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(Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)
NEW YORK — Kal Savi remembers being a kid on his first overseas trip, a flight aboard one of Boeing's new 747 Jumbo Jets, painted in the classic sky blue and white colors of Pan American World Airways.
It was the early 1970s, before foreign flights went out of Newark, and Savi’s family had to drive from New Jersey to the far reaches of Queens, where John F. Kennedy International Airport was an exotic gateway to far-off lands, and the Jet Age architecture of Pan Am’s saucer-like Worldport was as intoxicating to a young boy as the smell of jet fuel carried on the breeze off Jamaica Bay.
"I remember as a 10-year-old, that original terminal vividly," said Savi, a 52-year-old technology consultant who lives in Little Falls. "I remember going on my first 747 flight as a 10-year-old thinking, ‘How cool is this?’ "
But after Pan Am’s demise in 1991 and years of decline while used by Delta Airlines, the Worldport is slated for demolition as early as this summer.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates JFK, says the demolition is necessary to accommodate a $1.2 billion multiphase expansion by Delta, intended to help meet growing passenger demand in the coming decades at the already crowded airport. The project includes the addition of nine new gates and rehabilitation of seven others at Delta’s Terminal 4, which was completed last month and replaces the Worldport gates.
Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye said his agency had a "long-standing commitment to preserving aviation heritage," and listed projects at each of the region’s three major airports: the Saarinen structure at JFK; Terminal 1 at Newark Liberty International, considered the nation’s first commercial airline terminal; and the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia, noted for its huge Works Progress Administration mural, "Flight," by James Brooks.
Lisa Turano Wojcik of Ft Lauderdale , Fla along with Anthony Stramaglia of Florham Park and Kalev Savi of Little Falls are baby boomers who remember their first international flights out of JFK are leading what has become an international effort to save the World Port, an icon of Jet Age architecture built by defunct Pan Am in 1960 but now slated for demolition.
All three are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Worldport, which has been marred by additions, subtractions and changing surroundings, is not.
"Unfortunately, not every facility is landmarked as historic or can be preserved," Foye said.
PRESERVATION EFFORTS
Savi, whose mother was a longtime Pan Am employee and who himself worked summers at the old Pan Am building in Manhattan (which now bears the MetLife name), founded a group known as Save the Worldport in late 2010, after he learned of the demolition plans. He said the group counts 6,000 supporters around the world, based on "likes" of its Facebook page.
"We understand that the airlines need to move more and more passengers every year, and facilities need to expand so the public can have access to affordable air travel," Savi said. But, he added, "I could have slept easier if they announced they were knocking it down and building a new 21st century air terminal. But they’re not. They’re knocking it down to put a parking lot for airplanes."
Designed by Emanuel Turano and Walther Prokosch and completed in 1960, the original portion of the terminal predates by two years Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center. It was more revolutionary in terms of passenger conveyance than Saarinen’s elegant depot, essentially a winged head house that fronted separate gate facilities.
Another example of JFK’s architectural heyday, I.M. Pei’s green glass Sundrome, opened in 1969, was demolished by the Port Authority in 2011.
With the closing of the Worldport after its final departure last month, and the Port Authority awaiting final approval of a $215 million Federal Aviation Administration grant to demolish it and pave the jet lot, Savi and 20 sympathizers from across the country appeared at a Port Authority meeting Wednesday urging the agency to preserve at least the original portion of the terminal, nicknamed "the Saucer."
This is the logo of the organization that this pair of New Jersey baby boomers who remember their first international flights out of JFK are leading what has become an international effort to save the World Port.
"This is a piece of architectural history on a par with Penn Station," Michael Prokosch, the architect’s son, told the Port Authority board, referring to the grand Manhattan railroad depot demolished in 1963 in a decision widely reviled by architects, historians and others. "Future generations will wonder why we allowed it to be torn down."
Lisa Turano Wojcik, the second architect’s daughter, told the board, "The Worldport represents modern American design at its best, symbolizing the post-World War II period when our nation was at its height of innovation and a booming economy."
The preservationists say they do not oppose demolition of a 1971 addition to the terminal, which they say would make room for much of the parking space sought by the Port Authority and Delta. Along with preserving the original structure, they also want Milton Hebald's colossal multipart sculpture "Zodiac Screen" restored to the front of the terminal, after it had been placed in storage several years ago.
AVIATION PIONEER
Wojcik, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, and Prokosch, who lives in Boston, said they met for an hour after the meeting with an aide to Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler, a real estate executive appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But they said they were given no assurances, and Port Authority officials have stated since then that the terminal is not worth saving.
The original structure was distinguished by a 4-acre, oval-shaped cantilevered roof, under which jets would park, shielding passengers and ground crews from rain and snow in an era when other fliers were still boarding via mobile stairs on an exposed tarmac. The open "bridges" that extended directly from the terminal to the aircraft door were a precursor to today’s enclosed jetways.
The terminal also pioneered a feature ubiquitous among today’s terminals: upper and lower vehicle access drives allowing cars, cabs and buses to pick up arriving passengers on one level, with simultaneous drop-offs on another.
Anthony Stramaglia and Kal Savi, a pair of aviation buffs from New Jersey who remember their first international flights out of JFK, are leading what has become an international effort to save the World Port.
When first built, the largely glass structure was a sparkling complement to Pan Am’s shiny fleet of new Boeing 707’s, introduced in 1958 as the first modern jetliner. It was the aircraft the Beatles flew on to JFK in their U.S. invasion on Feb. 7, 1964, with Terminal 3 visible in classic footage.
A backdrop for James Bond and other films, the terminal got a television overhaul — even as the real thing deteriorated — when a reproduction was the frequent setting for ABC’s early ‘60s period drama "Pan Am," canceled in 2012 in the midst of its first season.
"The Saucer" was known simply as the Pan Am Terminal until a boxy expansion was built onto the back in 1971, making the complex the world’s largest passenger terminal and prompting Pan Am to dub it the Worldport.
'OBSOLETE'
Twenty years later, the iconic airline was out of business. Delta acquired the Worldport in a bankruptcy sale.
Following up on Foye’s comments after last month’s meeting, the Port Authority issued a statement insisting that the Worldport "has long since become obsolete and must be replaced. Unfortunately, JFK is a land-constrained airport and the space where Worldport is located will be needed for other aviation uses."
But to fans of the Jet Age, it’s like that Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi,": The Port Authority wants to pave paradise and put up a parking lot.
"I love aviation, I love airline history, and when I heard about the demolition, it just struck a chord," said another Save the Worldport organizer, Anthony Stramaglia, 44, of Florham Park, who began flying in and out of the Worldport at age 2. With all its history, distinctive architecture and his personal connection, Stramaglia added, "To me, it’s just a really great package worth fighting for."
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