3. There’s a Conveyor Belt for your Luggage Inside the TWA Hotel

Beyer Blinder Belle have reinstalled the movable conveyor belt behind the ticket desks, which now take baggage down into a lower level storage. So if you’re checking in and your room is not ready yet, or you’re just visiting the TWA Hotel for the day, you can check your bag and watch it go down. The check-in desks are not original, but are inspired by the era and have been rebuilt with the amenities needed for a modern hotel check in. The same new desks are also on the south side of the Flight Center, but used as food stalls.

And in one of the most fun facts we learned, Southwick tells us that “the baggage claim was actually historically very unique.” Eero Saarinen was the first to design circular baggage carousels and when the TWA Flight Center opened in 1962, it contained the first versions of these carousels. However, these were moved in the past into a larger baggage area so the original baggage claim has been transformed into a ballroom, taking advantage of the width and length of the space.