Wonderland Shopping City
San Antonio, Texas - circa 1962
Aerial view of Wonderland Shopping City, now called, Crossroads Mall, or by its current official name, Crossroads of San Antonio (but who'd want to call it that?), where "all roads lead to shopping." That's a Handy Andy supermarket anchoring the mall's south end, and there's a Montgomery Ward anchor on the opposite north side. From back of postcard:
"The southwest's finest enclosed mall shopping city. 650,000 square feet of air conditioned shopping area with 5,000 readily-accessible parking spaces. Scores of America's finest stores, restaurants and services catering to every family need. Loop 410 and Northwest Expressway."Mall history: 1950s(?) - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: none
posted by Keith @ 9/01/2006
8 Comments:
Now that's a blast from the past.
I wish I knew when this picture was taken, but my guess is early 60's. The freeway in the right corner would be I10 heading North,
Handy Andy was a great store. Cant remember for sure when this location was closed, I'm thinking in the mid to late 80's.
Also, Wonderland had as an anchor one of the great shopping experience of San Antonio, Frost Bros. This location closed in the late 80's, after being bought by Joske's (later bought by Dillard's)
Thanks for the notes, David, and I'm glad this one brought back some memories for you! :)
Also, I did have the year posted in this entry--1962.
Great - I also remember Wonderland, at that time I was in the USA for 5 yrs. Later on I worked in Wonderland at Record-Town.
My daughter was born in 1962.
Great Memories!! Veronika
One other thing, david--IH10 (it's IH here in Texas, remember?) is an east-west route. There is no "I10 north."
That's true enough, but IH10 West's actual direction at the place shown in the picure is probably closer to north than west.
I am newly addicted to this site. I took particular interest in this post because right now I live right by crossroads. it's so amazing how much has changed. The crazy thing is, I still go there sometimes! I go to the bijou ( a great indie theatre), burlington coat factory, and that's where my local voting precinct is.
Wonderland would probably have been built in the early 60s. Sunday store closings meant it was a great place to practice driving for teenagers. Still in the 60s, they added a Rhodes Department Store (Ariz based?) to the right in the picture, and it was elevated above the parking area so that it was on the main floor with the rest of the mall. Many Tandy Company shops (arts & crafts, slot racing, Pier 1) were added at that time to the basement level. I am trying to recall when or if Frost Bros. was at Wonderland. I thought their first (only?) non-downtown location was at North Star Mall. Incidentally, the road running across the page is Loop 410. IH10 does run east-west across the US but is mostly north-south through San Antonio.
David, Frost Bros. was not bought by Joske's or its parent company. It was liquidated in 1989 after a failed attempt at restructuring. Frost Brothers had filed for bankrupcy in 1988. The Joskes chain was sold by Campeau Stores to Dillard's in 1987 and all outlets were converted to the Dillard's nameplate.
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