Valley Plaza Shopping Center (Valley Plaza Mall)

Bakersfield, California - circa late '60s

Housing more than 140 retail stores, the Valley Plaza Shopping Center (now called Valley Plaza Mall and also referred to as Valley Plaza Center) opened in 1967 in Bakersfield, California, and is currently owned and managed by General Growth Properties, Inc. In the photo above you can see the original Sears anchor which is still there today. Here's the postcard's caption:

"The Valley Plaza Shopping Center, a 900,000 square foot enclosed mall shopping complex at Ming Avenue and New Freeway 99, was opened in February 1967. Seventy tenants occupy the mall, with Sears, The Broadway, and Brock's at terminal points of the enclosure. The huge parking area surrounding the main building also serves adjacent pavilion shopping facilities. Interior decor reflects the Spanish influence on Southern California in a contemporary manner."

Mall history: 1967 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: none

Ballinger Shopping Center

Ballinger Terrace, Washington - circa 1960

I don't see any info or history online (on Google anyway) about this little shopping center/plaza, so I have no idea whether or not it's still around today, and if so, under what current retail moniker. I just dug this pretty retro postcard and wanted to share it. Classic vintage shopping center atmosphere, don't you agree?

Sunvalley Mall - '60s or '70s vintage

Concord, California - late '60s early '70s

Vintage Sunvalley Mall aerial postcard photo. Current-day anchor tenants at the shopping center include JCPenney, Sears, and Macy's. Other tenants include Abercrombie & Fitch, Lane Bryant, Frederick's of Hollywood, Gap, American Eagle Outfitters, and Sports Authority, among others. This nifty card's caption reads:

"Sunvalley Shopping Center. An aerial of the newest and most modern shopping center in the U.S.A. It is completely enclosed and air conditioned."

Mall history: 1967 - present
Current website: here
Developer: Taubman Centers, Inc.
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

Retro Mall Video: Fox Valley Center (aka Westfield Fox Valley)

1983 Fox Valley Center TV spot

A wacky 1983 Chicago television commercial for the Fox Valley Center mall (aka Westfield Fox Valley), in Aurora, Illinois--using generic Muppet-like local puppet talent.

The mall's current anchor stores are: Carson Pirie Scott (originally a Lord & Taylor), JCPenney, Macy's and Sears.

Mall history: 1975 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

The Daily Mall Reader: Downtown Chicago Shopping

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Chicago's Magnificent Mile"

TIME Magazine - Monday, Dec. 06, 1971

(Excerpt) Downtown business districts have been losing customers to fast-growing suburban shopping centers, but a lively exception is Chicago's North Michigan Avenue. During the past decade, $2 billion worth of construction has risen on and near North Michigan, which Chicagoans call "the Magnificent Mile." California's Magnin has just opened a branch there, joining already established Bonwit Teller and Saks Fifth Avenue of New York, as well as such fashionable shops as Tiffany and Cartier. Soon they will be joined by Dallas' Neiman-Marcus.

Two weeks ago came the biggest news of all. Chicago's retailing giant, Marshall Field & Co., whose main store in the Loop on State Street is scarcely a mile away, and New York's Lord & Taylor announced that they will both open branches in Water Tower Plaza, a $100 million shopping, hotel and apartment complex that will go up on the avenue.

Read the full article here.

Garden State Plaza (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza)

Paramus, New Jersey - August 26, 1970

Interesting historical photo snapped during the "Women’s March for Equality" at the Garden State Plaza mall (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza) in the summer of 1970. Uppity women unite! If you're interested you can read more about the event over at the page I found this photo on.

Groovy chicks, groovy fashions (check that dude's Bermuda shorts), and a cute little baby in a groovy stroller, what's not to love? Best of all, they're standing in front of an early-seventies Garden State Plaza, which, even though we can't see much of it, is really my main point here.

Mall history: 1957 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

(Study image courtesy & ©2002 The Women's Project of New Jersey, Inc.)

Cherry Hill Shopping Center Aviary

Cherry Hill, New Jersey - circa 1960s

The beautiful birdcage in Cherry Hill Mall (or Cherry Hill Shopping Center, whichever you prefer).

I actually shared this same image once before in my "Shopping Mall Bird and Monkey Cages" post a long time ago (the one they liked so much on TV, lol), but this is an upgraded version of same. Plus, I just think this classic mall photo is so fantastic (oh, I wanna say kitsch-tastic so bad!) that it deserves to be featured in its own entry, don't you? The card's postmarked 1968, and here's its caption:

"A view of the 20-foot high aviary housing colorful tropical birds. One of many delightful points of interest in this unique shopping world of over 100 street and shops all under one roof, where the temperature is always spring time."

Mall history: 1961 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Vintage Park City Center Mall

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - circa 1970s

The Park City Center back in the 1970s, as seen from the mall's parking lot (where's there's some pretty groovy cars, too). Among the mall's current anchor/major store lineup are: JCPenney, Sears, H&M, The Bon-Ton, Boscov's, and Kohl's. Check the "previous entries" below for a lot of other great Park City Center photos as well as more historical background info and great reader memories.

Mall history: 1972 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The Daily Mall Reader: Mall of America Expansion

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Mall of America wants biggest mall title"

The Associated Press - Thu Mar 22, 2007

(Excerpt) ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Mall of America was the biggest indoor mall in the country when it opened in 1992. It wants its top spot back.

The mall, now the nation's third-largest by retail square footage, is planning an expansion that would more than double its size by adding a 6,000-seat music theater, hotels, and an ice rink.

The $1.78 billion project would add new stores, too, including a Bass Pro outdoor retailer, and would connect the mall to the nearby IKEA home furnishings store.

Read the full article here.

MOA Galleria - Escalators

photo ©2004 Finn O'Hara

Escalators at Canary Wharf, in London, England. While there are certainly plenty of stores and shopping opportunities to be had at and around Canary Wharf for the retail-minded, my focus for this Galleria post is simply on its escalators.

This very cool shot was taken by Toronto photographer, Finn O'Hara, and I just really dig it. Not a mall shot, but I still dig it. Like the mannequin pictures I (for whatever reason) enjoy featuring often here at Malls of America, you can also add escalators to the list. I like pictures of those, too. Now that I think of it, I like riding on them as well. So when are they finally going to turn all our sidewalks into 'em like on the Jetsons? I want that!

Also see: Bullock's Store at Stonestown Shopping Center, Department Store Escalators Study

Retro Mall Video: New Urbanism - Sprawl Retail Lecture

"San Antonio By Design" Seminar (1991)

Architect and and urban planner, Andrés Duany, conducts a lecture on suburban sprawl, and retail planning/development, in San Antonio, Texas. While some of the focus does center on the San Antonio area, much of the overall message is universal and readily applicable anywhere. Personally, while a tad on the technical side at times (for a layman like me anyway), I found this talk fascinating, and gained some new perspective from it--especially on the retail planning end, which Duany covers in depth (shopping center planning and such). From the video description:

"This 1991 slide show and lecture was given to attendees in San Antonio and is a variation of Andres Duany's very popular and well-received presentation that he gave to universities, architectural conventions, urban planning groups and anybody who would listen to him."

Note: Just to get us started I'm hosting part one here on MOA, but there's 9 segments in all, so after you watch the first one, simply click here to go to the playlist for the rest on YouTube. Hope some of you find it as interesting as I did!

Retro Lakewood Shopping Center (aka Lakewood Center)

Lakewood, California - circa 1950s

Lakewood Shopping Center (now officially called Lakewood Center), just epitomizes retro cool and swank to me--the vintage version I mean. Oh it's still a pretty nice mall today, but it's not retro cool like this anymore! It's currently anchored by JCPenney, Macy's (formerly Robinsons-May), Mervyns, and Target.

The vintage postcard photo above was taken in much earlier, swankier days, of course, probably from right around 1952 when the shopping center first opened. There's a Columbia store visible on the left, among others, and the distinctive May Company anchor store in back with the big "M" logo. The card's short caption simply says: "The Attractive And Colorful Shopping Center, Lakewood, California."

Mall history: 1952 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

Northland Center Mall 1975

Southfield, Michigan - circa 1975

Here's a great overhead view of the Northland Shopping Center in Southfield, Michigan (suburb of Detroit) around 1975, a year after it was expanded and fully enclosed to become a true "shopping mall". Seen here is not only the four-level Hudson's Department Store looming in back, but also the mall's (then) newer JCPenney anchor store (lower-right corner), and the new Montgomery Ward addition, which I believe is the store just to left of Penney's, both of which were added in 1974.

Mall history: 1954 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Disney's Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village

Lake Buena Vista, Florida - 1975

Likely a "shopping destination" I doubt I'll ever have much reason (or opportunity) to return to again on Malls of America, but nevertheless, these two postcards look so groovy I had to feature them here at least one time! :)

On March 22, 1975, the small tourist community of Lake Buena Vista Village in Orange County, Florida, officially opened to the public as an annexed part of the Walt Disney World Resort theme park, which was primarily located about five miles away. The village included (and still does) a dedicated shopping plaza area called the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, which the above photo welcomes you to.

Lake Buena Vista, Florida - 1975

Above is The Flower Garden store, one of Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village's early swanky looking shops. Both great images in this post are courtesy of Big Brian's Disney Page, an awesome site for Walt Disney World nostalgia fans (celebrated through vintage postcards). Some really fun stuff there!

Mall Sign: Town & Country Shopping Center

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Nice retro design signage, dating back to around the fifties. This is a recent photo of the Town & Country Shopping Center's original vintage-era entrance sign. I haven't had a chance to research it yet, so I don't know whether or not this shopping center is still in operation today. I just liked the neat sign (courtesy of the swanktastic Roadside Architecture site).

The Daily Mall Reader: Going Mall Shopping

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Going mall shopping"

Washington Business Journal - April 6, 2001

(Excerpt) Tysons Corner Center and The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City are for sale.

L&B Realty Advisors of Dallas owns all of Tysons Corner and part of the Fashion Centre on behalf of several institutional investors. But L&B wants to target secondary markets and develop lifestyle-type shopping centers.

Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which also manages Fashion Centre, will buy the remaining interest, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

With 2.1 million square feet, Tysons Corner is the 10th largest mall in the country; it had average sales per square foot of $585 in 2000. The 819,000-square-foot Fashion Centre would not disclose 2000 sales per square foot. But it traditionally has posted the highest such figure in the area-- $750.

Read the full article here.

Lloyd Center Mall aerial view

Portland, Oregon - circa 1960s

Aerial view of Lloyd Center Mall and surrounding area back in the swingin' sixties. The Banfield Expressway (I-84) is also visible here running just south of the shopping center. A few notes via Wikipedia:

"The mall opened August 1, 1960 in its original 100-store, open-air configuration. At the time it was the largest shopping center in Portland and in the Northwest region, and claimed to be the largest in the world. (Actually, it had already been surpassed by the Lakewood Center [1951] and the Roosevelt Field Mall [1956].) Although very close to the downtown retail core, Lloyd Center was the first major retail development to seriously challenge it, aimed almost exclusively at commuters utilizing Portland's then-growing freeway system.

The original anchor stores were Meier & Frank at the center, Lipman & Wolfe anchoring the west end, and JC Penney and Woolworth anchoring the east. Nordstrom initially opened as shore store in 1963, before expanding into a full-line apparel store incrementally in the mall's west wing."

Mall history: 1960 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Carlmont Village Shopping Center

Belmont, California - circa 1960s

Charming view of the Carlmont Village Shopping Center, a quaint little shopping plaza (not a "shopping mall" per se) nestled away in Belmont, CA. Built in 1955 on 8.3 acres of land, it's still there today, but of course, looks a little different now. I thought this was such a pretty postcard photo, I just had to share it here.

NorthPark Center (aka NorthPark Shopping Center)

Dallas, Texas - photos circa 1960s

Malls of America regular contributor, J, sent me these scans a while back (from the pages of a '60s-era Encyclopedia Britannica) of NorthPark Center Mall in Dallas, TX (commonly referred to as NorthPark Shopping Center in those days). Thanks again for the great submissions J!

The first photo is a shot of the Plaza fountain in one wing of the mall (which you can also see here in color). The second shot is obviously an exterior view of one of the mall's parking lot areas and store entrances. Some Wikipedia notes:

"NorthPark Center opened in 1965 as the largest climate-controlled retail establishment in the world. Originally developed by Raymond D. Nasher, the center is now owned, managed, operated and leased by husband and wife David J. Haemisegger and Nancy A. Nasher. After a three-year, $235 million expansion that doubled its size, NorthPark Center is expected to surpass $1 billion in sales in 2007.

From its inception, NorthPark Center has made world-class art an integral part of its interior landscape. NorthPark received the American Institute of Architects Award for 'Design of the Decade - 1960s' as one of the first commercial centers in the United States to create space for the display of fine art.

Over the years as NorthPark Center has remained true to its original design. For the most recent expansion, NorthPark’s owners returned to Omniplan, the architectural firm that originally designed the center with clean, modern lines, signature white brick and highly polished concrete floors. The expansion turned NorthPark’s original U shape into a unique square design surrounding a 1.4-acre landscaped garden known as 'CenterPark'."

Mall history: 1965 - present
Developer: Raymond Nasher
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

Paramus Park Mall Turkey Statue

Paramus, New Jersey - circa 1970s

In my Paramus Park Mall entry of a few days ago, mention was made (via Wiki info) of a large metal turkey statue that sat in one of the mall's courtyards:

"Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Thanks (once again) to Charles Freericks, who supplied the photo of the mall for the last post, we now have the above vintage-era shot of the Paramus Park Mall wild turkey statue! It's apparently still there today, btw, albeit now demoted to a more low-key location in the food court on the mall's upper level.

To the left is a recent picture of it (2006) I found on Photobucket. Gives a little more perspective on its size, and you can also see a plaque on the display which explains the piece and names its artist (Christopher Parke, I believe).

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1

Edison Mall Shopping Center

Fort Myers, Florida - circa '60s or '70s

A beautiful vintage postcard view of Edison Mall, baking under the hot Florida sun in the sixties or early-seventies (not exactly sure on the year). This is a shot of the mall's main entrance, with Woolworth's sitting to the right of the photo, a Penneys anchor to the right of that (not sure what store's on the immediate left of this courtyard), and a Maas Brothers store straight back behind this entrance foyer. Check out the "previous entries" below. You can just make out this entrance in a couple of them.

Mall history: 1960s(?) - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

The Daily Mall Reader: Sherman Oaks Galleria

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Like, totally, the end of one mall's era"

CNN.com - April 15, 1999

(Excerpt) Remember, like, Valley Girls?

Think back to the early '80s. Think malls filled with mini-skirted teens with big hair and their own special language. Think "gag me with a spoon." Fer shure. You remember.

But that was a long time ago. The species has disappeared. And now, the last visible symbol of that era is on the way out: the Galleria is shutting down.

There was a time when the Sherman Oaks Galleria was the most famous mall in America, at least among those of a certain age.

Read the full article here.

International Malls: Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Toronto, Ontario, Canada - circa 1960s

The Yorkdale Shopping Centre (aka Yorkdale Mall) was such a groovy shopping mall at one time! This retro postcard proves it. Every photo I see of it I love. (I'm talking about the vintage Yorkdale Shopping Centre, of course.) Looks like it was one heck of a swanky shopping destination back then.

Mall history: 1964 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2

Mayfield Mall '80s Conversion

Mountain View, California - mid '80s

Portions of the once fully carpeted and very groovy Mayfield Mall interior are bulldozed not long after the mall had closed in 1983, to make way for partial use by the Hewlett-Packard Co. as an office facility (they vacated the property in 2003, and it now awaits impending total redevelopment). Here's a descriptive quote (via the San Antonio District Guide) from a 1972 Mountain View Chamber of Commerce brochure:

"Mayfield Mall--Northern California's first fully enclosed, air conditioned, carpeted shopping mall--has more than 50 stores, and parking for several thousand cars. Such well-known firms as J.C. Penney, Joseph Magnin, Woolworth's, and Wells Fargo Bank are tenants of this unique complex on the west side of the city."

Thanks very much to MOA reader, Matt, for the nifty shot in this post!

Mall history: 1966 - 1983 (dead)
Previous entries: 1

The Daily Mall Reader: Mayfield Mall

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Mayfield Mall once a hot item"
Flashpoint of current debate was a popular spot in the '60s and '70s

Mountain View Voice - Friday, October 15, 2004

(Excerpt) Few who drive by Mayfield Mall's former location at the corner of Central Expressway and San Antonio Road realize they are passing the site of one of the first fully carpeted, air-conditioned shopping centers in the country.

Fewer still realize the mall's buildings remain intact, albeit heavily remodeled. However, if you want to see them, you better go soon -- they are not long for this world.

After over a decade of use as a Hewlett-Packard Co. campus, a new chapter in the site's history is about to unfold. The city has begun reviewing proposals to build a new housing development at the site, which some nearby residents are not looking forward to. The new residential neighborhood will replace what was once the Peninsula's premier shopping destination.

Read the full article here.

Retro Mall Video: '80s Mall Arcade Training Tape

(part 1)

(part 2)

This is a totally rad find (that I found on YouTube)! It's a 1981 "Space Port" Mall Arcade employee training slideset video.

Space Ports were a franchised chain of shopping mall video arcades that were especially popular in the late-seventies and early-eighties. Mallrats and pretty much any teen who grew up in those days, will remember these loud and funky shopping mall gaming wonderlands. The video above (in two parts) is an interesting (and oftentimes unintentionally funny!) relic of the '70s and '80s shopping mall landscape--albeit from slightly more on the "inside".

Lots of shopping malls had Space Ports--among the ones I can think of are: Aurora Village, and King of Prussia Plaza.

Also see this: Retro Mall Video - Mall Arcade '84 & MOA Galleria - Mall Arcade

MOA Galleria - Northway Mall Ball

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - 1964

Vintage photo of folks dancing inside Northway Mall during some special event in 1964. I couldn't resist also including the still below, from one of my favorite weird movies, Carnival of Souls (1962). When I saw the Northway Mall picture, I instantly thought of this scene from the movie (yes, I'm strange like that)...

Carnival of Souls - 1962

But mainly I just dug the idea that these people (in the first pic) were actually ballroom dancing inside Northway Mall! Something kind of odd looking (and spooky) about that scene. I doubt the mall does this anymore, though, heh.

Mall history: 1962 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(Study image courtesy The Shoppes at Northway)

Midtown Plaza Mall Today

Rochester, New York - photos circa 2005

Here are two recent photos of Midtown Plaza from Malls of America reader, Fletcher, who took these shots in 2005 and kindly submitted them here to illustrate how similar the mall still looks today, when compared to all the vintage photographs and postcards I've shared of it on the blog in the past (see "previous entries" below). I have to agree with him. At first glance you could easily take these to be vintage '60s shots.

In the first photo above you can even see that the famous Clock of the Nations still sits quietly, but proudly, in the darkened and very empty(!) mall interior. In fact, my first thought when I looked at these was, where have all the people gone? Were these taken when the mall was closed? But Fletcher told me it was indeed open at the time, and that it's usually empty like that these days. The term "dead mall" certainly comes to mind when looking at evidence like this. Here's some good Victor Gruen Midtown Plaza design insight via Wikipedia:

"Designed by Victor Gruen, Midtown Plaza was dedicated on April 10, 1961 as the first downtown indoor mall in the United States. The first enclosed shopping center had been Southdale Center 1956, also designed by Gruen. The idea for this mall started with discussions between Gilbert J.C. McCurdy, owner of the McCurdy's department stores and Maurice F Forman, owner of the B. Forman Co. department stores. At this time strip plazas were growing in popularity. Though both owners had opened branch stores they were concerned about downtown Rochester's viability and came up with the idea of an indoor shopping center.

Gruen was at the height of his influence when Midtown was completed and the project attracted international attention. City officials and planners from around the globe came to see Gruen's solution to the mid-century urban crisis. Midtown won several design awards.

Gruen described the aerial view of Rochester as a giant parking lot with a few buildings to inconvenience traffic flow. His intention was to create a pedestrian friendly town square for Rochester, NY, a medium sized city near the mouth of the Genesee River. He incorporated art, benches, fountains, a four hundred seat auditorium and a sidewalk cafe into his plans hoping to encourage the sort of social intermingling that he saw as the enriching essence of urban life."

Mall history: 1961 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Paramus Park Mall & Sears

Paramus, New Jersey - circa mid '70s

Mid-seventies snapshot of Paramus Park mall in Paramus, NJ, taken from the parking lot (the Sears anchor store is visible to the right). Many thanks to Charles Freericks, for this great photo submission!

My buddies over at Labelscar have a nice entry on the mall as it looks today, if you're curious about that, and below you'll find some Paramus Park mall history from Wikipedia:

"The mall, developed by The Rouse Company, opened on March 14, 1974, with a 300,000 sq. ft. Abraham & Straus (now a Macy's store) and Sears (which didn't open until August) as anchors and space for 120 specialty stores.

Paramus Park was the fourth, and final major indoor (or in the case of Garden State Plaza, soon to be indoor) mall in Paramus. It is shaped as a four-legged zigzag, with an anchor store at each end and the second-level food court on a large balcony in the middle. Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

The Daily Mall Reader: Curfews At Malls

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Attention, shoppers: teens, get out! Kids hopping mad over shopping-mall curfews"

Current Events - Oct 22, 2004

(Excerpt) Your Friday night plans are all set: A night at the mall with your friends. You've got everything you need for a night of hanging out: your crew, your cash, and your cell. Oh, yeah--and your mom.

That's right, your mom. At malls around the country, parental escorts after curfew are as common as the Gap and Old Navy.

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, malls in at least 10 states now have policies requiring teenagers to be accompanied by an adult after a set curfew.

Two malls in the metro Detroit area are the latest to enforce such a policy. At the Fairlane Town Center and Eastland Mall, kids under the age of 17 are prohibited from being in the mall past 5 p.m. unless they are with an adult over 21. Security guards check teens' IDs at the entrances and patrol courtyards and corridors for lone youths.

Read the full article here.

Radio Interview With Mall Developer, Alfred Taubman

I recently came across this interesting radio interview conducted on April 4, 2007, with A. Alfred Taubman, the "shopping mall king", where he discusses some of the subjects found in his new memoir, Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer.

Mr. Taubman was interviewed by Frank Beckmann, of WJR-Radio, in the GM Wintergarden studio inside the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.

Click here to go to the interview (off-site).

Ala Moana Shopping Center at night!

Honolulu, Hawaii - circa 196os

A rare nighttime aerial postcard photo of the Ala Moana Shopping Center (this is the Sears anchor side), taken in the '60s I believe--postmark is early '70s, however. I've shared lots of aerial pictures of this mall in the past (see "previous entries" below), but this is the first vintage one I've seen of Ala Moana at night, and I think it looks spectacular! (even considering the low quality of the original card--which it is)

For my retro mall money, this shot's definitely a keeper!

Mall history: 1959 - present
Architect: John Graham Jr.
Current aerial view
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

San Antonio Shopping Center

Mountain View, California - 1982

Vintage early '80s view of San Antonio Shopping Center (aka San Antonio Center), an outdoor strip mall located in Mountain View, California (here's an aerial). Above Image and the following history both via MVPA:

"San Antonio Center has gone through many incarnations. It started in the 1950s as a stand alone Sears Department Store surrounded by bean fields. It grew over the years and became Downtown Mountain View's first major competition. By the 1970s the center had expanded into the pedestrian mall viewed here in this picture. During Christmas time this fountain was covered up and became a place to meet Santa Claus.

At its height in the early 1980s, the mall connected Sears, JC Penny's (which had moved from Mayfield Mall) and Meryvn's. It was also home to the Menu Tree restaurant, a strange two story international restaurant remembered for its use of dozens of cuckoo clocks for decoration.

The mall fell on hard times in the early 1990s and grand plans for its expansion fell through. Most of the mall was demolished to make way for Wal Mart and a parking lot, although a remainder of the mall can still be found behind Sears."

Mall Video: Ala Moana Shopping Center

Ala Moana Shopping Center, Honolulu, HI (2006)

Here's a nice little video tour (via Ben's Tours on YouTube) of the Ala Moana Shopping Center as it looks today. I kind of dug this and thought it might be of some interest here as it helps put the mall into some modern perspective for us (as does this link).

Mall history: 1959 - present
Architect: John Graham Jr.
Current aerial view
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Shopping Mall Sign: San Antonio Center

Mountain View, California

Finishing a couple more posts from earlier this morning, when my internet connection suddenly conked out on me because it hates me.

So this is the distinctive entrance sign at the San Antonio Shopping Center, in Mountain View, CA. Photo was taken in July of 2005 (courtesy of Marcel Marchon). I'm not sure how far back this particular signage design goes at this mall, so I don't know exactly how "vintage" it is (does anyone else?), but either way it's an interesting looking sign, isn't it?

More San Antonio Shopping Center

Sunvalley Mall (or Sun Valley Mall)

Concord, California - circa early '70s

Sunvalley Mall (aka Sun Valley Mall) interior postcard photo that I believe dates to the early '70s. This breezy fountain court area looks pleasant enough, but what I really like is that nifty logo design on the card. That's just good stuff in my book! A few Wiki notes:

"Sunvalley Mall is a regional shopping center located in Concord, California (one of the suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area, in east central Contra Costa County). Sunvalley opened in August of 1967 with JCPenney and Macy's as anchor tenants. The mall was attached to a pre-existing free-standing Sears store that was built several years earlier. At its opening it was considered the largest air conditioned regional shopping center in the world.

It was developed by the Taubman Company, which is still the owner and operator of the mall to this day. The mall's major department stores are two separate locations for Macys, and one each for Sears and JCPenney. Sunvalley has 170 stores and a total size of about 1.4 million square feet."

Mall history: 1967 - present
Current website: here
Developer: Taubman Centers, Inc.
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Resource links: 1, 2
Previous entries: 1, 2

MOA Galleria - Dixie Square Mall Montgomery Wards

Montgomery Wards interior

(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)

Funky interior design--'70s shopping mall style! Back in 2001 photographer, Christopher Trice, documented the abandoned remnants of the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, for his "Dixie Square Mall Series". Here are a couple of the Montgomery Ward images from it that I dug due to the obviously frozen-in-time state of vintage '70s (or '60s?) decor they capture--interior store design still left over from retail days long gone by.

Men’s Jackets, Montgomery Wards

(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)

Of this series Trice said: "My work at Dixie Square Mall is an effort not to find beauty, but to create it." Tough assignment from the looks of things.

Here's an overview from the site I found these photos at:

"In The Dixie Square Mall Series, Christopher Trice examines the space and socioeconomic import of a long-abandoned shopping center in one of Chicago’s south suburbs. Dangling wires, fallen ceiling tiles, and peeling wallpaper evidence the decay of otherwise familiar store interiors now ravaged by vandals and weather alike. Yet the attention to color and closely controlled composition of Trice’s photographs transcend the merely documentary, generating a beauty otherwise absent from this crumbling structure."

More Dixie Square Mall: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Powers Department Store at Highland Village Shopping Center

St. Paul, Minnesota - December 29, 1960

Exterior of the Powers "Highland" department store that was once located in the Highland Village Shopping Center. As this is more of a strip mall shopping plaza and not an enclosed mall, I'll dispense with the usual "mall" info summary at the bottom of this post (as I usually do with these), but I did uncover that this little strip mall first opened (very humbly) in 1939, and was then appreciably expanded throughout the '40s and '50s.

Highland Village Shopping Center, which it appears is still around, doesn't seem to maintain a website, but that's OK. This one's simply about this great picture--and that classy store logo! (Which can also be seen in my Knollwood Plaza entry.)

(Study image courtesy and © Minnesota Historical Society)

The Daily Mall Reader: Shopping Malls Ban Break Dancing

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Breaking Through to Big Profits"
A craze born in the ghetto becomes a whirling cash dance

TIME Magazine - Monday, Oct. 01, 1984

(Excerpt) Break dancing has been banned from certain shopping malls, sidewalks and no doubt countless living rooms as a public nuisance. But the ghetto-born dance fad, with its twirls, windmills and head spins, has shown remarkable staying power. As a result, dozens of entrepreneurs are making a fast break to cash in on its widespread popularity among teenagers by spinning off such accessories as clothing, how-to books and video games.

Wrangler, the jeansmaker, in January will begin selling its Wrapid Transit collection of break-dancing fashions in red, purple, blue and black. The twill pants ($25) will be loosely tailored in the legs and reinforced in the seat and knees. The jackets ($30) will be sleeveless, with six pockets. Van Doren Rubber of Anaheim, Calif, has produced a special red-black-and-white version of its Vans wrestling shoe ($32), designed for break dancing's fast footwork.

Read the full article here.

Groovy '60s Eastwood Mall Decor

Birmingham, Alabama - 1960's

Here's a very retro looking sixties postcard photo of a court fountain and Bell shoe store inside Eastwood Mall. This one really has that vintage mall stink all over it, which I love! The original scan came from the great Eastwood Mall fansite, that unfortunately appears to be gone of late.

As the original image was smaller and darker, I did some editing for use here (enlarged, brightened, cleaned, adjusted colors and contrast, etc.) to bring out more detail. I'm trying to find an original copy of this postcard for my own collection and will re-post a much higher quality version when/if I ever find one. Meantime, here's a little Eastwood Mall history via Wikipedia:

"Eastwood Mall, located in metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, was the second enclosed shopping mall in the Southeast; this following the opening of North Carolina's Charlottetown Mall, which debuted on October 28, 1959.

Eastwood Mall opened on August 25, 1960. The original tenant list included J.J. Newberry and S.S. Kresge (two defunct five and dime chains), as well as J.C. Penney, a Kroger supermarket, and Colonial Stores supermarket, (which became a Hill's Food Store, and eventually evolved into Winn-Dixie). The mall had no major department stores until the mid-to-late 1960s. Anchors that have been connected to the center over time include Parisian, Pizitz, Yielding's, Service Merchandise and Party City.

Eastwood Mall was the creation of Newman H. Waters, who owned a chain of drive-in theaters in the Birmingham area, including one adjacent to where Eastwood was built. Early advertisements for the mall boasted of its 'Air Conditioned Sidewalks' and dubbed it 'The Merchandise City of the Future'."

Mall history: 1960 - 2004
Current website: n/a
Developer: Newman H. Waters
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Resource links: 1, 2
Previous entries: 1

MOA Galleria - Eastwood Mall Fashion Shop

Birmingham, Alabama - 1960's

Swinging '60s ladies shopping and chit-chatting inside a fashionable store in a vintage-era Eastwood Mall. Don't know if this was a boutique, salon, or just the women's department of some larger store, but whatever it is, it looks pretty groovy to me.

In the '70s I remember getting dragged into lots of these kinds of stores by my mom as a kid. I didn't mind too much though, because even at that young age (we'll say around 10) I'd always use the opportunity to "scope out the chicks"! Usually meaning any cute 9 or 10 year-old girls who got dragged in by their mothers, too. And sure, sometimes I even scoped out their foxy, hot pantsted, go-go booted moms, too, I'll admit it. I had that kind of game.

More Eastwood Mall: 1, 2

(Study image © & courtesy The Birmingham News)

The Daily Mall Reader: Mall King Alfred Taubman

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Mall king A. Alfred Taubman's memoir tells of Sotheby's price-fixing scandal"

Canadian Press - April 09, 2007

(Excerpt) BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) - A. Alfred Taubman, ignoring all of his instincts, stayed silent during the price-fixing trial that would end with a prison sentence for the former owner of Sotheby's auction house.

It was a decision that the luxury mall developer and philanthropist sees as a critical mistake as he reflects on a career in retailing that began as a discount store salesman and eventually put him at the centre of an art world scandal.

"I should have gotten on the stand," the 83-year-old billionaire said in a recent interview in his office at the suburban Detroit company he founded in 1950.

Read the full article here.