Interior Sky room, 1940’s 
California State University, Northridge. Oviatt Library. Urban Archives Center
Collection: Coralie Hewitt Tillack Collection

These photographs are found in the San Fernando Valley History Digital Library at CSUN. They are part of “a collection of historically significant documents, manuscripts, photographs
and related graphic materials of the San Fernando Valley.”

The elegant interiors and images of patrons dining, smoking and drinking at the Sky Room Restaurant at Burbank Airport in the 1940’s are evidence of a lost way of life, measurably more graceful and mature than ours. The people in these photos with their tailored suits, svelte dimensions, carefully combed hair and polished shoes exude dignity.

The modern eye is shocked by the absence of fat people.

Art Deco polished floor lamps, the sleek metallic grace of a Western Airlines plane on the tarmac, white marble tables next to comfortable club chairs–where could one find such a marriage of aviation and civilized living today?

Airline travellers have reversed evolution as we board planes like apes entering a zoo cage, removing our shoes and clothing as our bags are ripped open and searched. Passing through metal detectors, we hope and pray to avoid sudden explosive death in mid air. Where have you gone Amelia Earhart?