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It started out that all the buildings at the airportâ
they were building a whole new airport, not just the theme structureâ
and all the buildings were to be shells.
And I was the only guy around L.A. that really had any experience in shells,
so they came to me for the structural engineering.
And this was three very big architectural firms:
Pereira and Luckmanâ they were partners at that time,
Welton Becket,
and Paul Williams.
So we started out with all kinds of
shells that we were doing.
The LAX theme building
was never anything more than just a restaurant.
It was anticipated that people would use it
who were catching flights,
and, actually, I think probably most of their clientele was
people just going to it because it's so unusual.
It was to be in the center all right,
but that was just so that it would be the center of attention.
And, of course, since then
it's become almost like the symbol of Los Angeles.
Who's ever seen a building like this before, you know?