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A century of planes roaring over East Boston

By adamg on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 4:05pm
Zsa Zsa Gabor gets key to the city at Logan Airport

Zsa Zsa Gabor gets "Golden Filene's Key to Boston" on arrival at Logan on Jan. 18, 1954.

The Boston City Archives report the Boston Commonwealth Airport, now known as General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, opened for business 100 years ago today.

Of course, it was a lot smaller back in the day; and much of the field was part of Boston Harbor. Then again, the planes were a lot smaller, too.

And back then, people not only dressed up to fly to and from Boston, but to dine at its fancy restaurant.

Logan also used to be the place for photographers to hang out to catch the comings and goings of celebrities, politicians and overseas royalty. The BPL's Brearley Collection has hundreds of press photos of the famous and infamous (Spiro Agnew, anyone?) coming and going at Logan.

The BPL's Herald-Traveler Morgue collection has more photos, including some scenes having nothing to do with celebrities, such as a photo of iron lungs awaitinga flight to Buenos Aires during a polio outbreak there in 1956.

Logan's transformation from biplanes to jumbo jets didn't always go smoothly: In 1968, East Boston residents blocked Maverick Street in a protest against Logan expansion, at least until police busted through the protests and started arresting people refusing to get out of the way of dump trucks heading to Logan with fill.

Neighborhoods: 
East Boston
Topics: 
History
Free tagging: 
Logan Airport


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Comments

By Matt Frank on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 4:13pm.

I love this photo!

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By bostnkid on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 10:30pm.

i used to work at sherman’s on brownfield street. my bosses name was jim feeney. jim used to run the record/music department at lechmere sales which i guess was a pretty cool job back in the 60s. he used to meet all the famous musicians when they flew into boston promoting their newest releases. jim would pick major rock stars up at the airport, take them to their hotels and then pick them up the next day for in-store promotions. he said back then the car would pull up right next to the planes for pickups. one night they were picking up joe cocker and when they pulled up he didn’t get off the plane. they waited over an hour and cocker finally emerged. jim was pissed because he had waited so long and he really didn’t like joe cocker i guess. cocker was legless drunk. he missed the first step and fell down the rolled up stairs and tumbled to the bottom. jim said “fuck this guy” got in the car and left without joe cocker. i guess he wasn’t at lechmere for much longer after this incident. jim was a great guy. rip jimmy

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By SmallJB on Sat, 09/09/2023 - 8:43am.

Make the fighting and Magoo comments tolerable. Well done.

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By Matt Frank on Sat, 09/09/2023 - 10:35am.

It's honestly amazing how much things change over time, like that concept of just pulling up to pick someone up on the tarmac!

I remember in the late 90s my neighbor used to do laundry for one of the airlines at his house, he also helped my father fix my junkbox car on a regular basis. So when his car was having issues I'd drive him to the airport with my El Camino , the bed filled overflowing with laundry. We would pull up to the security gate and he would swipe a badge and the guard would let us in. At the time I didn't think much of it but looking back I am in awe that they would let a 17 year old driving a junky black El Camino drive into the airport and drive past airplanes, the bed heaped with lumpy laundry bags without so much as a quick check. Oh and I had big fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror lol.

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By Lee on Sat, 09/09/2023 - 12:52pm.

…. several European airports. But not quite the same level of luxury.
I’m no rock star.

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By Rob on Sat, 09/09/2023 - 2:36pm.

Yeah, the increasing security awareness and visibility over time. They (airport agencies) hardly allow anything out on tarmac these days that isn't directly a part of the agency, the assigned law-enforcement & emergency-response units, or active contractors - even with an escort.
...and only for authorized & scheduled purposes, too. Used to be, police/security would sometimes help a service dog user that was stuck with doggo needing a quick visit to the fire hydrant - take them out a fire door from the gate waiting area to the apron. Not anymore, though - it became "all the way back out through security to streetside, hope you make it back for your connecting flight in time". They've started building terminals with internal puppy break rooms - somewhat helpful, but it can actually go against the dog's training/conditioning to 'hold it' inside.
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There's an area at Logan, over past the economy parking and closer to the tank farm. I forget the name, I want to call it Signature flight support or aviation or something like that. Anyway, it's a separate little terminal with an area of apron that some of the small charters & private aircraft park. It has security between its waiting area and the doors to the apron. Some of the small planes are parked within walking distance or there must be an official shuttle van of some sort.
A family member of mine was dealing with some significant health stuff a few years ago - had to come to Boston frequently for treatment. They usually traveled on Angel Flight, and would arrive/depart from that little terminal.

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By Don't Panic on Thu, 09/14/2023 - 12:38am.

Zsa Zsa struck me as Jordan Marsh posh. Did Filene's get the scoop on her arrival or was Jordan Marsh to posh to pull a stunt like that?

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