Tustin Blimp Hangar #2 — Attraction in Tustin

Beneath a sky smeared with the amber glow of late afternoon, the Tustin Blimp Hangar rises like the ribcage of some long-dead colossus — impossibly vast, ancient, and asleep in plain sight. Its weathered skin of wood and steel strains against time, a monument not merely to engineering but to a kind of ambition too large to be innocent. You do not see it so much as feel it — like a presence — long before you cross its shadow.

There’s awe, certainly. A reverent silence swells in the lungs as your eyes trace its spine arcing across the horizon. It is sublime in the way cathedrals are, built for gods or for war, and in this case, both. The hangar does not beg to be admired — it commands it. It makes you feel small. It makes you feel watched.

And then, the fear creeps in. Not loud or sudden, but a whisper behind the ribs. The hangar is empty now, its belly hollow, but it hums with the memory of what it once held: surveillance, silence, secrets. Its doors — two titanic slabs taller than most buildings — seem too large for anything meant for peace. You can’t help but imagine them slowly groaning open, not to release something, but to reawaken it.

Around its perimeter, nature hesitates. Weeds grow tentatively. Birds do not linger. Even in decay, the hangar exerts authority — a relic of a future that never quite arrived but still looms over us like a warning. There is beauty here, yes. But it is the beauty of a storm seen from a great distance, or the eye of something that remembers a different world. One where the skies were crowded, and trust was rationed.

You stand before it and realize: this place was not built to shelter. It was...

It is a bummer that it burnt down. My guess is arson was involved, but I guess we will never know. It did bring a lot of asbestos into the air, but I won't blame the building itself because of when it was actually built. That blame goes to the city of Tustin. In any case, at least Hanger #1 is still around. I hope nothing happens to that one. All that is left is 4 pillars in the corners of where the...

I remember going to Tustin thunder for a car show and races , i still have the coffee mug. That was around 1990 . My Grandfather helped build those hangars . I used to drive for a cement company nearby and ive been inside as well. Thats a shame it burnt , i believe that one had structural damage that also caused damage to an experimental shipping type blimp. A loss all...