It’s the single busiest general-aviation airport in the world. Its 400,000-plus takeoffs and landings annually pump $1.2 billion into Southern California’s economy. It served as the backdrop for a pivotal scene in Casablanca (there is fierce debate as to whether it’s the one of Bogart’s stoic farewell to Ingrid Bergman) and a major hostage crisis on 24. Oh, and did we mention Marilyn Monroe used to work there?
We are, of course, talking about Van Nuys, Hollywood’s — and a lot of other people’s — favorite airport. Located in the San Fernando Valley, a short drive from movie studios and downtown Los Angeles, it originally opened in 1928, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight. It wasn’t operational for long before the stock market crash of ’29 forced its founder out of business. But even then, its glamour helped get it through. A combination of rum runners and movie productions kept the lights on; Amelia Earhart set a flight-speed record here, topped just months later off the same runways by Pancho Barnes. Conscripted for government service during World War II (where a certain still-red-headed future film star worked the assembly line building target drones), Van Nuys was eventually sold to the city of Los Angeles for $1 —
a pretty fair investment, as it turned out.
“It’s my own personal history that makes the airport special for me, in the sense that it’s my home airport,” says famed director Sydney Pollack. “It’s where I learned to fly; it’s where I had my first airplane.”
That comment comes from One Six Right, the 2005 documentary that’s like one big wet kiss to Van Nuys Airport. “My second love is taking people flying and having them experience it with me,” says the film’s producer/director, Brian J. Terwilliger (for the record, his first love is flying himself). “The origin of the film was to somehow capture that experience of flying.”
The documentary points out that in addition to its roles as a sentimental landmark, major transportation hub and employer of thousands, Van Nuys Airport is also an essential part of L.A.’s cultural fabric. Several teaching programs are hosted here, including the Aviation Career Education Academy and the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Adopt-a-School Program and Aircraft Mechanics School. Instilling an appreciation for general aviation in the surrounding community, says airport manager Selena Birk, is “the purpose of the outreach efforts. Education is one of the biggest parts of our job. We’ll basically talk to anybody who will listen.”
