Moorestown Mall
Moorestown, New Jersey
1960's
Stunning shot of the golden eagle fountain in front of the John Wanamaker store!
1960's (see enlarged monkey detail below!)
I posted this postcard of the monkey cage before, but this is a nicer version.
Bonus monkey cage porn! It's a little difficult to pick out the actual monkeys in the wider shot above, but those suckers are definitely in there. So I blew that photo up and zoomed in so we could see our furry little Moorestown friends a little better. Click the photo and sit close to the monitor so you can pretend you're a kid again and you're standing there peering into the cage while mom is off shopping elsewhere in the mall! ;)I can spot two here, both near the top. There's one hanging down on the left by both arms, and one on the right hanging by one arm. Can you see them? I have no idea if there were actually more in this cage (the bottom portion is tough to make out), but at least we can make out two of them for sure. I think the keeper's door is right there facing us.
On a side note, you can't tell me kids (and probably some adults, too) didn't throw popcorn and junk in there to the monkeys all the time. I bet those guys ate all kinds of things they shouldn't have. I'm pretty sure popcorn and wads of cotton candy aren't a part of their normal diet in the jungles of South America. At least, I don't think it is.
Moorestown's current website.
posted by Keith @ 8/28/2005
11 Comments:
That fountain is fabulous. The top photo looks almost like some pagan temple from an old movie where hapless virgins are about to be sacrificed to the great eagle god.
I agree with cora--the fountain is fabulous. And that jade-colored, gold lettering on the storefront, you'd feel like dropping a couple of dollars in an environment like that!
Cool Site. I'll be stopping back. Got here by accident.
A friend and I were just talking about that monkey cage, and I said, "Yes, back when animals in cages was considered entertainment!"
I wonder what happened to the monkeys...
i wish my mall had a monkey cage...enraged primates flingin' poo at all the shoppers with bad fashion... sweet.
i once got lost in the Moorestown Mall (1977, i was 4). i remember looking at the eagle, and my mom disappearing. security put us back together in 20 minutes. (just a random reader...) cheers.
I was an employed by Wanamakers Moorestown two weeks prior to opening until I went into the Army in 1965. The thing that stands out for me was the Air Show in 1964. The light poles in the rear parking lot were lowered and some planes were taking off or landing in the parking lot while others were on display.
We used to go to the Moorestown and Cheery Hill Malls all the time when I was a kid. One time the monkeys (actually, I believe they were gibbons) escaped fromn the cage, and some people were bitten. I think the monkey cage was taken out after that incident.
They were Gibbon Apes. I worked @ Flagg Bros.from 1968-1972.
Tobacco Village
Spencer Gifts
Woolworth's
Harvest House
Holiday Shoes
"The" Bakery
Plaza Movie Theater
Shop-Rite
Florsheim
Can anyone add more??
Moorestown Mall had a stream running thru the center (from what is now Boscov's up to Macy's) with bridges & lots of ducks... the waterfowl posed a health issue & were removed abruptly...
Got to your link via a YouTube video of Rochester NY ad...do you have any more 1960's YouTube video/ads of Malls? I remember from growing up in the Phila. area that there was a radio ad for Cherry Hill Mall..."Cherry Hill on the Mall on the Cherry Hill Mall...it's Spring in the Summer, Winter or Fall...you can shop, you can stroll...." Cherry Hill Cherry Hill the .....wonderland...!" Would LOVE to hear that song again!
Beth
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