Chris-Town Mall

Phoenix, Arizona - 1963

"Court of fountains - High, wide and handsome, with graceful slipper-arch stairways and multi-colored cieling panels. The magnificent waterfall fountain is a principal conversation piece among Chris-town's shoppers. "

Arlans Department Store ads

Anyone else remember Arlans stores? We had one close by when I was growing up in Warren, Michigan, in the early '70s, and I remember always loving it! Here's two great vintage Maryland newspaper ad pages from 1970, for your retro shopping convienience...

Oh, notice the 'bear next to a telephone booth' photo in the above ad? Yeah, me too.

White Lakes Shopping Center

Topeka, Kansas - 1967

OK, This is either a space station or a shopping mall. Could be either one, couldn't it? Man, dig that crazy fountain! Nice.

And hey look, there's a pretty nifty looking bird cage over in front of Walgreens. That baby reaches all the way up to the cieling!

Click this shot for a zoomed-in view down the far end of the mall. Kinda' cool.

Salisbury Mall

Salisbury, Maryland - 1960's

Great shot of the worst parking spaces in the parking lot. :) Certainly not the best photo, I know, but it's the only one I have of Salisbury Mall at the moment (I'll keep looking). And hey, at least the mall's covered here now.

The Landing

Kansas City, Missouri - 1960's

Children at play on the animal statues at the "Noah's Ark" themed Kansas City shopping mall, The Landing.

The Mall

Pontiac, Michigan - 1960's

Beautiful shot of a really striking entrance facade, along with a neat-o parking lot view... oh, and a Kresge kicker! :)

Let's zoom-in for some cool details...

Seven-Up soda ad

1950

Lenox Square Mall

Atlanta, Georgia - 1960's

Here's another peachy vintage Lenox Square photo! (their current website)

The Dorr Mill Store

Guild, New Hampshire - 1960's

Thought this vintage fabric store interior shot was so colorful and evocative of the whole vibe we're exploring here, I just had to add it. Nice!

Northgate Mall

Seattle, Washington - 1960's

The very cool totem pole at the North Entrance of Northgate Mall (they just don't do great and offbeat things like that anymore)! Is it still there today? Here's their current website.

Lenox Square Mall

Atlanta, Georgia - 1960's

Lenox's current website.

Forest Mall

Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin - Late '70s or early '80s?

Here's their current website.

Willow Lawn Shopping Center

Richmond, Virginia - 1960's

Yeah, not a "shopping mall" per se, but man I just can't resist these beautiful nighttime shopping photos!

And Willow Lawn's still there, too, healthy and thriving, from what I hear. Though she's expanded, modernized, and re-invented herself over the years, of course. Here's the shopping complex's (now called, The Shops At Willow Lawn) current website.

Mall Mummies!

Hey, Halloween's right around the corner, so this Scooby-Doo book fits right in at Malls of America this month! :)

King of Prussia Plaza

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania - 1970's (I believe)

Gorgeous, is it not?! Love the icy cold dungeon-feel of this one. Which is my own interpretation of this photo, as I'm sure it really wasn't. You know, year-round climate-control and all that.

But I'd still rather believe it was all chilly and gloomy in there. I'm weird like that.

Here's the mall's Current website.

Cinderella City Mall

Englewood, Colorado - 1970's

Great shot of CinCity's stunning 40-foot fountain! It was like a mini indoor "old faithful"! The postcard this picture comes from definitely paints an enchanting scene:

"Once upon a time... is now at CINDERELLA CITY, where your shopping dreams come true. Cinderella City is the Rocky Mountain region's largest covered shopping center. More than 250 stores and services in five climate-controlled malls turn your shopping into a magical experience.

Enjoy the vast selection and exciting variety of stores brimming with unusual gifts for the whole family. A 4o foot indoor fountain, an enchanting "Old English" artisans village called Cinder Alley and five major department stores are just a small part of the world of Cinderella City, where your shopping dreams come true!"

Alas, Cinderella City was totally redeveloped in the '90s and is no more.

Southland Mall

Memphis, Tennessee - 1960's

You're looking at the "Strands of Mirror" fountain, in Southland Mall. I'm going to try to find a better shot of this, with more detail. Pretty unique looking for a fountain! Must have been cool to see close-up. Can anyone out there tell us more about it and what it was like in person? Here's Southland's current website.

FoxTrot

Southcenter Mall

Tukwila, Washington - Early '70s

Sniper's-eye view of Southcenter. Not the most scenic way to show off your shopping mall, really, with a seedy shot taken from the weeds next to the highway, but whatever. :) Their current website.

Topanga Plaza Shopping Center

Canoga Park, California - 1960's

Moody oustside view of the mall from beyond the parking lot. And hey, there's a good old Monkey Ward off to the right, too. Loved that store as a kid--especially looking through their annual Christmas catalogs we always got back then! Here's Topanga's current Westfield-owned website.

Sunrise Shopping Center

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - 1950's

I love this unique view! Almost looks like a split-screen shot at first glance, but it isn't. It's one whole shot! Beautiful. Doesn't look like this anymore, though. The Sunrise Shopping Center was a two-level outdoor shopping complex originally, but was enclosed and redeveloped in 1980, emerging as the new, Galleria Mall, from then on. Here's their current website.

Moorestown Mall

Moorestown, New Jersey - 1960's

Futuristic interior shot of the beautiful archway from the main entrance, through the Center Court, and on into the main mall proper at Moorestown Mall. Here's their current website.

Harvest House

Flint, Michigan - 1960's

Interior of the Harvest House Cafeteria in the Genessee Valley Shopping Center. Other malls back in the day, like Cherry Hill, for one, also hosted Harvest House's for their shopping mall patrons, typically being attached to Woolworth stores in many instances.

Lake Air Mall

Waco, Texas - 1960's

All I can say is, WOW.

Alpena Shopping Center

Alpena, Michigan - 1971

The actual shopping center is just visible on the left back there. Hard to make out much, I know, but more to the point, I just thought this shot of the Alpena shopping district in an early '70s evening rain, was too loverly not to share. :)

Eastridge Center

San Jose, California - 1970's

This mall is currently undergoing "extensive renovations" according to their website.

Burlington Mall

Burlington, Massachusetts - '60s or '70s

Burlington Mall's current website.

Genesee Valley Center

Flint, Michigan - 1970's (I believe)

Looking at that cool photo above, I couldn't help noticing some really nifty sculptures sitting within view. I thought they deserved a closer look! Blowing 'em up, the quality isn't great, but at least you can see them better.

This one to left looks like a Salvador Dali, Picaso, or Escher type of monstrosity! In a good way, though, of course. It's really beautiful, with all those cool interlocking pieces fitting together like a modernistic, Stonehenge-like puzzle statue! And you can see by the scale in the picture that these are big pieces, so they must have been pretty impressive to see in person--if you were the kind of person who stops and appreciates things like this (like I am).

Now the giant FROG sitting there, almost menacingly, is my favorite! I mean, it's a giant frog, man, plopped right there in the middle of a shopping mall! How can you not love that? Wish I had one of these. I'd proudly plant that sucker right there in the front yard for all to see.

I'm sure right after this photo was snapped, that be-leisure suited dude standing there in front of the frog, was lassoed with the reptile's gooey 15-foot tongue and swallowed down whole! A frog that size probably sustained itself on only 2 or 3 shoppers per week, I'm guessing. Today the shopping mall, tomorrow the world!

Heh. Sorry. It's October and we're nearing Halloween. I get weird around this time of year. :)