That's Sears on the left. There was a key making place on the right and an insurance place on the left of the entrance to Sears. Source: I could walk there from my house in 3 minutes and spent hours in that mall with my friends as a kid.
Actually, I think that is Sears about halfway down on the left - my memory is very vague on this one, since I was probably about 7 or 8 when I went here. I remember it being long and quite narrow. Yes, tragically, this is the Adam Walsh mall. The mall never recovered from the publicity surrounding that incident, and was gone by the early 90's.
I worked at Sears in the mid 70's. Sears is to the left behind the "water feature". The entrance is just behind where the picture was taken. The picture is facing North.
I spent a lot of time here growing up, as my grandparents lived in Hollywood. My dad and sister were at Sears the same day Adam Walsh was abducted. They were questioned by the police and everything. Sad time.
The mall is actually still there -- just west of I-95 on Hollywood Blvd, at N. Park Road -- but it was renovated. It's now known as Hollywood Hills Plaza. A Target and a Publix were put in and the interior spaces became offices.
The publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
The old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant. Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard. John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM! Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
The publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
The old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant. Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard. John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM! Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
The publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
The old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant. Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard. John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM! Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
"The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989"
I think you mean 1979... The Pembroke Lakes mall opened around the late 80's though (and is what ultimately did in both the HFC and the HM.. that and Sawgrass Mills in 1991). The Hollywood Fashion Center was definitely open in the early 80's.
I have fond memories of the old Hollywood Mall which I visited frequently as a kid in the mid-1970s. I liked the pond in front of the entrance to the Sears and the then-futuristic design of the ceiling. I remember well the abduction of Adam Walsh and all the posters with his picture posted around the area. The video game section in Sears was located near the Garden Dept. i would even stop by and play some Atari in the late 70's and early 80's. The mall's decline was hastened by the opening of the Pembroke Lakes Mall about ten miles west in Oct. 1992. This also doomed my beloved Hollywood Fashion Center in 1993. The area west of these malls was experiencing a rapid growth while the demographics of the areas around the Hollywood Mall and Hollywood Fashion Center were changing for the worse. I visited the Hollywood mall until about 1994. The food court had a Subway and TCBY among a handful of others, and a nice newsstand where I could pick up a magazine or two. I also would get a shoe shine nearby. I have a lot of fond memories of this mall.
Wow, this photo takes me back, although to the 80s, not the 60s-70s. I grew up in Miramar and Hollywood, and I remember visiting this mall a lot, especially the Target. I was born in '83, and remember my mother being extremely protective of us when we were out in public. It's only recently that I realized this was the same mall where Adam Walsh was taken. I remember watching the mall deteriorate, actually the entire area around it as well, including the Hollywood Fashion Center mall. It was sad to see. I remember going into the Fashion Center right around Halloween for a carnival-type thing put on for kids, and it was set up inside the mall. They set up various scenes throughout the empty mall, and it was very strange to see it all closed down.
I don't live there anymore, and I wonder about the old neighborhood a lot.
Amazing. When I heard that is where Adam Walsh was kidnapped I had to find out where the mall was. I of course, thought it was the millenium supermall, since that is all that is in Hollywood now but then after using google suspected it was where publix is now, but I couldn't confirm that. Your blog just confirmed my guess, so thanks. Now I know.
I think that there is a little confusion on this blog... let me try to clear it up as best as I can.
First of all, this appears to be a blog on the former mall at Hollywood Blvd. & Park Rd... across from the Hollywood Police Dept. where Adam Walsh was abducted long ago. Today in 2009 There is a Target facing Hollywood Blvd. & a Publix & CVS facing Park Rd.
This blog does NOT seem to be referring to the Hollywood Fashion Center Mall (later the Millennium mall) on 441 & Hollywood Blvd. There is a wiki entry that directed me to this page incorrectly stating that it was referring to the old Millennium mall on 441.
As long as I'm here though, I'll talk about both...
I worked for the Target on Pines & Hollywood Blvd. for 3 years & I have been told what a great place it used to be. I can only imagine. Now that area is a complete Ghetto. Nothing happening there but a ghetto Target and a boring Publix.
I just happen to be working at that Target after Wilma and it was total comedy. People shopping with flashlights (most stealing 10x more than they were buying). When we closed and everyone was up at the front checking out, the generator ran out of gas and everything went black. The head of the store told everybody that since the cash registers didn't work, we couldn't sell anything and to go home. There was a ROAR of laughter and most people just left without paying. At that point it was 5 o' clock and time for me to go home ;). Anybody who calls their employees in to work the day after hurricane Wilma is on their own...
As for the Millennium Mall... my wife and I went through there when they tried to reopen it around 2004 and it was completely bizarre. This ENORMOUS SUPER COMPLEX with about 10 shops in the front and the rest abandoned. My wife told me stories about what a great place it used to be as we walked through this gigantic abandoned shell. They obviously couldn't afford to run the battleship sized AC units for the handful of dying shops there so it was about 100 (Florida) degrees inside.
As we walked through, you couldn't help but notice all of the looks of failure and desperation on the shop keepers faces. Everybody there kept talking about relocating, moving on, closing up, etc. It was depressing and completely eerie.
I remember that we walked this long stretch of several hundred feet to this little patch of video games all the way on the other side of this abandoned mall. Looking up, there was this giant 2 story statue that was blue and pink 80's style sticking up in the middle of everything. It reminded me of the Mall scene from the 80's movie "Night of the Comet" where they are the last people on earth. Needless to say it didn't last long and now it completely closed down and boarded up.
Today when you pass by there, it is just a gigantic, empty, depressing eye sore. The remaining palm trees have been broken by the hurricanes and are covered with graffiti. The massive parking lot is over grown with weeds, the glass tiles in the front have been shot out, the entire super structure is broken and abandoned like a ghost town.
It would probably cost millions just to demo the place. Who ever buys it and demos it would have to have plans to build something HUGE there and since that neighborhood sucks now... It just sits in the middle of everything and rots.
Every time we drove past it, I would get this depressing feeling like the Millennium mall is a perfect mascot for the city of Hollywood. A giant, sprawling, empty shell of a place that once used to be so great... but now needs to be condemned.
Growing up I spent two weeks every summer in Hollywood, Florida as my grandparents owned a condo there. My parents were actually at the Hollywood mall the same day that Adam disappeared (a year before I myself was born) My own memories of this mall are very vague.
My dad worked at Sears so we spent a lot of time there. That was the only real shopping center around except for the 163rd Street Shopping Center. I had my hair cut at the Mall Barber Shop ever since high school, McArthur H.S. c/o 1970. Unfortunately, the original tenants finally closed the shop in December 2009. Many of us who were in high school during this time shopped at Bob's Sports Shop. They always carried Gant shirts and London Fog jackets. We had them embroidered with our initials. That was the trend during that time. After getting married and having kids, I remember going to Morrison's Cafeteria where they had a large scale. You would weigh your child and they would eat for penny a pound. I can also remember the cadets from the Military Academy located on Academy Circle, now the Presidential Circle. That was their winter home, I believe the school was located in Georgia. You would see all the students there on the week end in their gray military style uniforms (some were just little elementary age kids.)
I think the German restaurant was something like Spritzels. For whatever reason, my family never ate there even though we were at the mall all the time...I can only remember eating there once.
I too spent quite a bit of time in the mall as a kid. I was born in Hollywood Memorial hospital in 1969 and we lived across the street from the mall, behind the Orange Brook Golf Course. I attended Orange Brook Elementry when Adam, a few years younger, went missing. I too got my hair cut at the barber and ran around Sears with my brother while my mom shopped. As I got older, I too attended coin shows and even the occasional beer can collection show in the mall. Great memories.
This does bring back memories...the was the mall to go to before the fashion center was built out on 441. I worked at Sears in the 80's. i grew up going to this mall and it had a lot of great memories. Morrisons, Publix, the imported beer store where you could go on break and try all the different beers of the world...and occasionally your boss would come in for a drink as well.
I believe it was the first enclosed mallbuilt. You could buy anything there. . candy, shoes, swimwear, sports clothes and items, bakery, barber and beauty salon and Morrisons. That was a great place. The fried chicken and fried fish. The great lamb shanks. Cakes and pies. A waiter used to carry your food to the table which you always gave a good tip. Woolworths where you sat in a booth and watched the passers by..my Mom used to love that store. First time I was there was 1968. The back part of the mall was changed to Humana offices. They remodeled the mall a few times. Last time they added Bourbon Street with the fancy New Orleans wrought iron everywhere. Also changed the floors to wood parquet. As for Hollywood its a disaster now. Taget is a crime scene. The whole area is so run down. Does anyone remember the Rocking Chair WOMETCO theater across the street ? Now its a bagel and pizza place. A shame. Remember taking my kids there with the cartoons and two shows on Saturday.. the kids had a ball. They were rowdy at times but never any problems or fights. Years later, my daughter went to the Rocky Horror Show there. The Adam Walsh family lived around 28th off of Taft at the time of Adam;s dissapearance. I think Publix which was fashioned of the 1950's art deco style was remodeled and expanded not moved. CVS took the Radio Shack store over. Hollywood was so great. The beautiful beaches and boardwalk. Now it has high rises and fancy restaurants. Moved out of there 8 years ago but still miss it as it used to be. You can't go home.
I lived in Hollywood FL in the 80s and remember this mall. It IS where Target it at now, there is also a Fedex Office built in the same plaza but it is a separate building. The actual Sears store today, would be [looking at the Target sign above Target] to the FARRRR right of the entire building. Adam Walsh was taken out of the Mall on that side of the building - which even then was the less visited area of the mall. So the pervert had a easier chance of snatching him up over there :(.
Besides the mall. I disagree with people saying the area is bad now - its actually great today. Back in the 70s-80s, Hollywood FL [and the Mall area especially] had hardly any diversity. It was almost ALL white people, African-Americans were rare and Hispanics were also incredibly rare. Today though ? I love it. The majority is Hispanic today but there are large numbers of White and Black people making up a minority in the area. And its a good thing as it adds so much diversity to Hollywood that it always lacked.
Viva 2011 Hollywood FL! It is why I moved back here [I am Cuban Hispanic btw].
I lived just north of this mall, from the time it opened, until 1987. My wife worked at Woolworth early in our marriage, until we left Hollywood. It was a special place at the time. I remember when they filmed the honeymoon race, when the mall was closed on sundays.
The name of the Bakery was Pearls Bakery. It was in Suite 412.
The area is NOT ghetto. It is old Hollywood and a little drab but it is clean and blue collar.
Humana is no in the mall. It was HIP of Florida which was sold to VISTA and is now a call center for the Parent company of HIP.
It was not Space Invaders by Atari that the kids were playing in Sears when Adam got kicked out, it was Sears Tele-Games System Video Arcade.
The Deli was HOLLYWOOD MALL DELICATESSEN located in suite 428 later known as Hollywood Mall Delicatessen and Restaurant in suite 432. It was affectionately caled "German Restaurant" but there was a restaurant by that name on Taft Street.
I completely disagree with the comments about this area of Hollywood being "ghetto". I wasn't here back in the old days, only since 200, but I find this neighborhood to be fantastic. It is safe, the people are friendly and take pride in their neighborhood.
Hollywood Mall was the first air-conditioned mall in Florida and was conceived by Hollywood, Inc. developer, William Horvitz, from an idea given him by the Sears management who said that air-conditioned malls were the wave of the future. Sears and Publix anchored the mall. The delicatessen was named Larson's Deli and it was a german take-out deli with restaurant seating where a waitress dressed in Bavarian costume served patrons. Adam Walsh was abducted from the west entrance of Sears. Horvitz was known for making verbal contracts and that Publix was totally contracted for over the phone by Horvitz with George Jenkins, the owner of Publix Super Markets out of Lakeland, FL. A lot of the stores that were on Hollywood Boulevard in downtown Hollywood relocated to the Hollywood Mall. There were 50 original stores some of which were: Baron's Men's Store, Sandra Post Ladies' store, the barber shop (whose owner was a friend of Horvitz), The Big K dime store (Later, K-Mart) Others were recruited: Mayors Jewelers (still in existence), the "Orange Bowl" (Later, Orange Julius), a "Mister Twisty" pretzel kiosk, Lerner's Dress Shop, I believe a Walden's Book Store, Lani Kay's Hawaiian ladies' and men's wear, Butler Shoes, Bentley's Luggage, Thom Mcan men and children's shoes, a uniform store, drug store, eyeglass store, hair salon. By the Publix entrance which was outside the mall, there was a shoe shop and dry cleaners.
In those days (Hollywood Mall opened its doors in 1965), people got "dressed up" to go to the mall. You'd never go in flip-flops or shorts. And the Hollywood Mall was a not-to-be-missed tourist attraction for anyone visiting Hollywood, Florida or the area.
My family and I moved to Hollywood,FL in June of 1970. I loved the Hollywood Mall. Sears was great, I do remember Woolworth's Lani Kay, the pretzel stand,and I think the German Restaurant was Mr. Dunderbak's, all the Riverside Military Academy cadets,also the Rocking Chair theater across the street, and David Park. The Hollywood Fashion Center opened in the early 70's. I remember catching the bus in front of Burdine's. The German restaurant in the fashion center was Spritzels and the Briargate was there also.I used to go to McDonald's across the street from the mall and there also was a Lums restaurant and Royal castle on the corner of 441 and hollywood blvd. The bowling alley was there along with the Plaza movie theater.
I worked at Spritzels from 1980 to 1982. It was located in the Hollywood Fashion Center. The German restaurant in the Hollywood Mall was owned by the Sein family. Both had delis as well.
I was born in Hollywood in 1960 and worked at that publix in 1983 remember sears auto and the mall at Christmas time with all the lights in and outside lots of great memories will miss it forever
I was born in Hollywood in 1960 and worked at that publix in 1983 remember sears auto and the mall at Christmas time with all the lights in and outside lots of great memories will miss it forever
I know this area very well_2016,I've been in targets,public&the Hollywood police dept.is right across the street from targets_its not a fancy area but,its also wouldn't describe it as a bad neighborhoood
I know this area very well_2016,I've been in targets,public&the Hollywood police dept.is right across the street from targets_its not a fancy area but,its also wouldn't describe it as a bad neighborhoood
This was a regular 310,000-square-foot, fully air-conditioned, interior-type suburban mall that had opened in October of 1964, with Sears taking up 125,000 square feet. It occupied a forty-acre parcel, with a total of fifty-four retail outlets located one-and-a-half miles west of downtown Hollywood. It was the third fully-enclosed mall in the state of Florida.
I’d been going to that mall for years before Adam’s abduction, and went there many times after. My optometrist, Dr. Sheldon Mayer, had his practice there. I used to go to the detached Sears Auto Center, Morrison’s Cafeteria, The mall food court, Thom McAn Shoes, Larsen’s Delicatessen at the north end of the mall (Later expanded and renamed The Hollywood Mall Delicatessen which everyone affectionately called the German Deli), Woolworth’s lunch counter, Bentley’s Luggage, Waldenbooks, the electronic retail store—RadioShack, and, of course Sears.
I was in the Hollywood Mall on the day that Adam Walsh was abducted. A young disheveled man came up to me in RadioShack and tried to start a conversation with me. It was so strange that I watched him minutes later walk into the Toy Department where Adam was abducted from.
Are you serious?!?! Do you think that man could have something to do with the kidnapping and murder? Even though it is decades old you should still maybe forward that information.
Omg, I grew up in this mall. My GreatGram lived down Park Rd. So many cool stores were in this mall little diners the Woolworth's still had a dining counter there is a man who used to sell soft pretzels that were amazing across from the Orange Bowl pizza if anybody can remember this? Great times when they took Adam Walsh God Rest his soul my days stomping through that mall came to an end I had to go with somebody else all the time
I was born in Hollywood,1961, My Best friend's Mother worked upstairs in Sears . We used to spend Our Summers at the the Rocking chair theater and the Hollywood Mall . I have Wonderful memories of Christmas time in the 60's and early 70's the real Nativity scene and all the lights !! Some of my fondest memories!
We moved to Hollywood, Fla from Pennsylvania in 1964. What a flood of memories, it's like visiting my youth.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you. What a wonderful trip back in time.
ReplyDeleteLolol I 💕💕💕 it Woolworths and Morrison rest. Lolol
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, I believe that's the mall that Adam Walsh was abducted from around '82.
ReplyDeleteThe pic was most likely taken before Sears was added.
That's Sears on the left. There was a key making place on the right and an insurance place on the left of the entrance to Sears. Source: I could walk there from my house in 3 minutes and spent hours in that mall with my friends as a kid.
DeleteYes Adam Walsh was kidnapped from that Sears store I lived on N. 32nd Ave. the street right next to the mall
DeleteHollyWood Mall was a very nice mall, i miss that it is now gone.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think that is Sears about halfway down on the left - my memory is very vague on this one, since I was probably about 7 or 8 when I went here. I remember it being long and quite narrow. Yes, tragically, this is the Adam Walsh mall. The mall never recovered from the publicity surrounding that incident, and was gone by the early 90's.
ReplyDeleteI worked at Sears in the mid 70's. Sears is to the left behind the "water feature". The entrance is just behind where the picture was taken. The picture is facing North.
ReplyDeleteI can smell the popcorn from sears lolol
DeleteI spent a lot of time here growing up, as my grandparents lived in Hollywood. My dad and sister were at Sears the same day Adam Walsh was abducted. They were questioned by the police and everything. Sad time.
ReplyDeletegrew up right down the street from the Hollywood Mall,you left out the great Xmas displays the mall would put up
ReplyDeleteThe mall is actually still there -- just west of I-95 on Hollywood Blvd, at N. Park Road -- but it was renovated. It's now known as Hollywood Hills Plaza. A Target and a Publix were put in and the interior spaces became offices.
ReplyDeleteThe publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
ReplyDeleteThe old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant.
Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard.
John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM!
Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
The publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
ReplyDeleteThe old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant.
Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard.
John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM!
Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
The publix was there originally but it was in the space inhabited by CVS now. Publix expanded to a bigger store on the north side right next to CVS now.
ReplyDeleteThe old German restaurant closed in 2005 but the original barbershop is still open.
Bill Horowitz originated the idea while getting a haircut in 1956. When the mall was done, the Barber had a new shop and was the first tenent.
Sears left when the Pembroke Lakes mall opened. The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989 on Hollywood Blvd and 441 right down the street. It featured more upscale stores like Burdines and Jordan Marsh plus Hollywod Mall coming under new leadership in management and made life miserable for tenants. It was rare that someone would renew a lease with those guys.
The offices are 90,000 sq ft of the mall and is a large call center. It takes up half of the old sears, al the old Woolworth and a couple dozen of the storefronts plus most of the north/south corridor. They kept the original Food Court to serve as a 11,000 foot break and lunch area but no restaurants. The large central eating pit is still extant.
Yes, Adam Walsh was kidnapped from there on July 7, 1981 while his mother was 2 isles away. He was watching some other kids play Space Invaders on the new Atari game kiosk when some kind of an altercation broke out. The other boys were kicked out on the Publix side and Adam was thrown out, all by himself, through a little-used exit on the west side adjascent to North Park Road. Adam was disoriented and lost for he was only 7 years old. The person trowing him out was a pregnant 17 year-old security guard.
John and Reve Walsh forgave her years later.
Most of the original infrastructure still exists and even hurricane Wilma did very little damage to it depite taking a neat direct hit. In fact the Engineers at the Call Center were so resourceful tht they were open for business the very next morning at 7 AM!
Within 24 hours they had gas for employees and Deisel for thier Generator trucked down from Virginia. 90 people showed up and somehow they fed them by driving for miles and miles and going back and forth. Water was picked up in West Palm Beach.
The history of the mall is not over, it can still make interesting news.
Used to go there a lot as a kid in the 80's.. my dad would take me to the German Restaurant on occasion (anyone remember the name of that place?).
ReplyDeleteI also remember hanging out a lot at the Woolworth's and Radio Shack too. This mall was near TY park, where my dad worked.
The last time I was there was in the early 90's, at which point part of the mall had already closed.
Kinda sad to see the place go (or at least, the mall part. A lot of the places I grew up with in Hollywood are now gone.
"The real culprit leading to the demise of the Hollywood Mall was a combination of the opening of the Hollywood Fashion Center in 1989"
ReplyDeleteI think you mean 1979... The Pembroke Lakes mall opened around the late 80's though (and is what ultimately did in both the HFC and the HM.. that and Sawgrass Mills in 1991). The Hollywood Fashion Center was definitely open in the early 80's.
Pembroke lakes mall didnt open till the 90's
DeleteI have fond memories of the old Hollywood Mall which I visited frequently as a kid in the mid-1970s. I liked the pond in front of the entrance to the Sears and the then-futuristic design of the ceiling. I remember well the abduction of Adam Walsh and all the posters with his picture posted around the area. The video game section in Sears was located near the Garden Dept. i would even stop by and play some Atari in the late 70's and early 80's. The mall's decline was hastened by the opening of the Pembroke Lakes Mall about ten miles west in Oct. 1992. This also doomed my beloved Hollywood Fashion Center in 1993.
ReplyDeleteThe area west of these malls was experiencing a rapid growth while the demographics of the areas around the Hollywood Mall and Hollywood Fashion Center were changing for the worse. I visited the Hollywood mall until about 1994. The food court had a Subway and TCBY among a handful of others, and a nice newsstand where I could pick up a magazine or two. I also would get a shoe shine nearby. I have a lot of fond memories of this mall.
Wow, this photo takes me back, although to the 80s, not the 60s-70s. I grew up in Miramar and Hollywood, and I remember visiting this mall a lot, especially the Target. I was born in '83, and remember my mother being extremely protective of us when we were out in public. It's only recently that I realized this was the same mall where Adam Walsh was taken. I remember watching the mall deteriorate, actually the entire area around it as well, including the Hollywood Fashion Center mall. It was sad to see. I remember going into the Fashion Center right around Halloween for a carnival-type thing put on for kids, and it was set up inside the mall. They set up various scenes throughout the empty mall, and it was very strange to see it all closed down.
ReplyDeleteI don't live there anymore, and I wonder about the old neighborhood a lot.
Amazing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard that is where Adam Walsh was kidnapped I had to find out where the mall was. I of course, thought it was the millenium supermall, since that is all that is in Hollywood now but then after using google suspected it was where publix is now, but I couldn't confirm that. Your blog just confirmed my guess, so thanks. Now I know.
I think that there is a little confusion on this blog... let me try to clear it up as best as I can.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this appears to be a blog on the former mall at Hollywood Blvd. & Park Rd... across from the Hollywood Police Dept. where Adam Walsh was abducted long ago. Today in 2009 There is a Target facing Hollywood Blvd. & a Publix & CVS facing Park Rd.
This blog does NOT seem to be referring to the Hollywood Fashion Center Mall (later the Millennium mall) on 441 & Hollywood Blvd. There is a wiki entry that directed me to this page incorrectly stating that it was referring to the old Millennium mall on 441.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Fashion_Center
As long as I'm here though, I'll talk about both...
I worked for the Target on Pines & Hollywood Blvd. for 3 years & I have been told what a great place it used to be. I can only imagine. Now that area is a complete Ghetto. Nothing happening there but a ghetto Target and a boring Publix.
I just happen to be working at that Target after Wilma and it was total comedy. People shopping with flashlights (most stealing 10x more than they were buying). When we closed and everyone was up at the front checking out, the generator ran out of gas and everything went black. The head of the store told everybody that since the cash registers didn't work, we couldn't sell anything and to go home. There was a ROAR of laughter and most people just left without paying. At that point it was 5 o' clock and time for me to go home ;). Anybody who calls their employees in to work the day after hurricane Wilma is on their own...
As for the Millennium Mall... my wife and I went through there when they tried to reopen it around 2004 and it was completely bizarre. This ENORMOUS SUPER COMPLEX with about 10 shops in the front and the rest abandoned. My wife told me stories about what a great place it used to be as we walked through this gigantic abandoned shell. They obviously couldn't afford to run the battleship sized AC units for the handful of dying shops there so it was about 100 (Florida) degrees inside.
As we walked through, you couldn't help but notice all of the looks of failure and desperation on the shop keepers faces. Everybody there kept talking about relocating, moving on, closing up, etc. It was depressing and completely eerie.
I remember that we walked this long stretch of several hundred feet to this little patch of video games all the way on the other side of this abandoned mall. Looking up, there was this giant 2 story statue that was blue and pink 80's style sticking up in the middle of everything. It reminded me of the Mall scene from the 80's movie "Night of the Comet" where they are the last people on earth. Needless to say it didn't last long and now it completely closed down and boarded up.
Today when you pass by there, it is just a gigantic, empty, depressing eye sore. The remaining palm trees have been broken by the hurricanes and are covered with graffiti. The massive parking lot is over grown with weeds, the glass tiles in the front have been shot out, the entire super structure is broken and abandoned like a ghost town.
It would probably cost millions just to demo the place. Who ever buys it and demos it would have to have plans to build something HUGE there and since that neighborhood sucks now... It just sits in the middle of everything and rots.
Every time we drove past it, I would get this depressing feeling like the Millennium mall is a perfect mascot for the city of Hollywood. A giant, sprawling, empty shell of a place that once used to be so great... but now needs to be condemned.
Growing up I spent two weeks every summer in Hollywood, Florida as my grandparents owned a condo there. My parents were actually at the Hollywood mall the same day that Adam disappeared (a year before I myself was born) My own memories of this mall are very vague.
ReplyDeleteMy dad worked at Sears so we spent a lot of time there. That was the only real shopping center around except for the 163rd Street Shopping Center. I had my hair cut at the Mall Barber Shop ever since high school, McArthur H.S. c/o 1970. Unfortunately, the original tenants finally closed the shop in December 2009. Many of us who were in high school during this time shopped at Bob's Sports Shop. They always carried Gant shirts and London Fog jackets. We had them embroidered with our initials. That was the trend during that time. After getting married and having kids, I remember going to Morrison's Cafeteria where they had a large scale. You would weigh your child and they would eat for penny a pound. I can also remember the cadets from the Military Academy located on Academy Circle, now the Presidential Circle. That was their winter home, I believe the school was located in Georgia. You would see all the students there on the week end in their gray military style uniforms (some were just little elementary age kids.)
ReplyDeleteI used to go there once a month when they would have the coin & stamp shows. Does anyone know the name of the German Restaurant that was there???
ReplyDeletehofbrauhaus munich. ...pretty sure it was that
DeleteI think the German restaurant was something like Spritzels. For whatever reason, my family never ate there even though we were at the mall all the time...I can only remember eating there once.
ReplyDeleteI too spent quite a bit of time in the mall as a kid. I was born in Hollywood Memorial hospital in 1969 and we lived across the street from the mall, behind the Orange Brook Golf Course. I attended Orange Brook Elementry when Adam, a few years younger, went missing. I too got my hair cut at the barber and ran around Sears with my brother while my mom shopped. As I got older, I too attended coin shows and even the occasional beer can collection show in the mall. Great memories.
ReplyDeletei remember so many stores in the mall- morrisons cafeteria, sears, woolworths,lerners, lani-kay, the hub,orange bowl pizza,butterkist bakery,
ReplyDeleteThis does bring back memories...the was the mall to go to before the fashion center was built out on 441. I worked at Sears in the 80's. i grew up going to this mall and it had a lot of great memories. Morrisons, Publix, the imported beer store where you could go on break and try all the different beers of the world...and occasionally your boss would come in for a drink as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of the bakery? anyone remember? They had the best cookies
ReplyDeleteI would like more information about Hollywood Mall. Is it available for sale?
ReplyDeleteI believe it was the first enclosed mallbuilt. You could buy anything there. . candy, shoes, swimwear, sports clothes and items, bakery, barber and beauty salon and Morrisons. That was a great place. The fried chicken and fried fish. The great lamb shanks. Cakes and pies. A waiter used to carry your food to the table which you always gave a good tip. Woolworths where you sat in a booth and watched the passers by..my Mom used to love that store. First time I was there was 1968. The back part of the mall was changed to Humana offices. They remodeled the mall a few times. Last time they added Bourbon Street with the fancy New Orleans wrought iron everywhere. Also changed the floors to wood parquet. As for Hollywood its a disaster now. Taget is a crime scene. The whole area is so run down. Does anyone remember the Rocking Chair WOMETCO theater across the street ? Now its a bagel and pizza place. A shame. Remember taking my kids there with the cartoons and two shows on Saturday.. the kids had a ball. They were rowdy at times but never any problems or fights. Years later, my daughter went to the Rocky Horror Show there. The Adam Walsh family lived around 28th off of Taft at the time of Adam;s dissapearance. I think Publix which was fashioned of the 1950's art deco style was remodeled and expanded not moved. CVS took the Radio Shack store over. Hollywood was so great. The beautiful beaches and boardwalk. Now it has high rises and fancy restaurants. Moved out of there 8 years ago but still miss it as it used to be. You can't go home.
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I lived in Hollywood FL in the 80s and remember this mall. It IS where Target it at now, there is also a Fedex Office built in the same plaza but it is a separate building. The actual Sears store today, would be [looking at the Target sign above Target] to the FARRRR right of the entire building. Adam Walsh was taken out of the Mall on that side of the building - which even then was the less visited area of the mall. So the pervert had a easier chance of snatching him up over there :(.
ReplyDeleteBesides the mall. I disagree with people saying the area is bad now - its actually great today. Back in the 70s-80s, Hollywood FL [and the Mall area especially] had hardly any diversity. It was almost ALL white people, African-Americans were rare and Hispanics were also incredibly rare. Today though ? I love it. The majority is Hispanic today but there are large numbers of White and Black people making up a minority in the area. And its a good thing as it adds so much diversity to Hollywood that it always lacked.
Viva 2011 Hollywood FL! It is why I moved back here [I am Cuban Hispanic btw].
I lived just north of this mall, from the time it opened, until 1987. My wife worked at Woolworth early in our marriage, until we left Hollywood. It was a special place at the time. I remember when they filmed the honeymoon race, when the mall was closed on sundays.
ReplyDeleteThe name of the Bakery was Pearls Bakery. It was in Suite 412.
ReplyDeleteThe area is NOT ghetto. It is old Hollywood and a little drab but it is clean and blue collar.
Humana is no in the mall. It was HIP of Florida which was sold to VISTA and is now a call center for the Parent company of HIP.
It was not Space Invaders by Atari that the kids were playing in Sears when Adam got kicked out, it was Sears Tele-Games System Video Arcade.
The Deli was HOLLYWOOD MALL DELICATESSEN located in suite 428 later known as Hollywood Mall Delicatessen and Restaurant in suite 432.
It was affectionately caled "German Restaurant" but there was a restaurant by that name on Taft Street.
hofbrauhaus munich
DeleteThis is one of my dreams to go and shop in a Hollywood mall. But as of now I am enjoying the shopping malls here in the Philippines. Thanks for sharing your postcard I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with the comments about this area of Hollywood being "ghetto". I wasn't here back in the old days, only since 200, but I find this neighborhood to be fantastic. It is safe, the people are friendly and take pride in their neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteHollywood Mall was the first air-conditioned mall in Florida and was conceived by Hollywood, Inc. developer, William Horvitz, from an idea given him by the Sears management who said that air-conditioned malls were the wave of the future. Sears and Publix anchored the mall. The delicatessen was named Larson's Deli and it was a german take-out deli with restaurant seating where a waitress dressed in Bavarian costume served patrons. Adam Walsh was abducted from the west entrance of Sears. Horvitz was known for making verbal contracts and that Publix was totally contracted for over the phone by Horvitz with George Jenkins, the owner of Publix Super Markets out of Lakeland, FL. A lot of the stores that were on Hollywood Boulevard in downtown Hollywood relocated to the Hollywood Mall. There were 50 original stores some of which were: Baron's Men's Store, Sandra Post Ladies' store, the barber shop (whose owner was a friend of Horvitz), The Big K dime store (Later, K-Mart) Others were recruited: Mayors Jewelers (still in existence), the "Orange Bowl" (Later, Orange Julius), a "Mister Twisty" pretzel kiosk, Lerner's Dress Shop, I believe a Walden's Book Store, Lani Kay's Hawaiian ladies' and men's wear, Butler Shoes, Bentley's Luggage, Thom Mcan men and children's shoes, a uniform store, drug store, eyeglass store, hair salon.
ReplyDeleteBy the Publix entrance which was outside the mall, there was a shoe shop and dry cleaners.
In those days (Hollywood Mall opened its doors in 1965), people got "dressed up" to go to the mall. You'd never go in flip-flops or shorts. And the Hollywood Mall was a not-to-be-missed tourist attraction for anyone visiting Hollywood, Florida or the area.
My family and I moved to Hollywood,FL in June of 1970. I loved the Hollywood Mall. Sears was great, I do remember Woolworth's Lani Kay, the pretzel stand,and I think the German Restaurant was Mr. Dunderbak's, all the Riverside Military Academy cadets,also the Rocking Chair theater across the street, and David Park. The Hollywood Fashion Center opened in the early 70's. I remember catching the bus in front of Burdine's. The German restaurant in the fashion center was Spritzels and the Briargate was there also.I used to go to McDonald's across the street from the mall and there also was a Lums restaurant and Royal castle on the corner of 441 and hollywood blvd.
ReplyDeleteThe bowling alley was there along with the Plaza movie theater.
Omg, My Gramps loved the McDonalds. We would sit under a huge tree outside?? Do you remember "Minnie Pearl Chicken"????
DeleteI worked at Spritzels from 1980 to 1982. It was located in the Hollywood Fashion Center. The German restaurant in the Hollywood Mall was owned by the Sein family. Both had delis as well.
ReplyDeletefashion center at Hollywood & 441 opened about 1971.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Hollywood in 1960 and worked at that publix in 1983 remember sears auto and the mall at Christmas time with all the lights in and outside lots of great memories will miss it forever
ReplyDeleteI was born in Hollywood in 1960 and worked at that publix in 1983 remember sears auto and the mall at Christmas time with all the lights in and outside lots of great memories will miss it forever
ReplyDeleteI know this area very well_2016,I've been in targets,public&the Hollywood police dept.is right across the street from targets_its not a fancy area but,its also wouldn't describe it as a bad neighborhoood
ReplyDeleteI know this area very well_2016,I've been in targets,public&the Hollywood police dept.is right across the street from targets_its not a fancy area but,its also wouldn't describe it as a bad neighborhoood
ReplyDeleteDoes Anyone " KNOW THE OWNERS NAME", OF BOB'S SPORT SHOP-- THAT WAS IN THE HOLLYWOOD MALL IN THE 1970'S
ReplyDeleteThis was a regular 310,000-square-foot, fully air-conditioned, interior-type suburban mall that had opened in October of 1964, with Sears taking up 125,000 square feet. It occupied a forty-acre parcel, with a total of fifty-four retail outlets located one-and-a-half miles west of downtown Hollywood. It was the third fully-enclosed mall in the state of Florida.
ReplyDeleteI’d been going to that mall for years before Adam’s abduction, and went there many times after. My optometrist, Dr. Sheldon Mayer, had his practice there. I used to go to the detached Sears Auto Center, Morrison’s Cafeteria, The mall food court, Thom McAn Shoes, Larsen’s Delicatessen at the north end of the mall (Later expanded and renamed The Hollywood Mall Delicatessen which everyone affectionately called the German Deli), Woolworth’s lunch counter, Bentley’s Luggage, Waldenbooks, the electronic retail store—RadioShack, and, of course Sears.
I was in the Hollywood Mall on the day that Adam Walsh was abducted. A young disheveled man came up to me in RadioShack and tried to start a conversation with me. It was so strange that I watched him minutes later walk into the Toy Department where Adam was abducted from.
ReplyDeleteAre you serious?!?! Do you think that man could have something to do with the kidnapping and murder? Even though it is decades old you should still maybe forward that information.
DeleteOmg, I grew up in this mall. My GreatGram lived down Park Rd. So many cool stores were in this mall little diners the Woolworth's still had a dining counter there is a man who used to sell soft pretzels that were amazing across from the Orange Bowl pizza if anybody can remember this? Great times when they took Adam Walsh God Rest his soul my days stomping through that mall came to an end I had to go with somebody else all the time
ReplyDeleteI was born in Hollywood,1961, My Best friend's Mother worked upstairs in Sears . We used to spend Our Summers at the the Rocking chair theater and the Hollywood Mall . I have Wonderful memories of Christmas time in the 60's and early 70's the real Nativity scene and all the lights !! Some of my fondest memories!
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