REDONDO BEACH, CA – Anthony Toth is such a fan of airline Pan Am, he built a full-sized cabin replica in his house!
Toth has spent more than 20 years and $50,000 building an exact replica of a first-class cabin from a Pan Am World Airways 747! The setup sits in the garage of his condo.
A 42-year-old sales director at United Airlines, he has been obsessed with the now-defunct airline since childhood. Every summer, he flew Pan Am with his parents to visit their relatives in Rome and Budapest.
“There was no other aircraft I could walk on board that intrigued me more than the Pan Am cabin,” he said. “Everything symbolized something. That meant something to me as a youngster.”
He would save trash with the logo on it, take photos of the interior, and tape-record the cabin music.
This is not the first time Toth has built a recreation. At age 12, he created a smaller 20-foot cabin interior out of wood in his paren’t basement.
Although he tried out smaller versions, he finally began his masterpiece two years ago, after buying an apartment with a big enough garage. In it, he created the replica, from it’s original overhead luggage space down to the almonds sealed in Pan Am packaging.
Toth says he found most of the items on various trips down to an airplane boneyard in the Mojave Desert, where disused planes are stripped. For pieces he can’t find, like the seat covers, he hires professional designers to recreate exact replicas.
While the cabin isn’t open to the public yet, Toth is hoping to turn it into a museum. For now, friends can stop by and be served meals on Pan Am china, and leave with custom boarding pass and luggage tags.
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As a international traveler, principally to Rome, at that time period I completely understand the thrill and power of the Pan Am brand which stood heads and tails above the other national carrier brands like TWA. I can still vividly recall the visceral thrill that went through my brain the first time I boarded Pan Am. And even more so the first time I turned left into the first class cabin after so many previous right turns into the economy seats.
Great job Anthony, I could almost taste the almonds and remember the first class touch of the porcelain service. Invite me to visit when you find a suitable stewardess to welcome aboard.
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