Park Central Mall
Phoenix, Arizona - 1960's
posted by Keith @ 9/23/2005
Vintage photos of lost Shopping Malls of the '50s, '60s & '70s
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Friday, September 23, 2005
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6 Comments:
Awesome! This was Phoenix's first mall. The two original anchors, Diamond's (at left) and Goldwaters (at right) closed their Downtown stores when this mall opened in 1957. Penney's came in as part of an expansion in the late 1960's.
Park Central still exists but its buildings are mostly used for office space. The funky sign on Central Avenue seen at the lower right was finally removed in the late 1990's...what a shame.
Thanks for sharing this one Keith!
I was wondering if Park Central would ever make an appearance here. What you can't really tell from this photo is that it was mostly an outdoor mall...why anyone, even in the late 50s/early 60s, would think outdoor shopping in a Phoenix summer was a good idea, is beyond me.
Mitch is right that this is now offices; though I don't live in Phoenix any more, I can remember this being a semi-functional mall in my youth well into the 80s, which was remarkable considering downtown Phoenix was/is miles and miles away from where most people shop.
Before Park Central was built, the Burgbachers had a dairy farm at that location. They had sold a portion of their land and on that portion, St. Josph's Hospital was built - you can see that building directly behind Daimond's. When they decided to close the dairy farm, the Burgbachers sold their remaining property on which Park Central still stands.
WOW!. As teenager, I worked at this mall in the late 80's. It was one of the funnest jobs I've ever had. I can still remember shopping at the mall with my parents as a kid. It may not be the same mall it used to be, but at least it wasn't torn down (i.e. Thomas Mall).
Joe
I lived and worked in downtown Phoenix thru the 90's and loved shopping there. I've been racking my brain trying to remember the name of the shop with trinkets, cards, novelty items and gift wrapping? What was the name of that shop? It would be one of the businesses when first one entered the breezeway from central-avenue, and it would be on the Left. Almost like a Spencers or a Jutenhoops?
Sandman, I thin k that shop was named the Green Woodpecker, it was a great little shop that also sold flowers.
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