Park City Center Mall Kiosk

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - circa 1970s

Here's a fun postcard shot taken inside the ever-moody Park City Center Mall in the 1970s (back when it was still dark and moody). In this photo we see a small kiosk store in the middle of the mall proper, but I need a little help with this one's name.

It obviously sells nuts, but it's a store I'm not familiar with at all, and the back of the postcard is no help. It appears the name is "Ah! Nuts", but I'm not positive (maybe that's reversed?). Any fellow mallrats (particularly those familiar with either Park City Center back in the day or this shop itself) know for sure what this store was called?

Either way, it's a neat shot, where you can also see the very colorful Fifth Avenue Card Shop as well in the background.

Mall history: 1972 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Tanforan Shopping Center (aka The Shops At Tanforan)

San Bruno, California - circa 1970s

Now called The Shops At Tanforan, the Tanforan Shopping Center (or Tanforan Park Mall) originally opened in 1971, and then was rebuilt and updated in 2003. Current anchors include Sears, Barnes & Noble, Target, and JCPenney. The vintage interior photo above is from one of the mall's 1970s postcards.

Apparently it's a pretty swanky place to shop today. Here's a description of its current-day atmosphere and decor from Bigmallrat.com:

"Tanforan mall is chic; beautifully designed and decorated. The architects, Altoon + Porter, are known for other famous mall renovations, including Las Vegas' The Fashion Show mall. The ceiling is stunning, with the latest in lighting design. At night, it glows a beautiful blue. Careful attention was given to detail, including fixtures and neutral flooring. The mall appears upscale and demands attention. Only Westfield Valley Fair Mall and Westfield Oakridge Mall could compare in terms of design."

Mall history: 1971 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

Crossroads Center Mall 1970s

Waterloo, Iowa - circa early '70s

Four vintage seventies photos of the Crossroads Center mall on one postcard, with exterior views of Sears, JCPenney, and Osco Drug all visible here, as well as a couple really groovy interior mall shots, too!

Some of Crossroads Center mall's current anchors and stores include Dillard's, Gordmans, the aforementioned JCPenney and Sears, Old Navy, and Younkers.

Mall history: 1970 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1

Retro Mall Video: '70s Sears Optical Department

Sears Optical Department (1970s)

Here's a retro '70s TV commercial for the Optical Department at Sears, in all its weird retro '70s glory. Man, I remember the catchy little jingle in these Sears ads very well from when I was a kid. As for the woman in this one... can you say Stepford Wives?

Altamonte Mall Interior

Altamonte Springs, Florida - circa 1970s

Do not adjust your computer monitor... but do enjoy Altamonte Mall's funky '70s color design, which includes blood-red carpeting, hickory paneling, and yellow and red colored fountain lights (the red one's a groovy dandelion fountain, too), which probably changed to other colors as well! Spectacular, I say.

This is a view from the mall's center court area, and I actually featured this same photo before, however that version was black and white, and also reversed!--which I (and no one else), ever noticed back then. Whoops. Well it's fixed now with this entry, and in Living Color to boot! :) A reader reminisces about Altamonte Mall as a kid:

"The center court was filled with fountains (one more is to the right and there was another fountain underneath the stairs just off center court)... the large fountain to the left, along with the other fountains, were lit with multi-colored lights and there were plenty of seating areas around the fountains. At that time, it seemed like the only 2 level mall in the Orlando area. Today, this mall is quite sterile the center court area is totally different."

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1

International Malls: Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre

Toronto, Ontario, Canada - circa 1970s

Colorful retro '70s postcard view of the entrance sign and interior of the Sherway Gardens shopping centre in Toronto. I'll refrain from calling the interior "gaudy", but I'll just say it's definitely some bold '70s mall decor style at its finest! And I mean that in a good way. :)

More Sherway Gardens: 1

International Malls: Fairview Mall

Toronto, Ontario, Canada - circa 1970s

Seventies multi-view postcard depicting Fairview Mall in Toronto, Ontario. America or not, these are exactly the kind of gaudy, groovy old shopping mall photos I dig, so this one's going right here at the top today! Fairview Mall opened in 1972 and is still going strong--currently undergoing a major renovation. Here's an aerial view, and some Fairview Wikipedia notes:

"The mall opened in 1972 with the Bay and Simpson's as its department store anchors. It was the fourth fully-enclosed and the first multi-level mall in Metropolitan Toronto. The Hudson's Bay Company, parent company of the Bay, purchased Simpson's in 1978. In 1991, it sold the Simpson's store in Fairview (along with five others that were co-located with the Bay) to Sears Canada."

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

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

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

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

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

Fairlane Town Center with Dearborn Hyatt & Monorail

Dearborn, Michigan - late '70s early '80s

Aerial view of both the Fairlane Town Center mall (top of photo), along with the nearby Dearborn Hyatt Regency (bottom). If you look closely, you can also make out the actual track for the famous shuttle monorail that I featured in my last Fairlane Town Center entry, as it winds its way across/above the shopping mall's parking lot, over to the adjoining hotel--a trip which took 91 seconds.

Mall history: 1976 - present
Developer: A. Alfred Taubman
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2

Louis Joliet Mall (aka Westfield Louis Joliet)

Joliet, Illinois - circa late '70s

Family shopping trip... late-seventies style! Welcome to Louis Joliet Mall, or Westfield Louis Joliet, as it's officially known these days (naturally). This photo is from a print ad dating to around the late 1970s or so. Here's the ad copy:

"Whatever you have in mind, we have in store. Explore Louis Joliet Mall and find more of what you're looking for. More choices. More variety. More of the latest fashions in over 100 fine stores. Plus a mouth-watering variety of foods to suit every taste. Convenient services that put an end to driving all over town. And exciting special events. So when you're looking for more, discover... Louis Joliet Mall

More than 100 fine shops and services including Sears, Marshall Field's, Bergner's, and J.C. Penney"

Here's some excerpted history from its Wikipedia page:

"The mall opened in 1978 (August 2) with Sears and Marshall Field & Company. Bergner's opened in September 1979, and JCPenney would move from downtown to the mall one month later. In the beginning, Louis Joliet Mall had stiff competition from the slightly older mall a few miles away on Jefferson Street, Jefferson Square Mall.

The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2003, and renamed it 'Westfield Shoppingtown Louis Joliet', dropping the 'Shoppingtown' name in June 2005. However, most locals do not use the Westfield name for the mall. Many call it 'Joliet Mall', or 'Louie Mall'."

Mall history: 1978 - present
Developer: Homart Development
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Reference links: 1, 2
Previous entries: none

'70s Easter at Lloyd Center

Portland, Oregon - circa late '70s

What's Easter without a shopping mall Easter Bunny photo, right? Only way to sweeten that deal is when it's one from the 1970s, and it's from Lloyd Center mall! That's just about everything you need right there. It's everything I need at any rate. Save maybe a chocolate bunny and colored egg, of course.

The groovy snapshot above, comes courtesy of, Meegan Blue, and is an old family photo taken at Lloyd Center, around 1977 or 1978.

"...I do know that we were at the Lloyd Center. Nowadays it's just a regular, enclosed, everyday mall, but back then it looked like this. Oh, if only they had embraced its open-air Mid Century coolness and left it alone, just think of the fun we'd have!"

Amen, Meegan.

Finally, allow me to take this opportunity to wish everyone out there who's observing it, a very Happy Easter! To those who aren't, hey, Happy Sunday! :)

PS: Don't forget, the Easter Bunny's in that 1986 Universal Mall Boat Show video I shared here recently.

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

Burbank's Golden Mall

Burbank, California - circa 1970s

Field trip time outside! Here's the famous Golden Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall district that was located in downtown Burbank, and looking ever the place to be, here in this nifty early '70s vintage postcard I just couldn't resist posting. That's the Bur-Cal clothing store you see on the end with the cool script logo above the entrance.

Alas, the beautiful mall was completely removed and the area reopened to traffic in 1989 (the mall having originally opened in 1967). But if you're interested in learning more about The Golden Mall and would dig seeing lots more great pictures of it, be sure and visit the nice photo essay at Burbankia, by Wes Clark, of the fabulous Avocado Memories website (which I've loved for years), and Mike McDaniel. Tell 'em Malls of America sent ya! ;)