America's first international air meet was held January 10-20, 1910, in Los Angeles on a mesa called Dominguez Hill, situated 13.5 miles south of the plaza at the pueblo of Los Angeles. Enthusaism for aciation grew after the firstinternational air meet in 1909 in Rheims, France, where American Aviator Glenn H. Curtiss won three prestigious speed prizes and 36,000 francs. An even more spectacular air meet, which would also invigorate the local economy, was promoted for Los Angeles. Businessman Dick Ferris, the Los Angeles Merchants and Manufacturers Association, and the Los Angeles Examiner collaborated to make it possible. Most Americans had never seen the newfangled machines that soared in the skies. Intially skeptical, they soon were awed. So began Aemerica's love affair with aviation. The air meet influenced aviation in Southern California and transportation worldwide into the 21st century.