| If you ever thought as a child that living at the | | | | their jobs and move up the pay grade ladder. The |
| airport would be fun, you have only to look at the | | | | colony originally started as a scattering of RV trailers |
| residents of LAX Parking Lot B to see that "fun" is | | | | around the various LAX parking lots, until airport |
| not exactly at the heart of real-life airport living. It's | | | | officials finally decided to group them all together into |
| mostly a matter of drab, daily routines. | | | | a single lot. The colony now has an official code of |
| The people living in the assorted motor homes and | | | | conduct as well as an unofficial mayor: Doug Rogers |
| trailers arranged in neighborhood fashion in Parking | | | | (62), a United Airline's mechanic. Residency |
| Lot B are all airline employees who, feeling pressured | | | | requirements include background checks, proof of |
| by lowered industry wages across the board, have | | | | airline employment and regular motor home |
| decided to save money by living in this part-time | | | | inspections. |
| motor home colony. Most of them have homes out | | | | The lower wages, layoffs, demotions and overall job |
| of state or hundreds of miles from Los Angeles and | | | | insecurity that contributes to the appeal of Parking |
| would otherwise be forced to rent a second house | | | | Lot B is, in part, the result of a years-long slump in air |
| or apartment while working. | | | | travel that began after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 |
| Today, there are a little over 100 residents living in | | | | and only worsened with the onset of the 2007 |
| the Los Angeles Airport's Lot B, most of them men, | | | | national economic recession. Salaries for pilots and |
| with jobs that range from airplane captains and first | | | | other airline employees have sunk, and captains like |
| officers to mechanics, flight attendants, support staff | | | | Lot B resident Jim Lancaster have been demoted to |
| and air cargo company employees. Lot B is located | | | | first officers, tossing aside seniorities that were built |
| just off Aviation Boulevard, about 3,500 feet away | | | | over the course of many years of hard work. |
| from the south runway. It is basically a huge, flat | | | | "You can't maintain a household elsewhere and afford |
| expanse of asphalt filled with white and beige motor | | | | a home here in this economic climate," says Rogers. |
| homes. The deafening noise of jet engines overhead | | | | And that does seem to be the same conclusion that |
| is a regular part of everyday life. | | | | all of the residents of LAX Parking Lot B (who pay |
| Most of the residents of Lot B spend weeks at a | | | | only $60 a month for their temporary housing) have |
| time away from their loved ones in order to keep | | | | arrived at. |