Southcenter Mall

Tukwila, Washington - circa 1960s

Here's an old Southcenter Mall interior image dating to the '60s (not the best quality but you get the idea). The store on the left is called Bernie's (which appears to be a men's clothing store), and you can also just barely make out the mall's JCPenney anchor way down at the far end (see the beginning of the Penneys sign?). Speaking of which, here's the caption off another Southcenter postcard:

"The distinctive architecture of Southcenter is highlighted by the beautiful J.C. Penney store, largest in the Penney chain. Penneys is one of the four major department stores in Southcenter which along with 110 other stores makes it the largest shopping center in the Northwest and one of the largest in the world.

The main building covers 30 acres of the total 116 acre site. The center is 8 minutes south of Seattle at Tukwila and the Junction of Interstates 5 and 405."

Mall history: 1968 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4

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?

Stylish Tacoma Mall Interior, 1972

Tacoma, Washington - 1972

Inside Tacoma Mall in the early seventies. Below is the accompanying caption for this vintage reference photo (most shopping malls don't even bother to do such local, community-centric things like this anymore):

"Display of portraits of the officers and directors of the Greater Tacoma Chamber of Commerce surrounding pillars within the Tacoma Mall. Shoppers at the mall in 1972 were invited to meet the area's business leaders via their color portraits taken by the Richards Studio. A label identifying the individual was in the corner of each gold and wood framed picture."

Mall history: 1964 - present
Architect: John Graham
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4

(Study image courtesy Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio Collection D160900-352C)