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.
posted by Keith @ 10/14/2005
14 Comments:
Ah... Topanga Plaza. Sigh.
I remember the floor-to-ceiling oil/rain fixtures they had there. It was a series of steel "ropes" where drops of oil would descend from the ceiling like rain drops.
The other crazy thing about that mall was that it was 2 blocks away from another huge mall -- The Promenade. I wonder why they built two so close to each other?
Looks like a Broadway at the (distant) left side of the image. I miss the businesses that served SoCal's now-extinct middle class. Now it's either Nordstrom's or Wal-mart, without much in between.
I miss the ice skating rink. It was turned into a food court. Also miss the corn feilds that later became Warner Center.
They also had some tall bird cages at the other end of the mall that had parrots, a really cool Orage Julius kiosk in the middle of the mall, a precurser to their current food court called 'The Seven Kitchens', and a wonderful pirate themed restaurant called 'The Jolly Rodger'. Topanga Plaza was THE place to shop if you lived in the valley or the east side of Ventura Count.
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My name is Jerry Huth. I now live in Tombstone, Az. I was the manager of Millers Outpost in 1981. I worked for Millers for 10 years and during that time transfered in and out of Topanga 3 times. The first time I worked there in 1977 the store was small and very dark inside. The inside was medium blue and had only flood lights in the ceiling. The store was later expanded when the jewelry store next to it went out of business. At that time the store was located upstairs on the east side at the May company end. Thrifty and Imagnin were across the way. I could eat lunch upstairs in the May company balcony/resturant and watch the store.
I remember the May Company "Terrace Restaurant" on the 3rd floor too ...was beginning to wonder if I made it up. I wish someone would post pictures of that place! Also remember the very tall spinning "T" facing Topanga Cyn Blvd. I bet a sign of that height wouldn't even be allowed in Woodland Hills today.
I went to Canoga Park High School in the late 60's, and "going to the Plaza" was a daily thing...Hanging out at "Chuck Burger" with friends and walking the mall looking for chicks...LOL Don Paul's 7 Kitchens was one of my first jobs as a young teen. Ahhh the memories
My name is Peggy, I grew up in Wdhls. Spent 18 yrs in same home just a few miles from the Malls. I met both my husbands while working at the Malls- also for Miller's Outpost. I remember Jerry! Such a surprise to see him on here. I worked at Don Paul's Seven Kitchens when I was 15- then went on to work at Millers in Promenade. Eventually Topanga, Panorama City, Mission Hills, etc. I worked with them for about 4 years- from sales to Manager. I loved the Mall, the ice rink- used to skate on w/e with my friends- the oil drops, the Angels in Promenade during the Holidays....
Good Ole' Days... (sigh)
Wow what great memories. I grew up a couple of miles from Topanga Plaza and learned how to ice skate there and later in high school in the 70's I worked at Kinneys and then at Wetherby Kayser. Man, Chuck burger and Orange Julius. I met my first girl friend there who worked in May Company. They should have left the fountain.
I worked for both jerry and Peggy @ millers outpost Topanga, Peggy had to fire me and 80's and drugs.
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My mother had lived in california during the 60's and she had taken some good photos of this Plaza shopping center.so the photos in the blog are so so cool.
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