Friday, April 14, 2006

South Coast Plaza


Costa Mesa, California - Late '60s - early '70s

Ready to join the circus? Looks like that's where we're at here, doesn't it? What with those strikingly gaudy colors (including the clothes!), balloons, and that beautiful carousel. Wonderful old shots from this upscale Orange County shopping center.

Note, too, that great fountain on the left. Looks like another similar to the one in Topanga Plaza, with those illuminated fake waterfall tube deals running down from the cieling (glycerine dripping along filament line to appear like falling water). This fountain also reminds me a little at first glance, of the one in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, in Waikiki. The bottom portion anyway.

History: 1962 - present
Architect: Initial design by Victor Gruen (1903-1980)
Current website: Here.

[photo courtesy of: Yesterday LA]



11 Comments:

Blogger Chris said...

It's beautiful! Let's got there right now.

Fri Apr 14, 02:46:00 PM  
Blogger Cora said...

Seconded!

Fri Apr 14, 06:14:00 PM  
Blogger Keith said...

Thirded!

Sat Apr 15, 04:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Jeff said...

Being one of the busiest malls on the west coast, this mall has not gone through a lot of remodeling, and still retains a dated look in much of the mall. The mall, since being built in the 60's has undergone major expansion. In fact, this court is still there and doesnt look too different from this time, with the exception of the fountain which is long gone.

The carousel is still there today, located in the original mall in what today is called carousel court.

http://www.southcoastplaza.com/

Sun Apr 16, 09:29:00 PM  
Blogger Keith said...

Thanks for the updates, Jeff! It's nice to know the carousel is still there. (I did have their site address in the post, btw)

Mon Apr 17, 07:28:00 PM  
Blogger todd said...

I'd love some outside shots of the anchors, etc. of SCP ....any one have any??

Tue Apr 18, 06:41:00 AM  
Blogger Mitch Glaser said...

The South Coast Plaza Story

Tue Apr 18, 12:10:00 PM  
Blogger jon said...

south coast is my local mall- i'm so excited to see it on here! Although the actual layout hasn't changed much, (except they've added a whole separate wing across the street) the type of stores has changed a lot- they've grown considerable upscale, so all the shops are very high end, which for me, has changed the look overall. The carousel switches in and out depending on the season (ie. christmas time they move it) They've also added a lot more marble everywhere.

Wed Apr 19, 12:13:00 PM  
Anonymous DiDi said...

Keith, I too thought the bottom portion of the fountain looked alot like the one at Royal Hawaii. Great postcard!

Sun Apr 23, 01:04:00 PM  
Blogger Dan Goodsell said...

thanks for this photo - I remember the fountain from when I was a kid and it was pretty built up in my memory. Nice to see what it really was like

Thu Jun 15, 12:49:00 AM  
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