A Day in the Douglas DC-7's First Class

In 1953, the Douglas DC-7 became the first airliner to fly nonstop from New York to Los Angeles—and it did so in style. First-class passengers dined on filet mignon with real silverware, sipped Scotch in a rear Sky Lounge, and played gin rummy at 20,000 feet while America drifted past the windows. A ticket cost what a used car did, and the cabin felt more like a private club than an airplane. But this golden age balanced on a razor's edge. The engines were brilliant and dangerously temperamental, and within five years, the Boeing 707 would cut the journey in half and make every propeller luxury obsolete. This is the story of those seven fleeting years—when flying was slow enough to be civilized, exclusive enough to be memorable, and already destined to disappear.