It’s probably safest if we get out ahead of future sensibilities and strip the names from all airports in favor of their IATA codes. (After screening those codes for anything objectionable, such as the obvious negative connotations of “LAX”.)
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“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”
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How about naming it The Colton Harris-Moore? Or D B Cooper?
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Strike that – I didn’t realize how insensitive IATA codes were. Naming Libenge Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo “LIE” seems a little problematic. Gympie Airport in Queensland “GYP”? Out of line. And I don’t even want to talk about Fagurhólsmýri Airport.
Let’s just number them.
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The last time I flew out of Dulles, it felt as if the (interior) architecture was preparing me for TSA compliance.
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He was an ass-hole.
So now Hope’s name has been taken off the airport for marketing purposes – the official name of the airport remains the Bob Hope Airport, but that won’t be used in marketing – for the same reason.
Clear as mud…
The name won’t literally be taken off the airport – the “Bob Hope” on the side of the building will remain.
They should have come up with something that really rolls off of the tongue like “The Hollywood Hope Airport of Burbank”
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Oh, totally. He was the one to roll his eyes, break the 4th wall, and say something caustic after falling in a ditch. But that was his schtick – not something to accuse him of as a reason to take his name off an airport.
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True dat. I know nothing of him, personally, apart from the fact that he did USO tours for many years.
I do enjoy flying into Burbank Airport because it’s fast, but flying out it’s a billion times easier and faster than LAX. I’ve only ever called it Burbank Airport, though.
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No, it’s Hopeless.
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It’s not really about ‘selling plane tickets’, it’s about load-balancing: trying to divert Hollywood-bound business and tourist traffic away from LAX, which is hella overcrowded and nowhere near Hollywood, to BUR, which is ‘underutilized’ and right next door to Hollywood.
(Indeed, about a third of notional ‘Hollywood’ - “The Industry”, as its inhabitants call it - is actually IN Burbank)
The idea is to make travelers more aware of the fact that, if you’re heading for ‘Hollywood’, this is the most convenient destination.
(And it has nothing at all to do with Cory’s opinion of Bob Hope’s character. A lot of the locals actually knew Bob, and viewed him… somewhat differently.)
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And let’s not forget his sexism too. He was the epitome of a white man punching down at minority groups. I could never understand why people thought he was funny.
Yeah I would 100X rather fly out of or into Burbank than LAX. But I lived in Pasadena so Burbank was only 30 minutes away.
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Do we hate bob hope now? Why? I mean, I know there’s been some recent exposes of Bing Crosby as an abusive father, etc, but Bob Hope? Pretty much everything I know about him is from catching some of his bits on a PBS special. They seemed pretty funny and harmless.
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Yeah, typically the honorary name only gets used in cases where it would be ambiguous, like LaGuardia vs. JFK. For some reason, though, people in Boston actually refer to the local airport as Logan.
Nobody calls O’Hare, Orchard field either.
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Calling person like Bob Hope a “racist boob” is just so dismissive and off-putting …
I’m sure your just a totally wonderful person Mr. Doctorow, glad we put you in charge of making such calls.
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Brutalist, by any chance?
I’m still a little lost why this ostensibly was a newsworthy event meriting a post in the first place, much less why it merited a side trip down character assassination lane.
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