1961 - Concourse 3, Miami International Airport photo

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DEC-1961	Don Boyd

1961 - Concourse 3, Miami International Airport

Concourse 3, Miami International Airport

This is the view from where the Beatles arrived on February 13, 1964 on a National Airlines DC-8 from New York to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show broadcast from Miami Beach. Note the public observation deck on top of the concourse with a low chain link fence and benches for the people to sit and watch the airplanes. Admission cost was 10 cents at a turnstile but kids could easily hop over without paying.

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Unless otherwise noted under the right bottom of the photo, all images are copyrighted by Don Boyd

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Guest		22-Aug-2010 12:57
Wayne Comrie I remember piling into a car with all the neighborhood kids to go see the Beatles when they arrived in Miami. Of course, we did not get anywhere near the terminal there were so many people. My mother used to work for Pan American's credit union. I loved driving by the airport and watching the planes. We used to go out to Miliam Dairy for ice cream and they had a miniature train. My dad would take us out by Red Road and we would park and watch the planes with a picnic, then let the dog swim in the rock pits.

Kurt S		25-Jun-2010 02:39
See the railing on the roof. That is the observation deck. My dad would take us all there in the evenings, and we would watch the planes land. Back then there still were a lot of very loud high power prop planes, as well as prop-jets, and 707's. I still remember the smell of the combination of jet fuel and high octane gas fumes that permeated the whole area. These days you can't even get into an airport concourse as a visitor, much less on the roof! Those were better times.

kinseeker		26-Apr-2010 04:48
The first terminal was on 36 street on old Willis Field. I went there in 1948 to put my mother on a plane when my grandmother died. I will never forget it because there was a huge model of an Eastern Super Constellation hanging in the terminal. In 1957 I went to the terminal on 20th st to pick up my grandfather who flew in on a Boeing 707 Jet, the first on I had seen up close. Then in 1961 we took my grandfather to the new terminal shown here. It was his last trip, as he died the following Spring of 1962. I thought that hotel in an airport was the grandest thing I had ever seen.

kinseeker		26-Apr-2010 04:42
My best friend Randy Rhodes and I skipped our afternoon classes and went to the airport on Randy's Honda motorcycle to see the Beatles arrive. It was amazing to see so many people on that concourse roof at one time. It was packed and as the Beatles left the plane they waved to the crowds behind those fences you see in the pictures.

Guest		26-Oct-2009 05:17
I remember ( a little later than this photo ~late '70's to early '80's) going to the McDonalds at the Concourse E Satellite. There was an outdoor observation area there, too! :-)

Guest		03-May-2008 14:22
As a older Miami native, I agree that that pic is the 1961 airport terminal. Going to the airport to pick up or drop someone off was a treat as we ALWAYS made our way to the observation deck to watch their planes either land or take off.

Guest		27-Jan-2008 23:28
...yeah, those Beatle fans absolutely destroyed that concourse when The Beatles arrived...lots of damage to the concourse!

Don Boyd		27-Jan-2008 17:19
Three 1959 images of MIA's new open terminal, from the Florida State Archives, are now displayed in the Aviation Historical Gallery. Two were shot in the large surface parking lot and show the terminal before the airport hotel was built on top of the terminal. The third shot is of the interior of the terminal at Concourse 4 (now E). Don

Don Boyd		27-Jan-2008 05:38
The 20th Street Terminal opened in 1959. The prints I have are date stamped by the film developer who, like most film developing places at the time, put the month and year that the photos were developed. It is not a date stamp like you can buy and stamp with any date, it is under the clear coating on the print. I don't know what plaque you saw in the terminal but either you misread it or misunderstood what it said. I do know that I was 14 when I took this photo and that it was 1961 and that I had been to this same terminal many times before for a year or two previously. I will post some 1959 and 1960 photos of the 20th Street Terminal in the near future so you can see further proof that the terminal opened in 1959, including an image that showed the terminal before the hotel was built a year later. Don

Don Boyd		27-Jan-2008 03:20
The 20th Street Terminal opened in 1959. The prints I have are date stamped by the film developer who, like most film developing places at the time, put the month and year that the photos were developed. It is not a date stamp like you can buy and stamp with any date, it is under the clear coating on the print. I don't know what plaque you saw in the terminal but either you misread it or misunderstood what it said. I do know that I was 14 when I took this photo and that it was 1961 and that I had been to this same terminal many times before for a year or two previously. I will post some 1959 and 1960 photos of the 20th Street Terminal in the near future so you can see further proof that the terminal opened in 1959, including an image that showed the terminal before the hotel was built a year later. Don

Guest		27-Jan-2008 01:15
...anybody can date stamp a picture...that doesn't make it correct

Don Boyd		27-Jan-2008 00:45
I'm sorry but you are incorrect. The new terminal opened about two years before this photo was taken and I have dated black and white photo prints with "DEC-61" on them, including the above image. I also had numerous photos of the 20th Street terminal and ground level parking lot from 1959 and 1960 on this site until I rearranged directories and lost a ton of shots which I will replace over time. I grew up down here and I worked for the airport itself for 26 years so I think I know my dates fairly well. Don

Guest		27-Jan-2008 00:28
Sorry Don, 1961 is an incorrect date since the airport at this location was not completed until 1963. I know this as fact since there is a dedication plaque at the airport (where I used to work) with this information. The previous airport terminal was located on N.W. 36th street until 1963 when the terminal was relocated to it's current location. That abandoned terminal became the Eastern Airlines employment office which sadly has been demolished.

Jeff Jenkins		08-Sep-2007 21:48
I worked briefly at MIA as a Ramp Agent, though much later than 1961. And my family and I flew to and from MIA a bunch of times.

Guest		06-Jun-2007 17:49
As a kid, I went many times to pick up friends and relatives coming in from Cuba and would always go to the roof to see the planes. Yep, I also jumped the turnstyle not to pay.

Guest		19-May-2007 13:49
Guest My husband worked for National airlines until 1972

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