You know you're old when........

[gyrafoam]

Tom----

I remember that old Davis Bros. restaurant in the old quonset hut terminal.(However, that was not the original terminal,which was located to the east by about a quarter mile and was still standing well into the 1960's!) They had great food, but the airport facility was just as you mentioned. To say it was on par with a bus terminal would be putting it mildly. I also remember how bad a shot the folks were that used the many spitoons placed around the seating areas. At least in the old train station they kept those old things clean!

It was a great relief when the "Jet-Port" opened in the spring of 1961. Modern and clean and even if there were still ash-trays everywhere at least those nasty spitoon's were gone!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thanks, Steve, I was maybe 6 or 7 and had no idea of the name of the restaurant, but it was something very special in that awful place. It is funny how as new terminals opened the old ones were left standing. I was not aware of that until I started flying into Atlanta and would see those terminals still standing in areas far away from the air traffic. I guess they were converted to office or storage use. They might be gone by now.

I do not want to be one day younger and am grateful to my Creator for getting me this far this safely. I have many wonderful memories and some not so wonderful. I got to see and, in most cases, use almost all of the oldest and strangest machines we discuss and then so many of my dreams were realized when, with lots of help, these and many other appliances came back into my life. It is nice to be able to share memories and experiences with others who care about appliances. Like most of us, I regret that so many of the wonderful people like my brother and special friends are no longer here to share memories we made together, but that will be remedied.

I think the old Post Office buildings were the last bastion of cuspidors.

 

[rp2813]

Will, that is such a cool thing to do with your kindergarteners! I live a stone's throw from an elementary school that was built in the 50's. Recently they did some major renovations there to mechanical systems so my partner and I were one evening checking things out and peered in some classroom windows. I was amazed to see one of those boxy old maroon leatherette record players like the type I remembered from my own elementary school days--and I graduated high school in 1972! It appeared that this record player was still getting regular use. I can still remember the rich tone these machines produced, courtesy of vacuum tube technology.

I don't know if this is an indicator of fiscal responsibility or lack of funds (in this state, it's probably the latter), but bottom line is that this record player was still serving the same purpose at the same school after 50 years, and that made me smile. And not to worry--this school got a new media center around the same time so it's not like students there are stuck in the dark ages.

 

[gyrafoam]

Tom-----

When they opened the 1961 Jet-Port, the old Quonset Hut Terminal got moved over to the far NW side of the field next to the NOAA/Weather Service Field office and the fuel farm just east of where the Eastern hanger was. Appropriatly it was used to store graders, deicing trucks and other equipment. I often wondered if they left the old ticket counters still attached to the sides! Do you remember the murals of Stone Mountain, Piedmont Park and other Atlanta attractions on the walls above the ticket counters? And the wonderful observation deck up on the second floor? My father used to put me up on his shoulders so I could see out above the fence and we used to watch the planes come and go for hours. It was wonderful.

Do you remember where the old Airport Morrison's Cafeteria was on Virginia Ave. corner of the old Terrell Ave.? Well, if you turned opposite of the Morrisons on Terrell Ave. and drove down the row of old hangers to the very end---thats where the original terminal and tower were.
What is now "Woolman Place" (named after Delta's founder) which is the entrance road to Delta's "Executive" compound. The concrete pad of that old building can still be seen as a parking lot for the Delta employees at the end of that road. I used to drive by it all the time on the perimeter airport road and I can picture it in my minds eye as though it is still standing. There was a building on the corner with a large neon Coca-Cola sign hanging from it that was there for years after that old place closed up! I usetacould see it from the "Rotunda" gates out on Delta's old Concourse F at the old Jet-Port.

Ach, I sound like an alter kochker before my time but just like you said I'm glad I have those memories! Good or bad they are all mine. They are a blessing.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Steve, I remember how new the 1961 building was in comparison to the old one. Everything was painted white and the graphics were in bright primary colors We would go to meet my father sometimes. We would catch a bus to get us downtown and then buy tickets for the airport bus that left from in front of the old Dinkler Plaza Hotel. The bus was strange. It was painted military olive drab and did not have a rear window because the roof swept out and down in some sort of exagerated streamline design that reminded me of one of those weird cars like the Kaiser-Frazier with the hump back rear end maybe. It was very plush inside. One time we were walking to Gate 54 and it seemed like we would wind up back in Decatur. Our friend sang out, "Gate 54 where are you?" There was no reply from Toody or Muldoon. Was it Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon?

Was it the next terminal that had the Calder in the main area? I remember the b****ing about spending public money for something like that. I remember flying into ATL in the 70s and that once modern 1961 terminal was sitting off by itself looking so forlorn.