Joe's Six Pack

Local historian, radio personality and author of several books on Route 66, Joe Sonderman, offers a couple sets of 6 great photos each from his extensive photo and post card collections.  More sets to come soon!  
The Sands
Billed as "The Finest Motel in St. Louis County," the Sands at 4630 Lindbergh Blvd. was owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Lammers at the time of this 1960 view. The 50 unit complex grew into the massive Henry VIIIth Hotel and Conference Center, with 155 rooms and 190 suites. It was all torn down for the new runway.



Air-O-Way Courts
The Air-O-Way Courts were owned by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rampani. The property had "16 Permastone Cottages" with city certified water, Spring Air mattresses and blonde oak furniture. Harold Jones changed the name to the Air Way Motel in the 1970s. It was torn down in the 1990s to make room for a Home Depot store on St. Charles Rock Road, west of Lindbergh.


The Motel St. Louis
The Motel St. Louis, "The Motel Beautiful," was located at 5028 North Lindbergh Blvd. There were 46 units and the "Woody" station wagon out front was used to shuttle guests to and from the airport. They advertised "You'll be proud to say I stopped at the new Motel St. Louis." It was torn down in the late 1960s for airport expansion.


The Stanley Cour-Tel:
Stanley Williams built his motel at Lindbergh Boulevard and Natural Bridge in 1950. The Apollo One astronauts stayed at the Stanley Cour-tel while training at McDonnell Aircraft. The Stanley was torn down to make room for the new runway and tunnel in 2001. The sign was saved, and can be seen at Rich Henry's Rabbit Ranch on Old Route 66 in Stanton, Illinois.


The Albert Pick Motel
The Albert Pick Motel was part of a national chain, and opened in September 1959 at 4625 North Lindbergh. It became better known, and very notorious, after the name was changed to the San Antonio Inn. Abandoned in the 1990s, it was torn down in 2001.



The Holiday Inn
The Holiday Inn at Lindbergh Blvd. and Long Rd. started off with 150 rooms and grew to 392. This location advertised a service station, station wagon service to and from the airport and "Sitters for Setters," a kennel service. It later became the Bridgeton Clarion and then the Ramada Inn.

6 more great pics...

A TWA Lockheed Constellation is shown here in front of the new Lambert Field Terminal shortly after it opened in 1956. Minoru Yamasaki, George Hellmuth and Joseph Leinweber designed the innovative structure with its three thin shell concrete domes. There are now four domes. Yamasaki went on to design the World Trade Center.




This photo taken in 1956, from outside the assembly building, shows an F3H Demon. By the 1960's, McDonnell Aircraft was the largest employer in Missouri.




This photo shows the old Lambert Field Terminal, which was on Route 66, Lindbergh Boulevard. It opened in 1933 and was dubbed "The Union Station of the Air" because it could handle four planes at once. At the time, it was criticized as being too large. The plane shown here is a Curtiss-Wright Condor, the first one built at the Lambert Field Curtiss-Wright Factory. This terminal was replaced in 1956 and torn down in 1979.



In 1967, McDonnell merged with Douglas Aircraft. This 1969 photo shows the landmark red neon sign on the assembly building, along with a line up of Phantoms. By 1980, over 40,000 people worked at McDonnell-Douglas. The firm merged with Boeing in 1996. 


Here is a view of the Lambert Terminal shortly after it opened. I love this one because of all the old cars.

James S. McDonnell founded his company in 1939 with one employee on the second story of this little building shown here. It was on the north side of Lambert Field and was leased from American Airlines. That first year, McDonnell's company showed a loss of $3,892.


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