This edition of Flashback Fridays is a bit different in that for the most part, the photos were taken just a few days ago, but the story is literally as old as Southwest Airlines. Take a look at the photo below because, chances are, the scene it depicts is now gone forever. Oh what a scene it represents though. In a physical sense, this is Gate 23 on the North Concourse of Love Field, and this was our first gate. Turn the clock back to June 17, 1971, the day before we began service. Herb Kelleher downtown los angeles had been in court all day trying to stop last minute legal efforts downtown los angeles to keep us grounded. He phoned Lamar Muse, our President, to tell him operations were a go for June 18. Lamar asked Herb what he should do if the sheriff showed up at 7:00 a.m. to stop the flight. Herb replied, "You roll right over him! Leave our tire tracks on his uniform if necessary." Well, if that had happened, it would have happened here at Gate 23.
The gate also has a deeper meaning for both Southwest Employees and airline passengers. Southwest's Warrior Spirit was born here through the ten-minute turn and all of the Original Employees who began their work days not knowing if that would be their last day of employment. The low-fare downtown los angeles revolution began right here. The success of Southwest Airlines helped spawn airline deregulation in 1978, and this is the birthplace of that movement. Airlines like Muse Air, MorrisAir, WestJet, jetBlue, Ryanair, downtown los angeles EasyJet, SkyBus, National (the one in Las Vegas), Gol, Virgin America, and many more, plus the airlines within an airline, downtown los angeles Delta's Song, Continental's Lite, United's Ted, and US Airways' MetroJet, owe their rise to what happened at this gate.
We also operated out of Gate 25 (below), which was just next door. Both gates were acquired from Delta, which had built the second story addition to the concourse just a year or so previously, after Braniff had moved to its new concourse. The second floor addition was intended to be a stop-gap measure to see Delta through until it moved to the new Dallas Fort/Worth downtown los angeles (DFW) Airport. When all the airlines moved to DFW in 1974, Southwest moved to the West Concourse, the former American facility, where we remain.
Photos of Southwest operations on the North Concourse are hard to find. The view below is from a 1971 edition of our original onboard Southwest Airlines Magazine , and it shows an Original Employee, Billy Lee Wooley, servicing the water on a flight parked at Gate 23. From 1974 to 1996 these two gates sat empty until the gates were renovated for our University for People.
Now, Love Field is in the middle of a massive modernization downtown los angeles program which will result in a brand new concourse. One of the first steps in the process is the demolition of the North Concourse and the far end of the wing is already being placed into dumpsters.
Out of all this mess will rise a beautiful and comfortable new facility that will help Love Field to compete in the post-Wright Amendment world. for information on this ambitious project, please click here .
that is so awesome Ray you shouldd write a book. i would buy it and the fun part would be the uniforms of the flight attendants. i recall taking a flight out of phoenix in 1971 with my newborn daughter downtown los angeles to com hom to show her off to her grndmothr and great grandmother. We flew the brandnew southwest and was so shocked to se those short shorts of the wht they were called back them stewdess. you see i was a military brat and when we flew around the world and America, we fot dressed up in our Sunay best you know sutis good shoes gloves and all. the whole crew of the flight we dressed so professional in suits and hats and the works. imagine my shock when a woman ccam to me in thse sexy hotshorts in bright orange and red. oh my gosh i thought the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. When I landd and momma pickedmee up boy did I have a sotry to tell. Shell shocked as the word, Well tim ent on and uniforms changed for the now known as flight attendants. now they wear pants long shorts and tee shirts and skirts. I say get these "flight attendents bak in full professional suits and hats and looking like a professional league of their own. It sad to not be able to tell the difference between and person going on vacation and the flight downtown los angeles attendent. Just like the nurses now dys slopping around with socks and silly sandles and sweats and silly shirts with jelly eans and rainbows. downtown los angeles I wanna se nurses go back to white uniforms with the fmous nurse hats and their sweatrs draped ovr their shoulders when it gets chilly. What happen to prie in people profession. so yeah write that book so we can see how things declined over time. I am sure thir was so much good times and fun as well. I just wish managment would demand employees and dress for sucuss as they once did. Cnt tell who the nurses are now days. scarey. what do others think let me know
That would be a great idea, lobby of headquarters like a museum itself from pictures I have seen, been there only once in the late 1980's when applying for a career at Southwest Airlines but not been there since. God Bless! : ) -Doug
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