A colorful, behind-the-scenes photo album, compiled by a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight attendant. Containing 35 photographs, the album gives a candid glimpse into the groovy, jet-setting life of a chic stewardess in early-seventies California.

One woman is repeatedly shown (presumably the owner/compiler) alongside a consistent group of fellow attendants, each clad in period uniforms comprising short, brink pink and orange miniskirts, quite reflective of the era, sometimes accompanied with pink hotpants and paired with red Go-Go boots. PSA was known for their vivid, eye-catching uniforms--this iteration of which was created by Barbara Owens, a San Diego based uniform designer. Most images show the cabin crew during off hours, traveling on empty aircrafts, goofing off and having a good time, when taking pictures would have been permitted; others show the women at hotels and restaurants during layovers (still uniformed, of course!); and a few portray the PSA hostesses servicing the cabin, particularly during a costumed flight of Halloween, ‘73.

Pacific Southwest Airlines, founded in 1949 by Kenneth Friedkin with a single leased DC-3, became known as the “World’s Friendliest Airline,” and became one of the first American budget airlines. Fare prices undercut competitors by as much 50% and this, along with the impeccable customer service, quickly gave the company a foothold in the golden age of air travel. In the 1960’s large smiles were painted on the noses of the fleet, and airline employees were encouraged to engage and joke with the customers and coworkers alike.

PSA had a policy of only hiring traditionally attractive women, and deemed the practice an integral part of the company’s image. In 1969, PSA’s director of stewardesses Nancy Marchand declared they hired “so many pretty girl’s locally...that San Diego’s ‘supply’ …was becoming depleted.” In 1971 the National Organization for Women (NOW) picketed against PSA and other airlines for the use of, “stewardesses as sex objects.”