Ukiyohi Reviews: TWA Hotel at JFK

TWA Hotel at JFK: Part 1

File under: lodging reviews, mid-mod inspo, design geekery and playlists

The TWA Hotel sits inside Eero Saarinen's old Flight Center at JFK, the building he never quite lived to see finished. I knew some of the story behind it and I was obsessed for a hot minute when I saw the original roll-out of all the press and promos back when it opened several years ago.

Getting there right now is a whole thing. AirTrain to T5, then fencing and rubble the rest of the way. Gotham City, post fight scene. Not the entrance a building like this deserves, which somehow made walking through the doors hit harder.

I'm sure I swore under my breath. I wasn't prepared for the scale of this space. Full-on 'Incredibles' energy with all the swooping concrete and soaring windows in all the sight lines. It's a wildly optimistic space. Sixty years on it feels 60 years ahead.

Quick heads up before we go further:
don't score this place like a normal hotel. If you're grading thread count and minibar selection, you're going to walk away annoyed, because it will absolutely let you down on some of that. Our AC struggled a little more than it should have. Forgettable coffee. The wifi, oddly, was outstanding. Like, noteworthy good. But, none of that is really the point. Find a spot in one of the sunken spaces, put the phone away, and just watch people move through it all for twenty minutes. You'll get it.

don't score this place like a normal hotel.

Theirs is a little bit of a cosplay to it that you're instantly invited to join, as you check in. And this charming "onboarding" process was very much appreciated. We got our keys and set out to explore.

And the cosplay continues with everyone pulling their carry-ons around. Grabbing an ice cream cone or, like me, fumbling with your iPhone camera settings to try and capture more of it. My photos certainly do not do it justice.

On the way to your room, you eye the circular bar and sunken lounge, and start asking questions about the trajectory of the evening. What I love most is how it's an actual airport... that no longer operates as one... but still moves like one.

This rich red carpet runs through various parts of the campus, most successfully within the two walkways/tunnels leading to the guest rooms. I would soon learn that the color was created by Saarinen, himself and goes by the name of "Chile Pepper Red". And when you enter into these dramatic velvet and concrete chamber chambers, it feels like you're heading to a departure gate of some trippy, unknown origin. It's beautiful and unsettling.

All of a sudden, you are in some serious Kubrick mood board shit. Dr. Strangelove in the atrium, then 2001: A Space Odyssey in the tunnels. A Clockwork Orange around the next corner and, if you are inclined to milk the cinematography of it all, you'll even feel a little Shining twinge as you approach your room. In a good way!

All of a sudden, you are in some serious Kubrick mood board shit.

The Pope Room inside TWA Hotel. The M2 looks to the light shining down from above. With all due respect.

I probably traversed each of the two tunnels 20 times during our stay and each time I found myself slowing my stride and doing some clumsy pirouettes to try to see more of it at once.

Down one tube they've rebuilt Saarinen's drafting studio: a lamp, flat files, drawings pinned up, the whole set. Down the other, Howard Hughes' office. Both look real enough that everything's bolted down. Which tracks, 'cuz I 100% would have been tempted to grab a one-of-one souvenir.

Speaking of. I'm not the kind of guest that strips a room of all sundries and stationary. But, yes, I was curious what they might offer up for our consideration.

Pencils and a single notepad. It was, quite literally, the very least they could do. Now, in full transparency, my wife took like 20 pencils. But, she's a teacher, and that's how they roll.

"I'm not the kind of guest that strips a room of all sundries and stationary. But..."

Room Swag Tally:

1x Notepad
1x Room Key
1x (of 20) of Pencils

There's a small museum thread woven through the building, too, including a run of stewardess uniforms across the decades, some of them from real fashion names, Valentino among them. Worth a slow-walk and Project Runway-style critique.

The gift shop is legitimately good, the track suits doing a real vintage-airline-crew thing, and then you see the price tag and go 'uff-da' (well, I do anyways). I almost made a play for the tracksuit and got priced out. Thought about the Alex Mill cashmere sweater too, but priced-out again. The sneakers were pretty fly. A reasonable eighty bucks and I regret not pulling the trigger 'cuz I discovered those are not available online.

(Note: The hotel has no idea any of this is happening, by the way, or that I was crouched in front of a martini glass taking product shots for twenty minutes. Forget I said anything.)

There's a recreated period lounge modeled loosely on a room the Pope once stayed in, tucked away enough that it feels like something you'd stumble into on a layover if you knew where to look. I dig it.

The Twister room and the hairdressing-salon backdrop are close, but land a little half-hearted by comparison, more photo prop than place. The bank of vintage payphone booths, on the other hand, is dead on. Simple, tasteful, exactly what it should be. There's also a couple of period cars parked around the building that I didn't expect and was happy to find.

Down another hallway is the Sixties Living Room: vintage brickabrack, a martini glass frozen mid-pour, a low tufted sofa on a mustard shag rug laid over the room's blue carpet.

The little round tiles running through the terminal have real grime worked into the grout by now, real wear from real boots and rolling bags. I found myself wondering what it would look like fully restored, scrubbed back to day one, and deciding I actually prefer it like this. It reads as a space that gets used, not one that's kept behind glass.

More on the drinks, the rooftop pool, the flight that got canceled, in Part Two.

All photos shot on iPhone. Copyright ukiyohi™ 2026

The M2 felt right at home in the 60s period living room.

The Pope Room inside TWA Hotel. The M2 looks to the light shining down from above.

Amanda doing her best press photo wave, while boarding the Connie parked on hotel tarmac

Inside the Connie, you are free to move about the cabin. But you mainly chill.

Any good coffee table is an excuse for an M2 photoshoot.

M1 titanium bat makes itself comfortable in Howard's TWA-branded crystal ashtray.

The tour of ahtrays continues. This time inside Eero Saarinen's design studio.

A view from the catwalk. Look close and you can see Amanda next to my waiting Modelo.