Augusta, Georgia
Entrance sign (along with cinema listings) for Regency Mall, in Augusta, Georgia. While the above photo was taken in 2006, this dead mall has been long-abandoned and was never updated during its lifespan, so the sign you see here is frozen in time, still sporting its original 1970s look! Some design notes from Wikipedia:
"Regency Mall was configured in a Y-shaped layout. Its surrounding landscape was terraced, providing ground-level entrances to the upper and lower levels. The mall’s interior was decorated in an alabaster motif with brown accents, and its floors were finished in brown-speckled terrazzo tile. Live trees were planted at intervals along the lower-level concourses.Btw, take a look at my recent Randall Park Mall video (Ohio). Aside from the name of course, the entrance sign seen there looks identical to this one. Same developer, same era, so it makes sense, but still interesting to note.
The mall’s three wings met at a 28,000 square-foot center court, framed by 45-foot pillars and featuring a fountain, a 28-foot clock tower and a stage area floored in brown tile. Regency Mall had more than 800,000 square feet of space; when it opened, it was the largest enclosed shopping mall in Georgia."
Mall history: 1978 - 2002
Developer: Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr.
Current website: n/a
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Reference links: 1
Previous entries: none
Yep - this was a DeBartolo Mall, and they all had that same sign. Randall Park Mall STILL has it, and Southern Park Mall in Boardman (outside Youngstown - DeBartolo's HQ) - Randall Park's former sister mall - used to have the same sign.
ReplyDeleteBy the looks of the word "CINEMA," the theater must have been owned by General Cinemas. Seems as if all their signage in those days was limited to "CINEMA" (and sometimes the number of screens, such as I-II-III) in that red typeface.
ReplyDeleteWhen I said the sign without yet reading Keith's description I thought that it did look exactly like the Randall Park Mall sign from the video.
ReplyDeleteNaugatuck Valley Mall in Waterbury also had that Cinema signage sans the top part of it with the mall name. It seems that old mall also had a General Cinemas in it as well.
ReplyDeleteThe signage of the mall I'm talking about is exactly like Regency Mall and Randall Park except it doesn't have the extra two rectangular signs above it nor the small little attract sign below,which would lead me to suspect that the Naugatuck Valley Mall might of had signage above and below the cinema sign when it first opened in 1969,that was for some reason was removed later on and the replacement sign used to display the malls name was smaller.
If that is indeed the case then we may be talking about the same developer.
BTW the Cinema sign is still there and is still used gratefully to display movie titles however it had been retrofitted.
you can see the big sign to the right in this pic after the mall was demolished.
http://www.richardscorp.com/images/projects/big/NaugatuckVlyMall_big.jpg
sorry only closet pic I could get.
For some reason that picture makes me so sad!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of what's happened to Southwyck Shopping Center here in Toledo (the only bright side perhaps is the "lifestyle center" shtick my city's bothering to do to 'save' it).
ReplyDeleteyup De bartolo did ocean county mall in toms river,nj. same sign, it got a new one like afew years ago or was it less...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myspace.com/oceancountymall
I drive past the Randall Mall sign every morning (different way home at night) and it saddens me that the place I had so many good times has become a symbol of urban decay, white-flight, and thug insurection. I'm wondering, does anyone have any pictures (video or still) of Randall Park Mall from 1985 - 1995 (ish) for a project I'm working on?
ReplyDeletemight as well show what the Waterbury Mall looked like before
ReplyDeletehttp://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=18&X=3331&Y=23016&W=3&qs=wolcott%7cwaterbury%7cCT%7c&Addr=Wolcott+St%2c+Waterbury%2c+CT+06705&ALon=-73.0085614&ALat=41.5652494
I'm not sure if that will help figuring out if the developers the same or not.
at center top white T-shaped building thats the Sears Gas Station/Midas parts store,the large white building below that is Sears, the building on the other side of the mall with the hexagon-type shape and black roof is G. Fox.(later Filene's)
that plaza in back of the mall is Mall View Plaza,the big white box angled diagonally is the out parceled movie theater built in the 1980s (it's still there to this day)
now, you see the area in the back center of the mall,where the two wings meet? behind the peaked roof and pentagon shape,with the two box shapes? (one with a roof that looks a pair of gray doors on a white box next to a barely visible tall and skinny one) that sort of protruding out a bit?
thats the area where the old movie theater was.
Okay, about General Cinemas and their signage,was Showcase Cinemas owned by General Cinemas at one time?
because their signage was almost identical to General Cinemas.
example take a look at these pics of the old Showcase Cinemas in Orange Connecticut
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/miscorangecinema1971.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/miscOrangeShowcase2.jpg
an old ad for New Haven one
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/miscorangecinemaadback.jpg
might give a better understanding of who owned Showcase Cinemas back then and if there is a connection to General Cinemas.
I found those pics on Cinema Treasures.
I'm just trying to keep information accurate
AHA! I found a closer picture of what the big Cinema sign looks like today!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amesfanclub.com/forum/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=189&pid=23947
Last time I was there, Brunswick Square Mall (in NJ, another former DeBartolo Mall) had an identical sign.
ReplyDeleteAll DeBartolo malls are jinked. Can you show me one thriving DeBartolo mall or one struggling Simion mall.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I lived on the other side of town, I loved this mall. It breaks my heart to see it abandoned.I had some really good times here as a teenager. It was our hangout in the summer just about everyday.They played midnight movies at the theatre.I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.I wish someone would buy it and turn it into an outlet mall. We could really use it on this side of town now.I have alot of good ideas for it just no money to buy a mall.lol.
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