From the air, descending into Los Angeles International Airport, the Theme Building appears exactly as its designers intended: a flying saucer touched down between the terminals, its parabolic arches frozen in the moment of landing. Built in 1961 as the centerpiece of a radically modernized LAX, this structure captures the jet age at its most optimistic—when Americans believed that commercial aviation would transform not just travel but civilization itself. The building was designed to be photographed from above, to welcome arriving passengers with a glimpse of the future they were entering. Sixty years later, it remains the most recognizable airport landmark in the world.
The Theme Building emerged from an unprecedented collaboration. Four of Los Angeles's most prominent architects—Paul Williams, Welton Becket, Charles Luckman, and William Pereira—combined their firms to redesign LAX for the jet age. Where the existing airport served propeller aircraft, the new complex would handle Boeing 707s carrying twice as many passengers at twice the speed. The architects' master plan placed terminals in a horseshoe around a central green, with the Theme Building as its focal point. James Langenheim, a young engineer at Pereira's firm, designed the crossed parabolic arches that give the structure its distinctive silhouette—a form he reportedly sketched on a napkin.
Paul Williams deserves particular attention. Born in Los Angeles in 1894, he became the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects and designed thousands of buildings despite facing discrimination that forced him to present drawings upside-down so white clients wouldn't have to sit beside him. By 1961, Williams was architecture royalty: he had designed homes for Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, and had just completed the Los Angeles County Courthouse. His involvement in the Theme Building—part of the largest construction project in Los Angeles history—marked a pinnacle of recognition for an architect who had spent his career breaking barriers while building landmarks.
The building was designed for spectacle. A glass-enclosed restaurant rotated slowly on the upper level, offering diners 360-degree views of arriving and departing aircraft. The observation deck welcomed the public—in an era before security restrictions, families gathered here to watch planes and imagine destinations. The arches were lit with colored neon, glowing against the night sky as passengers approached the terminals. After September 11th, security concerns closed the observation deck; the restaurant ceased rotating. But a 2010 restoration returned the neon to its original glory, and the building's status as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument ensures its survival even as the airport evolves around it.
"The Theme Building is the most iconic piece of Googie architecture ever created—the style's ultimate expression."
— Los Angeles Conservancy
Today the Theme Building houses the Encounter restaurant (currently closed) and event spaces. The observation deck remains off-limits, but the structure dominates the airport's central area, visible from every terminal and roadway. Stand in the arrivals area and look up at those white arches against the California sky. Consider that this building was designed to be seen from aircraft—a welcome sign for a city that believed the future was arriving at 600 miles per hour. The jets have grown larger, the security tighter, the optimism more complicated. But the flying saucer still stands, still catches the light, still promises that Los Angeles is somewhere worth landing.