12/12/02 Dinner Key 75th Anniversary

For the 75th anniversary of Pan Am's first flight from Key West to Havana, Director Jeffrey Mills traveled to Miami, Florida to attend the event and to meet with members of the Pan Am Historical Foundation to strategize about fundraising. for the film.

The Miami event not only was held to celebrate a milestone in Pan Am's history, but also to showcase work that the city of Miami has been doing on their city hall. It happens that this city hall was originally Pan Am's Dinner Key Marine Terminal and operated during its golden era of flying boats. This was Pan Am's largest flying boat terminal and the jumping off place for all of their flights to the Caribbean and South America.

The city of Miami has been restoring many of the murals and building details that had been part of the terminal and had either deteriorated over the years, or had been covered up with paint or drop ceilings. The fantastic ceiling murals were particularly beautiful, depicting the adventure and mystery of flying. There have been talks over the years that when the city outgrows this building, it may be donated back to the Pan Am Historical Foundation to convert into a museum about Pan Am.

Also attending the anniversary celebration were Charles Trippe Jr., grandson of Pan AM founder Juan Trippe, and Margaret Eiluned Morgan, the niece of Charles Lindbergh who had been a technical advisor to Pan Am from 1928-1973.

For additional photos of the event, go to the Dinner Key Anniversary gallery.