Comments on: Building 13

By: Mike Saporito

Mike Saporito — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:25:30 +0000

I have similar security memory from Logan in the mid to late 1970s. When you are in terminal C – there is a downhill ramp that leads to a jetblue counter – then you can go right or left to the various gates. Behind that counter is a door. In the 1970s that door was unlocked and anyone could go out to a roof top over the gates. The view of the apron was incredible. I remember Dad took me there one Friday night in the summer and there was just incredible stuff…there were t-storms at JFK and an ATC strike in Canada…we saw numerous TWA and Pan Am 747s – as well as SP 747s from Iran Air and Iraqui that were diverted for those above reasons. Obviously this had to be prior the overthrow of the Shah. As you mentioned…no photographs sadly.

By: BigDumbDinosaur

BigDumbDinosaur — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:29:33 +0000

Having been a child back in the 1940s and 1950s, old railroad buildings are to me as Logan’s Building 13 is to you. I was a young lad when I was taken on a tour of the Canadian National’s roundhouse in Toronto in 1951—smoke seemed to issue from every crack and open window of that edifice as gigantic steam locomotives were building boiler pressure in preparation for a run. I also had visited a smaller engine house in Gananoque (ON) that year—back then, that engine house was part of the Grand Trunk system, later to be subsumed by the Canadian National.

In both places, there was no shiny aluminum and fancy livery, only the black steel of immensely powerful machines. There was also the inescapable “fragrance” of burnt coal and fuel oil, the latter from those new-fangled Diesel-electric units that were about to put steam out of business.

The Toronto roundhouse is now only a memory…a chapter of Canadian railroad history, and the Gananoque engine house has been repurposed. Perhaps Building 13 will be repurposed as well, although airport construction tends to be dismissive of old buildings that still have stories to tell. One thing for sure: whatever befalls Building 13, the folks who work on or demolish it will not be getting a whiff of coal dust or combusted fuel oil. 🙂 Too bad…those aromas still linger in my mind after some 75 years and when I smell them today, fond memories are triggered.

By: Rich Delmar

Rich Delmar — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:34:15 +0000

I grew up on the South Shore in the ‘60s. Our neighbor worked in the old control tower at Logan, and took me up there a couple of times. No pesky security checks. It was wicked cool.

By: Don Beyer

Don Beyer — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:29:53 +0000

From an American 1976 timetable, freight system schedules. Flight 865 left JFK at 8:45pm, arrived BOS at 9:45, left at 11:45, then stopped in Cleveland at 1:30am then DFW at 4:30am then arrived LAX at 6:50. Flight 832 left LAX at 11:35pm then ORD at 5:10 arriving Boston at 9:05.

By: Peter O'Leary

Peter O'Leary — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:43:05 +0000

Patrick,

I agree that there are pockets here and there that have not changed much in the last few decades. Walking down a hall , passing a certain luggage carousel , plane spotting on the roof of Terminal B, (who knew you could go ‘fishing: on the roof of Terminal B. LOL)often onvkoe even more memories.
Peter

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:38:00 +0000

After American, the building was apparently used by UPS, and it may currently be empty. Listed as “UPS (Building 13) – currently vacant – out to RFP” on page 72 of Appendix H in Massport’s most recent Environmental Status and Planning Report.

By: wilson

wilson — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 03:15:04 +0000

Many airlines operated combi and/or QC aircraft in the 1960s and 1970s that could switch from passenger to cargo configurations and some could carry both freight and passengers simultaneously in the cabin. AA apparently did not operate combi or QC aircraft. Solved.

By: EF

EF — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:18:59 +0000

I’m long-time reader going back to your Salon days. I haven’t thought about this in years, but my first job in the 90’s after college was as temp for a few months in the ground transportation unit at Logan. I haven’t been back to Boston in over 20 years, but your post reminded me of the long commute on the T to the airport shuttle to the weird back offices you don’t see when you’re just an airline passenger and wandering the terminals during lunch break. The woman I was temping for was the (Boston-accented) voice on the shuttles announcing airline stops. If I make it back to Boston, I’ll see if I can remember where the ground transportation office is.