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United Airport opens in agricultural Burbank in 1930.
Travelers into Southern California who are LAX-averse no longer have a choice between alternative airports named after long-time and long-dead San Fernando Valley residents. John Wayne (famously of Glendale and Encino far longer than he was of Orange County) remains, but Bob Hope will soon vanish from airline schedules.
The main problem with calling Burbank's cozy little airport Bob Hope Airport these last 12 years or so wasn't that the late actor had little connection to Burbank (he lived in Toluca Lake and worked all over the place), or that as time passed Hope's name wasn't necessarily all that familiar or beloved. It's that more and more, travelers had no idea where the heck "Bob Hope" was or why they would ever want to fly there. So once again, the closest alternative airport to Los Angeles will be called Hollywood Burbank Airport.
Which was fine the last time it was used, from 1967-78, but politicians like to politic and airport commissioners like to commission, so the name was changed. A couple of times.
At least Hollywood Burbank actually is located close to studios, both the TV and the film kind. So the name is not bogus. And it's a better name than the 1930 original — United Airport — or the previous long-time handle as Lockheed Air Terminal. But for most people I know, it has always just been Burbank Airport, and still will be when the next batch of commissioners pays for the next re-branding.
