1940 Air Terminal Museum Begins Liquidation

(1940airterminal.org)

56 points | by weaponeer 4 hours ago

7 comments

  • dtagames 4 hours ago
    I had no idea this closed and I've lived here for six years! I can't believe I didn't go visit.

    Surely there is enough money in this city of Houston between airlines that operate here and the oil companies that they spend most of your ticket money on to keep this open?

    • ljoshua 4 hours ago
      It really was/is a gem of a museum, very fun to visit and quite approachable. We went a couple times, once when they had some fly-ins that made it extra special.

      Hopefully it can be preserved and continue it's life! There is hope: https://www.1940airterminal.org/news/texas-historical-commis...

      • MichaelZuo 3 hours ago
        I don’t see why they couldn’t make ends meet with events and so on.

        There shouldn’t be any huge expenses, unless they were leasing the premises at market rate.

  • SoftTalker 3 hours ago
    The rack in this image appears to house a Texas Instruments minicomputer of some model, not sure exactly which. 980 maybe? Might be fun to play with, but not for $20K.

    https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e52f79c0260e6...

    Note the 8" floppy disk drives also.

    • badc0ffee 2 hours ago
      Usagi Electric is in Texas. He could make use of that thing.
  • stdbrouw 3 hours ago
    Side note: what a stunning art deco (?) building! (There's a photo on the front page of the site.)
    • macintux 2 hours ago
      To anyone for whom Houston is a bit too far of a drive (plus the fact that the museum now seems closed), but Cincinnati is not: Union Terminal is another beautiful example of art deco.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Union_Terminal

      I spent hours photographing in there last summer. Free tours available which will take you into some of the back offices with more art deco goodness.

      • EvanAnderson 23 minutes ago
        Fellow Union Terminal aficionado here. Also highly recommend to any art deco architecture lovers.

        Even if you're not into art deco architecture it's worth a visit. The Omnimax theatre is worth the trip alone, but the museums are great too.

        @macintux - It's hard to get on the tour because they sell out, and they don't allow photography, but the high steel tour, which includes walking up to the top of the inside of the half dome, is great. There's some duplication with the behind the scenes tour but it's still worth it. It's probably second to the (now discontinued for liability reasons) Cincinnati subway tour in terms of seeing cool hidden stuff in the Cincinnati area.

  • skyblock500 2 hours ago
    I believe that if we all collectively lowball them, they will drop the price to be lower than $20k.

    It is unfortunate to see any museum close. I hope their assessment from the Texas Historical Commission succeeds!

  • rationalist 2 hours ago
    I have been to this museum, it is nice. If anyone can support it, please look into it and do so. Thank you.
  • system2 3 hours ago
    20k is not bad for an airplane geek. I wish I had space for these.
  • sublinear 2 hours ago
    Museum photos caption: "asdfsd"