Bendix sign - Los Angeles

[Alex Calder]

So.... In downtown Los Angeles, at 12th & Maple, stands the old
Bendix Aviation building. The "Bendix" sign is visible for miiles.

More info:
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/neon_signs/bendix.html

So, flying by it the other day, the pilot of the news helicopter I
work in mentioned that he'd heard some stories about the Bendix sign.
Specifically, there's an airport-style beacon at the top (we took a
good look at it) and his source said that it was a beacon used at an
old downlown L.A. airport before being moved to the top of the sign.

This may be a corrupted version of what the website says:

"The tower was built by Bendix Aviation Corporation to aid in
nighttime aviation."

Anybody have any more info?

I love this old historical stuff and it would be cool to see if
there's a great story behind that beacon.

If you find yourself over downtown L.A. soon, go check it out. I'd
see the sign a hundred times but never realized what was on top of it.

That's all!

Alex Calder
Helispot
http://www.helispot.com

[Gyroplanes]

>I love this old historical stuff and it would be cool to see if
>there's a great story behind that beacon.

Ii agree. Good luck. Our airport, Lansing Municipal, Lansing, IL. used to be
Ford airport. Henry Ford built it and did work on the Tri-motors there. The
main hangar (original) sports an "airways" beacon. It is a white only, rotating
beacon that used to light the way for airmail pilots.
It was the only beacon we had up until a few years ago when they got a green /
white on a tower.
Tom