Fun flying with you, Bob Hope
The airport named for the late comedian is a step closer to being Hollywood Burbank.
Bob Hope, thanks for the memories.
The entertainer’s name that has graced Bob Hope Airport (BUR) for more than a decade is expected to vanish soon from its landmark tower and elsewhere in the facility.
Airport officials approved a plan last May to change the name to Hollywood Burbank Airport to make it more catchy and recognizable to the rest of the world.
“A lot of people east of the Rockies didn’t know where Bob Hope Airport was,” said Lucy M. Burghdorf, the facility’s director of public affairs and communications. “Was it in Palm Springs? Or Vietnam?”
Airport officials are expected to approve the installation of new signage and other rebranding moves in a vote Tuesday.
Signs reflecting the name change may be in place as early as June, Burghdorf said.
This isn’t the first time the airport has changed identities. It started out as United Airport in 1930 and eventually was Hollywood-Burbank Airport from 1967 to 1978.
It then went hyper-local as Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, the name of the authority that runs it, until it was changed in 2003 to honor Hope.
The facility’s legal name will remain Bob Hope Airport. And there will still be a prominent tribute to the legendary performer on display.
Inside the airport is a bronze bas-relief sculpture of his famous profile by artist Don F. Wiegand that was dedicated in 2010.
You can expect more changes at Burbank’s airport too. Voters on Nov. 8 approved a measure to build a modern 14-gate terminal that will replace the current one built 87 years ago.