X

Now boarding for 1962: A night at the retro TWA Hotel

Step back in time to an early Jet Age wonder of design and style.

headshots_Geoffrey_Morrison_140x100.jpg
headshots_Geoffrey_Morrison_140x100.jpg
Geoffrey Morrison
twa-hotel-10-of-40
1 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

TWA Hotel

The iconic TWA Flight Center, a legendary symbol of the early Jet Age, is now the TWA Hotel. And I stayed there.

For more about this hotel and my stay, check out Fly me to the moon: A night at the retro-masterpiece TWA Hotel.

twa-hotel-11-of-40
2 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Taking flight

The Flight Center was designed by Eero Saarinen. It opened in 1962.

twa-hotel-12-of-40
3 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Grand entrance

Stepping inside is like stepping back in time. The staff even wears uniforms designed by Stan Herman, who designed TWA uniforms in the '70s.

twa-hotel-13-of-40
4 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Checking in

Checking in at the hotel is like more like checking in for a flight: you use touchscreens. 

twa-hotel-39-of-40
5 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Departures

The split-flap departures and arrivals board updates throughout the day, featuring airlines and destinations of the era. Many older airlines have their old logos, too.

twa-hotel-17-of-40
6 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Relax

It's a hotel lobby, but it's also an airport lounge. Anyone flying out of the new Terminal 5, or JFK airport at all, can relax here and get food and a drink before checking in for their flight.

twa-hotel-41-of-40
7 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Lounge and lobby

If someone has a long layover, they can even rent a room for an afternoon to freshen up between flights. I needed to stay overnight in New York anyway, so I booked a room for the night.

twa-hotel-14-of-40
8 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Twistin' the night away

Believe it or not, I saw some people actually playing Twister a few hours after I took this picture.

twa-hotel-29-of-40
9 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

500

That is one Jolly Cinquecento.

twa-hotel-16-of-40
10 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Wings

The upstairs of one side of the main hall is a restaurant, the other has a display of original uniforms and more seating to relax before your flight... or before you go back to your room.

twa-hotel-22-of-40
11 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Pennsylvania 6-5000

A double rarity: a pay phone -- and a rotary one at that. They work!

twa-hotel-15-of-40
12 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Under the tunnel

To get to the cool bar and "runway", you have to pass under the tunnel that connects to the modern Terminal 5.

twa-hotel-33-of-40
13 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Connie

An actual Lockheed Constellation! TWA flew Constellations for 22 years starting in 1945.

twa-hotel-34-of-40
14 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Luggage

Yes, you can sit on the baggage tractor.

twa-hotel-23-of-40
15 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Starliner

This Constellation is technically an L-1649 Starliner, the last iteration of the type. It first flew in 1958 and spent its first two years with TWA.

twa-hotel-35-of-40
16 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Parked

Fully restored and parked behind the hotel, the aircraft has a slightly different use today...

twa-hotel-36-of-40
17 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Fine beverages

...As a bar! Well, cocktail lounge. Partake of some predinner or preflight drinks and snacks, served by waitstaff dressed as flight attendants.

twa-hotel-25-of-40
18 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Airborne

Amusingly, the plane still seems to be resting on its shocks, as you can feel it move slightly as people walk around. I don't think most people would notice.

twa-hotel-37-of-40
19 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Ready to fly

The Connie isn't flying anywhere, but look at the attention to detail taken for its restoration. The cockpit, which you sadly can't enter, is in fantastic shape.

twa-hotel-24-of-40
20 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Class

I kinda want these seats in my house.

twa-hotel-21-of-40
21 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Rooftop

The gorgeous main building is really just the lobby. There are two buildings behind where all the rooms are. I'm standing on one, and the other is on the opposite side of the main hall.

twa-hotel-20-of-40
22 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Pool!

Not many pools look down onto airport tarmac and taxiways. It's fairly loud and windy, but the water is well heated.

twa-hotel-44-of-40
23 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Connecting tunnels

Two tunnels branch off from the main building. One connects to the current Terminal 5. Both get you to the rooms. I was in the Hughes wing. The other is called the Saarinen wing.

twa-hotel-31-of-40
24 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Modern

It's certainly modern, but with a bit of style from the past.

twa-hotel-45-of-40
25 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

For a king

I splurged, as it was my last night after four months of travel. I got a king-size bed that overlooked the tarmac and runway. The woodwork was done by 200 Amish craftsmen.

twa-hotel-46-of-40
26 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Do I have to leave?

The thick windows kept the room quiet, and there are motorized blackout curtains that descend from the ceiling. Note the midcentury modern furniture. Another nice touch? The rotary phone by the window.

twa-hotel-47-of-40
27 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Life

Yes, TV remotes existed in 1963, but I still like the juxtaposition. The TV this remote controls was a 65-inch UHD LCD, which definitely didn't exist in 1963.

twa-hotel-19-of-40
28 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Planespotting

Just an A380 pulling into its gate, as seen from my hotel room.

twa-hotel-30-of-40
29 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Quiet hours

The airport starts to settle in for the night, but I'm not ready just yet.

twa-hotel-42-of-40-2
30 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Nightcap

After relaxing in my room for a bit, I decided to explore some more and get some dinner.

twa-hotel-40-of-40
31 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Food court

In addition to a full restaurant, there were some smaller eateries next to this 1966 Chrysler Newport.

twa-hotel-26-of-40
32 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Night falls

The TWA Hotel opened in May, 2019.

twa-hotel-27-of-40
33 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Traffic

For a weekday night, the bars and public areas of the hotel seemed fairly busy.

twa-hotel-32-of-40
34 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

One of many

The Constellation was one of the many aircraft designed, or at least assisted by, the legendary Kelly Johnson. Others included the P-38, F-80, U-2, F-104, F-117, SR-71 and more.

twa-hotel-43-of-40
35 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

All quiet

A quiet hotel lobby, with the occasional clack-clack-clack of the departures board.

twa-hotel-28-of-40
36 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

At night, with Lincoln

You can sit in the Lincoln Continental, too.

twa-hotel-48-of-40
37 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Blue lights on the runway

The airport sleeps, and so do I.

twa-hotel-49-of-40
38 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Morning

I don't want to leave.

twa-hotel-38-of-40-2
39 of 39 Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Trans World Airlines

The TWA Hotel is a magical place that's like stepping back in time. I want to redo my house with midcentury modern furniture. Wish I could stay longer, but I have a flight to catch -- at a completely different airport. 

For more about my stay, and the history of the hotel and terminal, check out Fly me to the moon: A night at the retro-masterpiece TWA Hotel.

More Galleries

Go Inside the Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro: See How the New iPhones Look and Work
iphone 15 in different color from an angled view

Go Inside the Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro: See How the New iPhones Look and Work

21 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone
Invitation for the Apple September iPhone 15 event

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone

18 Photos
Astronomy Photographer of the Year Winners Reveal Our Stunning Universe
andromeda

Astronomy Photographer of the Year Winners Reveal Our Stunning Universe

16 Photos
Check Out the iPhone 15's New Camera in Action
A photo of a silhouette of buildings on the water taken on the iPhone 15

Check Out the iPhone 15's New Camera in Action

12 Photos
I Got an Early Look at Intel's Glass Packaging Tech for Faster Chips
Rahul Manepalli, right, Intel's module engineering leader, shows a glass substrate panel before it's sliced into the small rectangles that will be bonded to the undersides of hundreds of test processors. The technology, shown here at Intel's CH8 facility in Chandler, Arizona, stands to improve performance and power consumption of advanced processors arriving later this decade. Glass substrates should permit physically larger processors comprised of several small "chiplets" for AI and data center work, but Intel expects they'll trickle down to PCs, too.

I Got an Early Look at Intel's Glass Packaging Tech for Faster Chips

20 Photos
Yamaha motorcycle and instrument designers trade jobs (pictures)
yamaha01.jpg

Yamaha motorcycle and instrument designers trade jobs (pictures)

16 Photos
CNET's 'Day of the Dead Devices' altar (pictures)
dia-de-los-muertos-3318-001.jpg

CNET's 'Day of the Dead Devices' altar (pictures)

9 Photos