You could call Air Way and Grand Central Avenue the “alpha and omega” streets of Glendale’s Grand Central Air Terminal, opened in 1929 – when Air Way was laid out as the airport’s entry road – and shut down in 1959, a year before its old runway was transformed into Grand Central Avenue. Although Glendale had established a municipal airfield in 1923, Grand Central, the brainchild of oilman Charles Clyde “C.C.” Spicer (1878-1959), would become the commercial airport for the entire Los Angeles region, beating out two other newcomers: one in Van Nuys and one near El Segundo called Mines Field. After World War II, which put a hold on civilian flights, Grand Central couldn’t grow to meet the needs of larger aircraft. That honor went to Mines Field, a.k.a. Los Angeles Municipal Airport, which began commercial service in December 1946. You know it now as LAX. After Grand Central’s closure, the property was converted into an industrial center. It is currently owned by the Walt Disney Company.
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