SFO Museum, San Francisco International Airport: One of America's coolest museums is inside an airport

The SFO Museum is one of the most comprehensive showings or art and culture at an airport.Credit: SFO Museum

I am walking through a vast hanger on the outskirts of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and the walls are covered with Post-It notes, intricate pencil diagrams and photos of airplane windows, the benches are cross-hatched with thick tape and home to piles of retro dinner plates and cutlery, the ghosts of first class past. The team are clearly in the midst of planning a very intricate landing.

But this is not your average air traffic control team, it is the brains behind the SFO Museum and the landing they have in mind is bumping in a brand new exhibit to one of the 45 spaces peppered throughout the five terminals. This particular exhibit will celebrate the menus and place setting that graced the pointy end of the plane during the golden age of travel in the 50s and 60s; the United menu sports such gems as broiled ham steaks in port wine sauce with glazed pineapple rings while the Pan Am Clipper menu favours lobster thermidor.

First established in 1980 by the Airport Commission, the aim of the museum is to engage its global audience on a broad range of subjects from vintage motorcycles to Victorian wallpaper, not just the history of travel.

The museum has grown a lot since it was first founded, it is now a part of the culture of the airport, art has a home here it is not just pretty decoration.Credit: SFO Museum

Tim O'Brien is the director and chief curator of the SFO Museum and he is taking me on a tour of the huge facility that is dedicated to preparing the rotating roster of exhibits.

"Everything is produced in house. We have a dress rehearsal for the install because when we arrive at the terminals it is a quick turnaround. We are pretty discreet, and we try to conduct our activity with minimal public contact" he says. "Which is a shame because we love taking pride in our work but our job is really to get in and out without impeding the primary business of the airport. We will set it up at our workshop as many as three times to practice."

The museum began as just a few pop-up spaces in the airport but now houses the 40-plus exhibits some of which are in dedicated spaces including the Fly & Explore Video Arts gallery running a permanent film festival.

"When we finally got permanent cases in 2000 that changed things up," says O'Brien. "We worked with the architects to design galleries that feel integrated with the airport's architectural environment. The current exhibition on the subject of pina lace from the Philippines is exhibited in a new gallery where we can better control the lights and safely exhibit such sensitive material."

Touring the offsite facility the first stop is the conservation lab where the pieces come into the museum and they are inspected and given a complete condition report and logged carefully, then they might be shot by the in-house photographer for the catalogues. "We love to return things in a better state than they arrived," O'Brien says.

Then we visit "the shop" where the exhibits are built, the cases and stands that are made to fit the museum spaces. We move through to a storage area with a wall full of vintage airline signage and drawers overflowing with pilot wings and staff badges all logged and easily located. The scale of the project is incredible, 32 staff members keep the exhibits rolling in and many are veterans passionate about this unique airline project, the only accredited museum at an international airport.

"The city and the airport support this special program because they want to provide a good first impression for visitors to San Francisco, they want people who are arriving here to feel a sense of place. And that it's a place that values culture and education and art, leaving select spaces free from advertisement or direction, providing opportunities to entertain and enlighten," says O'Brien.

"So I think what we offer are moments of serendipity, when you come across something that you weren't expecting, you are not expecting a museum at an airport. You are certainly not expecting one that will have exhibitions ranging from African barbershop art and Korean ceramics to the history of slot machines or classic movie monsters."

The SFO Museum does have a designated museum space in the terminal but that focuses purely on aviation history. The Aviation Museum & Library is funereally quiet and a great space to escape the airport hubbub and you feel like you have stepped back in time as it is modelled on the original airport passenger lobby from the 1930s. Exhibits stick around a little longer here and the current one is Flying the Southern Cross Route a celebration of 75 years of air travel between Australia and North America, a fitting tribute as I am on the inaugural return of the San Francisco to Melbourne route post-Covid. The glass cabinets are full of retro Qantas uniforms and details of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smiths original voyage.

O'Brien walks me out past some of the other galleries where we see The Victorian Papered Wall, Pina Lace, a miniature of the Jet Mainliner and the permanent black-and-white photographs celebrating the life of Harvey Milk in the terminal that now bears his name.

There are plenty of reasons to provide a dose of culture at an international airport. These artistic statements provide a gateway to the local culture and leave a lasting impression on visitors, public art is distinctive and aids wayfinding and it has a soothing effect not only on travellers but airport workers. When I leave SFO I really feel like I could have spent more time there, like I might have missed out on some things and want to return.

The museum has grown a lot since it was first founded, it is now a part of the culture of the airport, art has a home here it is not just pretty decoration.

"A lot of folks are saying, thank god you guys are here because I am really stressed out, flying is stressful and I come here early to relax and to just take in the art and I always know I am going to see something different," O'Brien says. "It is about delighting and surprising people and offering some respite from the stresses of travel."

THE DETAILS

FLY

United's Melbourne to San Francisco direct flight resumed from June 5 after a COVID hiatus. Flights daily. See united.com

SEE

The SFO Museum is one of the most comprehensive showings or art and culture at an airport, thanks to its huge offsite facility. The museum was granted initial accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 1999 and was reaccredited in 2005 making it the only accredited museum operating at an airport. See sfomuseum.org

MORE

traveller.com.au/san-francisco

flysfo.com

Paul Chai was a guest of San Francisco International Airport and United Airlines.

FIVE MORE ARTY AIRPORTS

Delta Air Line Terminal C, La Guardia Airport, US

Another US airport giving you a taste of its local talent, La Guardia has large-scale permanent exhibitions by New York artists like Virginia Overton, Fred Wilson and Ronny Quevedo. The works are commissioned in partnership with the local Queens Museum and they are all designed to reflect New York life. laguardiaairport.com

Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar

Expansive, clean and vying for the top spot on the best international airport lists, the art in Hamad is big, bold and uncompromising like the city itself. The centrepiece as you clear security is the Insta-worthy, selfie-magnet that is Urs Fischer's Lamp Bear a giant yellow teddy bear, but also look out for metal oryx and painted works by Middle Eastern artists. dohahamadairport.com

Aeroporti di Roma, Italy

You would expect the European gateway to art to pay it some respect at the airport. The Art in the Terminal project here has images projected onto an LED wall that creates an immersive journey through the world on Italian masters. The displays also promote emerging young Italian artists. adr.it

Schipol International Airport, The Netherlands

Another European entrant, Schipol has teamed with the local Rijksmuseum to offer a sample of the famous Dutch masters for those that might not have had the time to visit the actual museum in Amsterdam. Enjoy a selection of 19th century Dutch paintings that rotate regularly with other works from the famous collection. schiphol.nl

Athens International Airport, Greece

Go even further back on the cultural timeline at Athens airport which offers a series of regular, rotating art offerings including things like traditional Hellenic costumes or works from Greek photographers. There is also a range of archaeological treasures on offer for people coming and going from the country. aia.gr