed like a nonentity compared to others.

[@joejordan1259]

Bunch of teenagers now they're all senior citizens.

[@mistofoles]

I used to work at the local airport - @2:23 That van next to the boarding steps was probably a mini bus that transported the cleaners/janitors to and from the planes.

[@therelaxationstation5258]

No security checkpoints.. you could hang out all day at the airport and watch the planes take off and land…

[@Spillers72]

@europeisbetterthan5269 impossible because the ruling elite make it so.

[@watcher818]

We used to hang out in the terminals watching passengers come and go, walk the tunnels between terminals. Remember the mosaic walls? Way before everyone got on edge about public photography. Now anyone with a camera is a criminal it seems.

[@westerlywinds5684]

@@watcher818I remember smoking cigars in the plane even, with the little flip up ashtray chrome cover. No angry looks, just a pleasant experience.

[@TheUtuber999]

@@westerlywinds5684 Why would you get angry looks? You were in the smoking section, along with other smokers.

[@westerlywinds5684]

@@TheUtuber999 Compared to today I mean. Nowadays people are angry for you just standing there.

[@williamspencer7654]

Damn hippies

[@mrblackguy6336]

How?

[@overholtshedsdeltabuilding7381]

What a great video of a group of friends looking forward to the day...! Have you kept in touch with each other...?

[@humbertomartinez8897]

Honestly, I been blessed flying. I’ve flown many times in my life and not once have I had a bad experience. I’ve always enjoyed flying and still do to this day. Aviation has much improved. The airliners are state of the art. Pilots are more experienced and better trained. Airports are much more modern and cleaner. And when you you factor in the cost of living, aviation was more expensive then than now. Not to mention the reduced incidence of accidents and pirating of planes because of the lax security.

[@Dr.Pepper001]

I began my career after I graduated from college in 1973. I landed a job as an International Field Engineer and up until 2012 when I retired I flew an average of 80,000 miles a year traveling all over the world. I also never had an incident on planes. I actually enjoyed my time traveling.

[@westerlywinds5684]

I remember DC-10’s losing engines for a while. I mean, physically falling off.

[@nephi5059]

National was called "Airline to the Stars".

[@douglasdixon524]

Then they changed in 1966 to "The Sunshine Airline."

[@RJ-luci]

@@douglasdixon524 Also, the commercial jingle. “You deserve National attention.” I never thought I would ever say this…..but those WERE the days!

[@cheetajet320]

Wonderful time for commercial air travel. However, the oil embargo would be 3 years later and many dreams came to an end. Then deregulation ruined it for everyone. Now it's all about making cash for the airlines. That's it.

[@lenellesunboxings6795]

That is so cool

[@mitchellatta9808]

Don't forget the leg room too 🤓👍

[@holgermuller769]

Schade kein TON ....

[@rayss3323]

When we were kids, we'd ride our bicycles to the roof top parking on the Broadway Store and watch the building the LAX restaurant.

[@stupididiot6116]

Back then flights were a great ,part of the vacation experience! Fast forward to today and flights are something to be endured before you get to your destination!

[@robertstamers5099]

In 1970, the cheapest COACH fare from Los Angeles to New York, was $145.10. Yes, you got meals and free checked baggage. In 2023 dollars, that’s $1212.26. Today, the cheapest FIRST CLASS fare is $802. In other words, if you want better than a 1970 experience, it’s yours, cheaper too.

[@julesquimby]

Airports back then were extremely quiet, too.

[@pauldunn5978]

Maybe not as many flights but the noise from those old jets more than made up for it.

[@mcdonnell220]

Hi Ms. Griffin - I would like to kindly ask your permission to use about 2 minutes of this video...I'm most interested in the National DC-8 aircraft; I would be adding "Airport Noise", etc. I would provide a link back to your channel, and any other site of your choosing, plus Valerie Griffin would be credited as the film owner in my planned edited version. Thanks for your consideration!

[@valeriegriffin7021]

Absolutely - feel free to use any part of it. Yes, provide a link back to my channel however the actual film owner should be: "Patricia Repka" as her father, Jinx Repka - deceased - actually took this video. This was originally a 16 mm film that I had converted to DVD.

[@mcdonnell220]

Great, thanks so much, I appreciate it! I'll make sure all the proper credit is given.

[@NoirL.A.]

i would've been roughly two years old when this was filmed i'm L.A. born and raised and been in and out of lax thousands of times and never once stepped foot inside the theme building. i can't help but wonder, though, if the fact that so many more people smoked back then doesn't have something to do with how much thinner everybody was back then because as i recall there was just as much junk food available then as there is now although electronics have certainly made us more sedentary for sure.

[@brianarbenz1329]

It’s high fructose corn syrup and higher sugar and carbs in food that’s sent Americans’ average weight up.

[@gregh7457]

this was the era before supersizing. we didn't eat as much back then

[@brianarbenz1329]

@@gregh7457 True, and HFCS creates longer lasting hunger. It impedes the brain chemicals that tell us we are full. It can cause people to stuff themselves unnaturally.

[@anthonynarozniak9725]

A couple of DC-8s and strange people

[@jamesmack3314]

Well, the safety factor was not nearly as good and hijacking was becoming more and more frequent

[@edwardhale4294]

yes....5-6 hijackings per year....tickets cost twice as much. When people miss the past...its not the past so mucht they miss...but simply being younger themselves. Many things were much worse then.

[@jamesmack3314]

@@edwardhale4294 and smoking on planes! Man,hard to believe that was so “normal “🤮 I agree I am a pretty nostalgic person and it’s easy to see things in the past through rose colored glasses …because you want it to be a pleasant memory

[@TheVaughan5]

@@edwardhale4294 Not all tickets cost twice as much, however I absolutely agree with you that while some things were better then it’s our youth that we really miss and memories tend to be of better rather than worse situations.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Nostalgia is more about what we don’t remember than what we do.

[@jamesrecknor6752]

@@brianarbenz1329 Good point

[@mikrologia7455]

Greetings from Europe. Lovely shot indeed, nostalgy. I was quite young with my first flights in the 70's Convair Metropolitan, Caravelle and DC 9 -10. And now sadly the fact amongst other global businesses: climate change. Some still denying it. Good luck to all of us and yet happy memories.

[@user-dw4sd7ku4m]

Coming into Los Angeles bringing in a couple of keys don't touch my bags if you please Mr. customs man. Arlo Guthrey song.

[@TiltBrook]

Why in theeee blue hell are we still flying around in crafts that still look like they did in the 1960’s!?!?!?

[@TheUtuber999]

Planes need wings and engines?

[@TiltBrook]

@@TheUtuber999 🤦‍♂️

[@user-jh5fm7ci6o]

No sound

[@arielg7000]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊

[@tvgator1]

Now Southwest Terminal 1

[@staubach1979rt]

The scenes of the plane being pushed back and then taxiing were shot from inside terminal 7. The parking lot scene is directly across from the old Terminal 2, which is now an entire parking structure. Terminal 1 did not exist at this time, it wasn't built and open until 1984. That's right, for a bit more than two decades LAX had terminals numbered 2-8 with no T1. Weird.

[@mehmetokay7073]

The guys sure are hands ✋ on with those pretty girls. I wonder how they felt about that in 1970. Maybe family from out of state.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Some see this video and enjoy looking at the scene. Others see this and use it as an excuse to make speeches airing their resentment of Japanese cars or immigrants. It's a few minutes of film of people at an airport. Keep your extreme agenda out of this. Let's enjoy the video.

[@dianadoos1944]

no one was bothered about being filmed then, unlike this f....... up generation today

[@0159ralph]

Hey let's put some led zeppelin and cream on !!! At least the music didn't suck...

[@jamesmack3314]

The Doors,CSNY we’re big then,amongst others…great music those daze

[@Mark-uh7cr]

Ahh the days when you could go to the airport, even without a ticket, and go to gate without having to worry about some asshole blowing himself up.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Are you serious? Terrorist attacks at airports and hijackings were more frequent circa in 1970 than now!

[@staubach1979rt]

@@brianarbenz1329 There were never any terrorist attacks at American airports by 1970. Hijacks weren't suicidal missions. There weren't any checkpoints until after the D.B. Cooper incident. Anyone could go to the gates until about 2002. There's absolutely no reason for this silly restriction since anyone entering the "sterile area"--including airport personnel and flight crew--HAS to go through the checkpoint.

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@staubach1979rt Wrong. I flew regularly around 1979 thru '81 and there were always metal detectors and we had to pass through x-rays we had to send all bags through.

[@staubach1979rt]

@@brianarbenz7206 The D.B. Cooper hijacking was in 1971. It was after that that airports started using checkpoints. I'm not good at math, but I know that 1979 is eight years after 1971.

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@staubach1979rt I was referring to your overall claim of no terrorist attacks at airports before '70. That doesn't mean airports were easy places. "Between 1968 and 1972, more than 130 American airplanes were hijacked. Sometimes there was more than one hijacking on the same day." -- Vox.

[@dette-envers-les-animaux]

the america that i loved, big and beautifull cars (no japanese cars, no plastic misshapen and computered cars), period of wealth and good music (woodstock, hendrick, joplin, genesis, pink floyd, the moody blues, doors...). From france

[@jamesmack3314]

Yes the music…incredible Grateful dead, Jefferson airplane, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and bands like yes, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. We’re starting to come on as well as Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers. It was an embarrassment of riches never to be repeated, unfortunately.

[@diegorosenberg5136]

You would be surprised how many japanese cars were in LA in 1970.

[@dette-envers-les-animaux]

at the beginning or at the end? when i watch movies of the beginning of the 70', it is not my impression but maybe it is true. At the end, yes i can see, after oil crisis, the beginning of the end of golden age for american car industry. I had a 1967 dodge monaco and a 1979 eldorado, best cars i ever had.

[@jamesmack3314]

@@diegorosenberg5136 like all Datsuns..almost

[@diegorosenberg5136]

@@dette-envers-les-animaux In 1971, Toyota sold over 300,000 cars in the US. Most of the sales were on the West Coast. And that's just Toyota alone. Datsun sold over 250k.

[@marblox9300]

Back in the day when white girls actually dated white guys.

[@jacknguyen5677]

Today they aren’t?

[@marblox9300]

@@jacknguyen5677 Not as much.

[@jacknguyen5677]

@@marblox9300 so what white girls dating nowadays?

[@marblox9300]

@@jacknguyen5677 Vietcong from Cambodia.

[@jacknguyen5677]

@@marblox9300 they must love Asian taste ha.

[@user-xq3kg8hk5q]

Другое, время другое☹️сейчас дерьмо

[@surfrescue3232]

MAGA

[@randominternet8198]

Itself? What are you trying to say

[@jameslaumand3686]

Where are they now ahh drugs

[@MrYougotcaught]

It's so hard to watch American films from the 1990's and below, knowing full well of the subtle segregation of Blacks, and racial discrimination of Blacks, Jews, Asians, Latinos, and Pacific Islanders

[@iseegoodandbad6758]

Jews got the best treatment out if the lot though. Muslims, blacks,Latinos and Asians still get discriminated against.

[@zekeonstormpeak4186]

Why would you have to pull the race card??? Get a frickin life!!!!

[@jdawg5846]

Get woke go broke

[@DSC800]

nunyabiznes: too bad you see everything according to race, even a 50+ year old clip. I guess this is what defines you. Sux to live the way you do.

[@jdawg5846]

@@DSC800 That’s joe biden voters for you .