Douglas Park

A lot of people have been finding this site through google when looking for information on Douglas Park. Please watch the video above to learn about where this development came from and what it means to the thousands of people who made the planes that made history.

Kelsey and I have been working the last week on a video about the artwork and redevelopment of the Douglas manufacturing facility at the Long Beach Airport. A few years ago they tore down the hangers that they used to build DC-3s and C-47s during World War II, the many cargo planes, fighter jets in the Korean and Vietnam war, the jetliners like the DC-8, DC-10, MD-11, MD-80 and the Boeing 717 after they acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

The Douglas Park Official Site

It has been very trying for the community of Long Beach since the aviation manufacturing industry was the main employer next to the port. The plans for what the new land should be turned into have been changing a lot over the past three years. It was going to be mixed use with residential, commercial and retail in 2006. Now it seems that they have decided on light industrial and research. There was no honest hope of ever having housing so close to an airport. Long Beach Airport has already been crippled enough by the residents who live on either side of the flight path. The daily flights have a cap and no commercial plane can land after 10:00 pm. That is insane because if a flight is delayed and will be arriving later than 10, they must be diverted to Burbank or another airport. People who live near airports should appreciate that airports bring huge amounts of revenue and jobs and are the backbone of our modern world. Without local airports that provide easy access for tourists, commercial and shipping companies, our disintegrating infrastructure will have even more load to bear. Without local airports, people wouldn't learn to fly and we would be running out of commercial pilots.

I really wanted the parcels that are next to the taxiway to be sold as homes with hanger access like John Travolta's house in Florida. If you go the link below, you will see that they even do weddings at the clubhouse there :-) Jumbolair is a private airport, however. Long Beach is public and might not attract million dollar air estates. That would be cool though.

Jumbolair

I have been immersing myself in Douglas airplanes to help find the best way to tell the story. There are so many DC-3 videos on youtube it is amazing, you can even learn how to start one! Engine number two first.

The video will be shown at the Smithsonian Week opening Gala on March 9, so you can all see it there. I will post it here as soon as it is done. On the top of this post is a photo with the crew from the shoot.

Back to work.