Monday, October 16, 2006

Riverside Plaza


Riverside, California - 1950's

Riverside Plaza (another beauty of a sign there!) began its illustrious retail life as an outdoor shopping center when it first opened in 1955, then was enclosed (shopping mall time) during a renovation in the 1980s, until recently becoming an open-air plaza once again, after a series of ongoing, major renovations and redevelopments (the aerial below looks like it caught them right in the middle of the work).

Yes, now it's a [yawn] sprawling village-like, not-a-shopping-mall, community shopping/working/living center area thingamabob whatchamacallit. You know, like all the other old shopping malls are becoming. But I'm not bitter.

Mall history: 1955 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1



8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great sign, and cool cars.

Mon Oct 16, 12:41:00 PM  
Blogger Scott Parsons said...

I would love to see this mall enclosed! Too bad it's gone. The new center looks auto-mobile centric... I'll skip it.
Scott

Mon Oct 16, 12:45:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm not bitter either.

My beautiful sign! It's probably long gone.

Still, I'm not bitter.

YEA RIGHT!!!

Mon Oct 16, 02:08:00 PM  
Blogger Chris Sobieniak said...

Yes, now it's a [yawn] sprawling village-like, not-a-shopping-mall, community shopping-working-living center area thingamabob whatchamacallit. You know, like all the other old shopping malls are becoming. But I'm not bitter.

Oh go let it out! I feel the same way you are. They just want to make people brave the 'elements' the next time they bother visiting those subdivisions of commerce. It's just like going anywhere else.

Tue Oct 17, 11:56:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great photos on that site!

That Harris department store is still there today, but since has been remodeled and now only bears the Gottschalk's name (Harris-Gottchalks prior).

The mall suffered from the much larger Galleria at Tyler down the freeway, and the Moreno Valley Town

Wed Oct 18, 12:48:00 AM  
Blogger Georob said...

Okay, I'm as nostalgic for "Malls" as the rest of you. But if a venue no longer works, then I'd rather see it turned into something that will make it a lively and viable retail center again. And frankly, it looks like they've done it here.

You all forget that some of the earliest shopping centers were "auto-centric" in nature by way of being a "strip" format, or a "main street". And if the original Riverside Plaza format was like it is today, you'd all be praising it for maintaining its original concept.

Or would you rather have an indoor
mall that is 30% occupied but still looks like a place that Marcia and Jan Brady would go to buy "groovy" school clothes?

Thu Oct 19, 12:01:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This Gottschalks still has a sense of nostalga in it in some places. The Elevators still had the origional late 50's controls, but were sadly in the process of being modernized. However, the decor on the first floor elevator lobby and elevator cars still have an elegant late 50s feel to it. The stairway to the basement still exists, but it is for employees only.

Mon Dec 18, 12:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually the new riverside plaza doesn't look that bad at all from the pics I saw it's kind of different compared to most outdoor centers.

but sad that sign had to go,oh well

I agree with georob's comment

(ah,but big question do the streets have names?)

Fri Apr 20, 01:01:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

To see more posts, click on the monthly links
in the "Archives" section of the sidebar.