‘It’s just like your dopey friend’: Inside the Goodyear Blimp’s devoted fan base

When Lauren Richeson created the Goodyear Blimp Fan Club on Facebook in 2009, she expected a few family members and friends to join. But like the blimp itself, the club began to move slowly and gradually.

“Some days I would have to approve 100 people to enter in one day,” he said. “It’s been really amazing to see how many people around the world are interested.”

The fan club has 12,500 members and counting and is more active than ever as the Goodyear Blimp celebrates its centennial this year.

People take selfies and walk around the Goodyear Blimp Wingfoot Three during the Toys for Tots event in December at Goodyear Blimp Base Airport in Carson.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Richeson created the Facebook group while living in Torrance, where she and her husband often saw the blimp on its way to its destination in nearby Carson. Now, the full-time artist lives in a part of Florida that few people see, so on trips to California he always makes time for a special stop.

“There are certain things that I come back to in LA, like my favorite restaurants, favorite shopping spots that I can’t find here in Florida, and seeing the blimp is one of those things,” Richeson said. “So when I see a blimp, I’m a happy camper.”

Wingfoot Three, a blimp based in Carson, has two siblings: Wingfoot One in Suffield, Ohio, and Wingfoot Two in Pompano Beach, Fla. The fourth blimp is based in Europe.

Goodyear’s first blimp, the Pilgrim, made its first flight on June 3, 1925, and the iconic aircraft has graced the skies ever since, capturing and filming Super Bowls, the World Series, the Olympics and more. The blimp even made a cameo in the Beatles’ 1965 film “Help!”

The Goodyear Blimp is annually maintained and tested in a hangar in Tustin.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

In classic Southern California fashion, the Wingfoot Three don’t hang out in a hangar like their siblings but hang out in the open, turning heads on the 405 Freeway, which runs right next to the base. A small team of pilots, camera operators, mechanics and ground crews perform inspections and safety, but every so often, the blimp must escape the South Bay sun and be maintained at a hangar in Tustin, about 30 miles south.

Part of its appeal is its sheer size: 246 feet long from nose to tail. In theory, the scale should be daunting — some of the largest 737s are nearly 140 feet long — but the bubble-like shape softens the air into a gentle giant, and with the nickname “Blimpy” earned among many fans, it actually begs for a set of cartoon eyes.

The Goodyear Blimp, which is 246 feet long, is annually repaired and tested in a hangar in Tustin.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s just like your dopey friend,” Richeson said.

Earlier this month, fans got a sneak peek at the annual Toys for Tots drive, where kids raced through carnival rides and adults lined up for rides around the Blimpy.

Susan Gutierrez Turner couldn’t wait much longer. Informed of his place in the visiting group at 4 p.m., he ran to the starting line, exclaiming that, despite being a resident of Southern California since 1972, he had never seen anything close.

He melted into the crowd led by Goodyear employees, guiding fans throughout this blooper – small planets orbiting the sun, drawn by the gravity of awe and admiration.

Aircraft mechanic Angel Gonzalez and aircraft maintenance manager Jim Crone prepare to reattach the door frame to the Goodyear Blimp.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Necks were lit, cameras were lit and questions were flying; more about airship maintenance and helium inside (not to be confused with hydrogen, which is highly flammable). Others are its ride capabilities – a rare and coveted experience among blimp fans.

“I want to keep up with the new one so bad, it’s killing me,” said Cheryl Ritz, a South Bay native who has ridden the older models twice. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Each group of tourists kept their distance from the blimp, holding the ground only by their noses and threatening to move if the wind picked up. In the moments that passed, when the blimp began to move, you could almost hear the sad cheers of the impact.

But one group’s dream trip is a safety concern for the group leader, so they track the edge of the blimp’s swing radius, staying out of reach of the resting giant.

Throughout 2025, three US blimps have marked a century with trips to 100-plus cities. And when witnessing them at each stop – and in between – they were members of the fan club.

The Goodyear Blimp navigates various terrains while touring Southern California. (Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)

They track the blimp’s routes, strain their necks and take pictures to later post to the Facebook group, which is often active every day. The series of posts hosts awkward photos of the 2017 Goodyear Toys for Tots drive-through, documentation of the gift of a dark chocolate shaped blimp, and the smiles of many fans, standing next to the blimp as one would when taking a photo with a Hollywood celebrity.

But most of the photos shared capture the blimp with bright but uniform blue backsplashes, yet the surprise never ends. The comment sections overflow with exclamations and emojis, the emotion felt on the screen.

The nose of the Goodyear Blimp approaches the mast at the Goodyear Blimp Base Airport in Carson.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Ground handler Eddie Duran watches as water is drained from the ballast water on the Goodyear Blimp before takeoff. Water is used as an airship weight stabilizer.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

“My husband can tell that there are many things that confuse me like a child,” said Richeson. “The Goodyear Blimp is probably one of those things.”

The interest of fans is not limited to providing only visuals, but also interesting arguments. One of the most common, according to Richeson, is whether the Goodyear Blimp is actually a blimp.

Current models are semi-rigid airships rather than rigid blimps, however Goodyear reminds people that “while it may fade away from the dictionary definition, it will always be a Goodyear Blimp.”

The blimp even posted a heartfelt confession about his fitness on Instagram, where his account has amassed nearly 200,000 followers. The not-so-micro influencer maintains a social media presence, releasing rants like “Are you guys paying attention or am I flying for nothing” on X and collaborating with rapper Ice Cube on Instagram.

Pilot Taylor Deen goes through a pre-flight checklist before making passenger flights in the Goodyear Blimp.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Pilot-in-training Faith Rascon-Ryn prepares to launch the Goodyear Blimp.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

The blimp may be booked and busy for a hundred years, but it still manages to jump on the hottest trends of the year, debuting the “Bad” look planned in green and pink, while lovingly waving to its fans to always ask them to ride the blimp.

Goodyear offers rides to passengers through charity auctions, sweepstakes, corporate partnerships and other invitations, but opportunities are rare, with only 0.0006% of Americans able to claim to have flown in the famous blimp. According to John Tamura, a SoCal resident who met Richeson in 2024 and joined the fan club soon after, it would be a lifelong dream for blimp enthusiasts.

“People always ask, ‘What will it take to get that blimp? Should I sell my life, or give a lot of money?’ ” said Tamura. “That’s how passionate they are.”

Apart from a few fans who were lucky enough to accept a guest invitation, some popular people found their way to the sky through routes that required more training.

Goodyear Blimp training pilot Fayth Rascon-Ryn grew up near Carson base and drove past the plane regularly. Although he didn’t always know he’d end up on the other side of things, now he’s on the inside looking out – often looking at fans.

“It’s really fun, especially when it’s flying low enough and we’re in these places where people are standing, I can see them moving, and I can back off,” said Rascon-Ryn.

To Nick Sintora, president of the LA chapter of the National Gay Pilots Assn. and a member of the Facebook group, growing up in Southern California meant that the blimp was intertwined with his local memories. Now, as a flight instructor, Sintora flies blimps all the time, and hopes to one day maybe mix business with pleasure as a blimp pilot.

Blimp pilots, Sintora said, share one mission: to entertain the masses. “Bringing that joy to people really appeals to me,” he said.

And having sat in the pilot’s seat, one gets the sense that his experience will be similar to Rascon-Ryn’s. People on the ground will look up and wave. And he will wave back.

Avery Fox contributed reporting to this story.