Burbank, CA
Opened 1930 as United Airport, one of the first major airports serving Los Angeles. Renamed Bob Hope Airport in 2003 for the comedian, who lived in nearby Toluca Lake. Rebranded Hollywood Burbank in 2017. Closer to Hollywood and the major studios than KLAX — the celebrity-friendly LA airport.
Where Kelly Johnson's Lockheed Advanced Development Programs — the Skunk Works — designed the U-2 (1955), SR-71 Blackbird (1964), and F-117 Nighthawk (1981). The original Plant B-1 sat at Burbank Airport's northwest corner. The Skunk Works moved to Palmdale (Plant 42) in 1989 and the Burbank land was redeveloped — today an Empire Center shopping mall covers most of the historic plant. Pirep marks the site for what happened here, not what stands now: the airplanes that won the Cold War were drafted on these blocks.
Tucked under the Verdugo Hills at the east end of the San Fernando Valley, Burbank calls itself the Media Capital of the World — and earns it. Warner Bros. built its 62-acre lot here in 1926 (still 36 sound stages, including one with a two-million-gallon water tank); Walt Disney moved his studio to Buena Vista Street in 1939 on the success of Snow White; NBC's "beautiful downtown Burbank" became a national punchline on Laugh-In. The three sit clustered in the Media District along the LA River. There's an aviation thread too: the airport you fly into was the home of Lockheed's Skunk Works — the U-2 that found the missiles in Cuba was built feet from the runway, before the operation moved up to Palmdale. Comedy, cartoons, blockbusters, and spy planes, all in one valley town.
Originally HOLLYWOODLAND — built 1923 as a real-estate billboard for an Beachwood Canyon housing development. The "LAND" portion was removed in 1949 and the sign restored in 1978. Each letter is 45 feet tall. The sign sits at 1,578ft elevation on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills. The white letters are 45ft tall and read clearly from any aerial vantage with a southern exposure to the hill.
1 Rocket Road — where every Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Crew Dragon, and Starlink satellite is designed and built. Mission Control sits across the parking lot from the production floor. The full-scale Falcon 9 booster outside the front entrance is a real flown rocket. Public tours suspended; the lobby cafe is occasionally accessible. KHHR airport is across the street — pilots flying in can see the Dragon test stand from the GA ramp.