The TWA Hotel at JFK is technically brand new, but when you visit you’ll feel like you’ve traveled back in time to the 1960s.
Paying homage to the building’s original purpose, the hotel is located in Eero Saarinen’s landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, which was a high-glamour and “futuristic” (for the time) airline gate until it closed in the 2000s for not holding up to current standards of airport security.
The hotel now has 512 ultra-quiet guestrooms, two restaurants, museum exhibits on TWA, the Jet Age and the midcentury modern design movement, and lots of fun photo ops.
We all love a good dose of nostalgia, and the hotel especially indulges that in its wall-to-wall version of Twister. There’s a spinner on the back wall, so you can actually play the game just as you did when you were a kid! Inspired by when Johnny Carson played the new game of Twister with actress Eva Gabor on The Tonight Show in 1966 (the year the game first came out too), the room is covered in all different sizes of colored polka-dots (even on the ceiling!).
The room sits just off the main hotel lobby, and even if you’re not a guest you can totally go in and play a round or two.
Win or lose, there’s always a cocktail waiting at the Sunken Lounge right next door!
And don’t forget, the TWA Hotel also offers an ice skating rink right on the tarmac, next to a 1950s airplane that has turned into a vintage cocktail lounge!
Plus, there’s a brand new heated infinity pool on the rooftop that you can visit for free with cozy cocktails and fondue (food and beverages are for purchase). Turn your entire visit into the most fun-filled winter day in NYC.
Find more information on their website here.
Where: 1 Idlewild Drive, JFK International Airport, Queens, NY
featured image: Instagram / @hanklanemusic