Every so often, nature likes to re-evolve the crab. Meanwhile, internet writers like to revisit the listicle. This week’s Fixtape is in a new format because variety is the spice of life, and I would be remiss in my duties as your semi-tolerable blogging friend if I didn’t try to occasionally entertain you.
I finished reading Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which made me miss traveling, which got me thinking about airports. Airports are meant as waypoints, a necessary evil on our journey to the destinations we actually care about. The road to hell is littered with layovers, and the mark of a good airport is usually its efficiency: short security line, takeoff on time, minimal distance between gates for when you have to hightail it to your next flight. Still, as the most directionally-challenged member of my family, I find a strange comfort in lugging my suitcase around and reading the signage guiding me between concourses. As harried as I am, I know the airport is ultimately a place designed to get me to where I want to be.
So anyways. In no particular order, here are four airports that I think are neat.
1) Denver International Airport
If you Google the Denver International Airport, “Denver Airport Conspiracy Theories” are within the top 10 results, which doesn’t surprise me because the first thing that caught my eye when I passed through it was the Interior Garden, which looks like it could be a set-piece in an Indiana Jones film. The largest airport in the U.S., completing it took two years and $2 billion dollars more than expected. There are psychedelically lit tunnels between gates, as well as a network of less beautified underground tunnels to ferry suitcases to baggage-claim. Meanwhile, the metal skeletons of a defunct sorting system remain suspended overhead, remnants of late 1990s efforts at automation. Public art choices include a giant blue horse statue nicknamed “Blucifer,” whose construction killed its creator, and two gargoyles watching over baggage claim (they’re currently retired but will hopefully return by the end of 2021). Denver Airport is weird, y’all, and I love it for that. Aside from its weirdness, I also like its skyline—the tents of its roof are supposed to mimic the snow-capped mountains behind it. The way the white peaks reflect light also allows the building to be more efficient in its cooling. Although I wish I knew more about architectural design, I always enjoy reading about eco-friendly choices, so I like that Denver Airport makes a conscious effort to mimic and be part of the land it’s on, even if some people believe that land has secrets. (Military bunker? Aliens? The list goes on.)
2) Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport
San Jose’s airport is named after Norman Mineta, who was the first Asian American to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city (1970) and later served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation (2001) among other roles taken throughout his life. It’s cheesy for me to say that this airport makes me feel at home, but it’s true, and an impressive feat because it didn’t become part of my life until I moved out west for college. I’m most familiar with its Terminal B, which, coincidentally, is designed by the same architects (Fentress) who did Denver’s iconic roof. My familiarity with the terminal comes from solely flying Southwest (their two free checked bags policy is a godsend when your aunt bundles pounds of Vietnamese food to take home with you every holiday break). This is incredibly obnoxious, but I would always wear my Stanford sweatshirt on flights into San Jose because at least one other kid on the plane would also be from Stanford and seize the opportunity to lean over and ask if I’d figured out a ride back to campus yet, and if not, would I like to split an Uber? I like to rag on Silicon Valley a lot, and San Jose Airport is designed to scream tech, from the Space Observer robot by Bjorn Schulke that looks like it should belong to NASA to the eCloud installation that you think is just catching the light until you realize that each square blinks on and off with a mind of its own, but there’s no doubt that part of my heart swells, too, at those digitized pieces signaling: you’ve arrived. Hello world, indeed.
3) Portland International Airport
I’ve actually never been to Portland, but a friend told me to look up the PDX airport and y’all! It’s beautiful! Look at that curvy skywalk that looks like a river! Portland repeatedly tops lists of best domestic airports, and it attributes much of its success to its prioritization of local brands. There’s Tillamook Market, which specializes in all things dairy, and Westward Whiskey, which has a tasting room. The Port of Portland mandates that all of the airport restaurants maintain street prices, thereby avoiding the mark-ups that are all too familiar to anyone trying to grab a bite before takeoff. Inexplicably, PDX’s carpet had a huge fan club (reaching peak frenzy in 2015, when it was replaced), and I didn’t get it at first, but then I thought about the carpets I’ve slept on because of red-eye flights and logistic issues, so I guess the lesson here is that you’ve got to stand for something or you’ll lie down on anything. Anyways, I think one of the best things an airport can do is give you a sense of the city you’re about to leave (or enter), and PDX has made a name for itself doing just that.
4) Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport
Savannah is another airport I’ve never actually been inside, but I’m incredibly charmed by its town-square inspired layout. It reminds me of Disneyland’s Main Street, a turn-of-the-century thoroughfare where you can imagine people gathering for homecoming parades in the fall, little kids lofted on their parents’ shoulders, waving flags. There’s something to be said of the imagery of an intimate town opening into a bigger world. Sometimes comfort can make you reluctant to leave, but other times, maybe what makes the first step of a journey easier is the cozy promise of a home at your back.
Bonus/guest(?) content: I texted my friend Chris for his thoughts on this post because if there’s a way to be hipster about airports, he’s your guy. Here are his picks.
[“Changi is what every basic bitch will say”]
[“The new Beijing Daxing airport (largest in world with room to expand still, high tech, modern, decked out)”]
“WATCH Wendover Productions.”
‘Til next time! <3