Wings to the West Coast USA

Year Published: 1964

Creator: Pan Am

Description: Aimed at the European audience, "Wings to the West Coast USA" is a 1964 Pan Am airlines jet age travelogue, presented in Technicolor, that emphasizes the ease and speed of modern air travel to the major destinations of California and Nevada. 0:00 Main titles. Introduction to California: The narrator begins by suggesting the landscape could be Spain, but quickly reveals the setting is the state of California, USA. 1:25: Los Angeles is introduced as a product of the American West, recalling the early days of limitless distance. Today, it's a center for modern air communications, only a few hours from anywhere in the world. The superb climate and hospitality attract visitors year-round. 2:28: The California sun drew the pioneers of cinema to Hollywood, a suburb more famous than the city itself. The cement footprints of film luminaries often outlast their reputations at Mann's Chinese Theater. The traditional tour of star homes still excites visitors. 3:41: Marineland of the Pacific: Not far from LA, the film visits Marineland, where serious marine biology studies are combined with entertainment offered by its animal inhabitants. 5:22: Hoover Dam: Less than an hour's flight from the Pacific coast, overlooking the Nevada Desert, is the Boulder (Hoover) Dam on the Colorado River—a great engineering landmark that fertilizes the desert. 5:42: The dam's work allowed the "flower of resplendent beauty," Las Vegas, to bloom. The city is dedicated to its guests, featuring magnificent modern hotels, heated swimming pools, and an abundance of glamorous visitors. 6:57: Las Vegas at Night: The narrator declares that the true, authentic Las Vegas is an exotic flower that only opens its scarlet and gold buds to the desert night. 8:38: It's hard to believe that less than 320 km separate Las Vegas from Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada, where the complicated process of counting time loses importance. Time has stopped here, where giant fir trees are over 2,000 years old. 9:48: The sun, storms, and thousands of years have helped the rivers wash the face of the earth, exposing the very foundations of the world. 10:39: San Francisco & the Golden Gate: It's a tradition to look at the Golden Gate Bridge before looking at San Francisco. The city behind this structure is one of the most beautiful, fascinating, and personalized in the U.S. 11:37: Built on a mountainous peninsula, the city needs large bridges. Above all, it is a seaport, embracing its docks and piers, with clear, blue water full of graceful sailboats. 12:53: The city, with "more hills than Rome and more water than Venice," offers visitors multiple ways to enjoy the landscape, including boat tours that allow them to see the bridges from underneath. 14:07: Fisherman's Wharf: At Fisherman's Wharf, boats unload the finest and freshest seafood. Restaurants are installed right next to the boats, offering a "proverbial" variety of delicious dishes. 14:38: San Francisco's Chinatown: San Francisco's Chinatown is the largest, oldest, and the capital of all Chinatowns in the West. For generations of Chinese, the Golden Gate was their entrance to the equally mysterious West. 15:30: From Union Square, visitors can take a cable car ("the rich gondolier of San Francisco"). The clang of the bronze bells climbing and descending the steep streets keeps citizens and visitors in touch with an exciting world and way of life. 16:58: The modern city also offers a faster path to the sky (an elevator). The film concludes by looking down on this great city in a great land that was once the "Far West" but is now just a "vacation flight" away from anywhere in the world.

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp7O_9ckJrg

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