Glen Burnie, Maryland - circa 1960s
Cozy interior photo (taken at 3:24 pm) showing the information desk at Harundale Mall (now Harundale Plaza), as well as Kresge, and a Reads store over on the left (not familiar with those in Michigan). You can also just make out the G.C. Murphy Company store towards the back, in this rather bustling view.
Mall history: 1958 - present
Developer: James W. Rouse
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1
Reads Drugstore was the Baltimore version of Eckerd, People's, etc. before all the local drugstores got swallowed up by (or became) the national chains. We always enjoyed the restuarants at Reads (which disappeared when they all became Rite Aid)
ReplyDeleteG.C. Murphy AND Kresge seems like five-and-dime overkill. Why not throw in a Woolworths? ...
ReplyDeleteIt's not terribly inviting, but it's very cool-looking. Nice to see a lighted yellow Murphy's sign.
ReplyDeletemy grandmother worked at Reads forever until they became RiteAid so she worked there till she retired.
ReplyDeleteThe mall used to have a Horn & Horn Smorgisborg and a Johny Polock's! Good eats!
ReplyDeleteI was removed from the mall in 1991 when I tried to videotape some footage for a school project without prior permission from the mall.
What is it with all of these vigilante mall security guards and their aversion to "video and photographic devices," like the mall is some top-secret NASA compound. Face it, cameras are in cell phone no larger than your thumb these days. I say, "Lay it down and let the photo shoot begin." It's not like we'll steal your innovative, cutting edge mall designs ....they all are the same these days.
ReplyDeleteBeing reminded of the days when drugs stores were still tiny in my town. We used to had one called "Lane's" that was all over, then somehow it became a "People's Drugs" sometime in the 80's, and eventually got swallowed up by Rite-Aid.
ReplyDeleteI love deciphering all the detail on busy photos like this. From the postcards I've scanned, I've been able to see lots of things once they were magnified on-screen that were impossible to see with the naked eye.
ReplyDeleteThe stand is selling Hallmark Cards -- there's a rectangular sign indicating that on the right hand pole supporting the Information sign. This is a first for me... I'd never heard of a greeting card kiosk. Interesting that it's coupled with mall information -- at first I thought it might have been some sort of newsstand as well, but I really can't make out anything except greeting cards (either individual or in boxes).
I also wonder what the thinking was behind positioning three similar stores (two five-and-dimes and a drug store) within spitting distance of each other. I can't tell if there are any fashion-oriented stores to balance things out.
And finally... is that a band I see playing just to the left of Murphy's? All the people seated seem to be looking toward the four people standing a bit higher than everyone else.
It was an Italian restaurant.
DeleteNot a band. just below the inverted square funnel is an "Italian Delight" Pizzaria. The customers sat around a square countertop on round swivel stools fixed to the floor. Directly in front of them was the slightly elevated kitchen with pizza ovens. i ate many a slice of pepperoni there after shopping for school clothes with my Mom and Dad at Hoschilds and Thom McCann.
ReplyDeleteOh thank you. We were trying get to remember if that pizza place was in harundale or gb mall
DeleteYes that was an open Hallmark Card Shop in the center of the mall. Many a card I bought for my family in that store. When I was three years old (1951) my family moved to Harundale, on the other side of Ritchie Highway from the Mall. The Italian Delight Pizzeria had an oven hood that stretched to the ceiling. It is that tan structure that you see in the picture in front of G.C. Murphy. As I recall you sat in swivel chairs but the pizzeria was sunk in the floor so that when you sat down to order you were looking the waiter or waitress practically in the eye. The counter top was about waist high for them. Although there may not be a band in front of G.C. Murphys in this picture, it would not have been out of the question. There was an open space in front of Murphys that the Mall used for such entertaining events and sometimes for promotional events.
ReplyDeleteHarundale Mall was a peoples Mall. I lived in the Glen Burnie – Harundale area my entire life and use to walk and shop at the Mall. I still stop in Value City and the other stores. As a child I recall the large bird cage in the Mall near Murphy’s, Doctor’s Pet store, a bakery, an expanded Christmas toy shop at Hochilds kone and the parents shopping and paying their electric bill at BG&E. Also remember the many events at the Mall – Santa arriving by helicopter, ice skating, magic shows, movie and ball stars, Halloween costume contest and the Easter ducks and baby chicks near the fountain at the stair area. Also, can’t forget about the Annex which housed what I think was a swimming pool store, a dry cleaner, and a White Coffee Pot.
ReplyDeleteThat mall was truly a one of a kind place when it was built and pretty much it's entire history of existance. Three generations of my family worked in that mall. It was sad no one tried to save it as a historical landmark before they tore it down in 1998. When it opened 40 years prior it was only the second indoor enclosed mall in the United States! Today in it's place, is a typical "ho-hum" shopping center that you can see anywhere else in America. I think the mall deserves it's own website.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I was one of the "mall rats" that developed that trend at this mall in the mid-to-late sixties.Loitered a little too long. Some folks at the teen center tried to do right by us. Not enough of us listened. Shame. Great memories of the macaws in the bird cage, the sidewalk cafe, pretty girls, The Music House and The Blue Room. Our little town . . .
ReplyDeleteMy first job was at G. C. Murphy. Mrs. Hudson - from Eastport, Annapolis - was the entire HR department - payroll too, I think. I made 85 cents an hour and would put a $12 wool sweater on lay-a-way in Lerner's. My mother would take us from ten miles down Mountain Road to shop each week. We'd park by the Food Fair because that was the ultimate destination to purchase the weeks worth of groceries, but first the entire mall was shopped and all of the new clothes selections were pondered in Hochield Kohn and sometimes the tiny tin pressed charge card of Baltimore - also good at other department stores - was used. Coffee and dessert at Read's Drug Store or the counter in the center of the mall in front of Kresge's the other five & dime. A few years before working there, in my pre-teens, my friends & I roamed the mall every Saturday evening until my girlgriend's mother got off work at 9 when the mall closed. This, following a walk of from the New Glen theatre from an afternoon movie matinee. It was a wonderful Mall - not too large to get to specialty shops - have your shoes or sewing machine repaired, your hair done, pick up sundries at the dime stores or Reads and buy special jewelry at one of the shops - several shoe stores & specialty women & men's shops too. You could actually get to all of these without wearing out before... you bought that week's worth of groceries! sign me, gbhs '65
ReplyDeleteI grew up at the Harundale mall, living on Saunders Way right across the street. I remember many a pizza slice from Italian delight, buying shoes at the stride Rite across from Bills Music house where I bought many an album with my allowance.I also remember getting shoes at Mother Goose, an underground shoe store near the corner of Kresge's.Next to Kresge was a clothes store that looked like it was made of wood crates called Ups N Downs, it was replaced by Lerner. I loved the fountain by the stairs and that is wear the memorial rock was. My mom has a picture of me sitting on it when I was 3 years old. I got all my childhood pets at Doctors Pet Center. There was an Equitable Trust bank down by the music house and the Taylors. On the corner across from GC Murphy was S&N Katz Jewelry store. On the other side was a Waldens book store, Then the Reads turned Rite Aid drug store, beyond that was radio Shack and on the corner a Tuerkes gift store. Across from that was a sub shop and way down the right hall was the youth center. Go back and there was Hoschild Kohn turned Hutzlers. Go upstairs and there was the Horn and Horn cafeteria, the meeting room and the bathrooms. There was also a little door which lead to the catwalks around the top of the mall! Go back down the stairs, turn right was another little wing with various stores on the left wing corner was ZipZ make your own sundaes (one of my first jobs) and a arcade whose door was shaped like the Chevrolet symbol. In the middle of the mall past Italian delight and in front of GC Murphy was the Mr Pretzel hot pretzel stand where I worked many years. The kiosk next to Mr Pretzel had been Sausage factory than an ice cream stand.go left at the GC Murphy (from the pretzel stand) is the wing with Food fair then Pantry Pride grocery store. The early smaller Dr Pet center was across before it moved to a bigger store next to Bills. I remember Santa coming in a helicopter and the easter Bunny in the drained fountain, the bands that played in the center of the mall and the Card Mart in the middle of the mall beyond Italian Delight. It eventually moved into a store next to Kresge's. I have so many memories in the mall...broke my heart when they tore it down. I rescued one brick from the rubble and I have it to this day. The rock is still in the new "strip" mall and I visit it when I am in town. There was a mall annex outside the grocery store that had a White Coffee Pot restaurant, an Erols video store, a barber shop, a pool supply, a coin shop and various others. Wow. if I think of anything else I will post! Thanks for the memories! Lisa
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to remember the name of the store next to Tom mcanns . Turks. Omg. No one ever talks about singer sewing . It was across from fountain.
DeleteI grew up near the mall in Gerard Plaza. As a kid, I thought the best thing about the Harundale Mall was the Mall Annex which had the Toy Barn toy store in it. I was too young to 'hang out' too much at the mall but most Saturdays my mom would get her hair 'done' and shop at Hoschild's and I would wander the mall for a couple hours. I also remember how great it was getting 'cool' clothes at Calby's. It's really a shame it was torn down... I'd like to see some more pictures. I no longer live in Maryland but I would think that the Glen Burnie Historical Society on Crane Highway in the old Kiethe library building would have some great pictures if you're in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in harundake - attended Glen Burnie High. Spent much time roaming the mall from its inception - holding hands with my high school sweetheart and meeting friends after school. Worked at both Calby's and Raymond's Mens stores. Don't forget the Rocco's pizza on the adjacent strip mall!
ReplyDeleteThere was a house next to the mall that was covered with some political statement ort another that could be seen from route 2. Does anyone have a record of what it said?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first moved to Harundale 1958 the annex was there and no mall. It was Lord Baltimore Dry Cleaners on one end then Allen's drugstore, A barber shop called (Head First)later, a uniform shop, Eddie's Market and White Coffee Pot.
ReplyDeleteThey built the Mall and Senator JFK Kennedy from Mass was at the ceremony to open the mall. Yeah.. that JFK.
I spent many hours in that mall mostly in Music House and Calaby's and Raymonds. The bakery was called Cakery Bakery. AHHH the memories.
I can confirm what "Anonymous" posted. When I was 9 my Dad was transferred to Fort Meade, MD (he was an Army Col.) & we moved into a a house at 1207 Saunders Way, 3 houses away from the Harundale Mall site.
ReplyDeleteConstruction began in the summer of 1957. One of the neighborhood kids asked a Caterpiller driver what was being built. He said "I don't know, but it's pretty damn big."
As for JFK, I don't recall him being there for the opening of he mall, but he did stop there on May 15, 1960 while campaigning for the Democratic nomination. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. He walked through the mall followed by a small group of reporters and people stopped what they were doing & followed him.
He climbed the stairs to the second-level balcony, gave a two-minute speech, and left through Hochschild Kohn department store. I went home & announced "This guy is gonna win. He's got something...I don't know what."
I think it'd be a great idea to have a Web site with not only the old Harundale Mall, but the Jumper's Mall, Glen Burnie Mall, hell, even the Marley Station and Annapolis Malls. Both of those have changed significantly. Does anybody know where there are more photos of Harundale? If you do, or if you have any you can send, I'd love to see them. I'm at jbukowski AT comcast.net
ReplyDeleteI lived across Ritchie Highway in the Harundale community, and my first ventures on my own were across the street to Erol's Video (to rent the newest Nintendo games!), and my first paying job was as seasonal help in KB Toys. I had friends in from GBHS who worked at Italian Delight, and would hook a guy up with free pizza at closing time.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the Roy Rogers that existed for a time, as well as the arcade. I also remember seeing Back to the Future and An American Tail at the nearby movie theater, now a converted church...
I watched the mall fade into obscurity, and really wasn't sad to see it go.
I lived on gatwick dr when I was 3 circa 1980 & on little road at 9 in 86 both a few blocks from the mall. The arcade the fountain the soft pretzels my first slice of pizza roy rogers I robbed kay bee blind fetching water from upstairs for the lady at the plant stand snatching free candies the movie theater I saw e.t. the ice cream in the baseball helmets I always orioles or white sox lol wow I got thrown out for swiping she ra stickers for my sister actually nabbed returning them like a dumb ass ha long story anyway yeah wow memories my first tape was bought their "license to ill" by the beastie boys ha a friend and I lip synched fight for your right to party in 4th grade talent show ha
DeleteThe stickers were from the bookstore and I had some jams from murphys lol brightly colored rayon like hawaiin looking surf type outfits thats where I got my bazooka joe too and the 7 11 right there for slurpees wow I was little and that was a ling time ago I was an og mall rat haha when I was there the new big mall had just opened a buddy and I visited a few times for the glass elevator and free nintendo amd casio keyboard playtime in radio shack ha I felt bad for harundale mall didnt look bright against the competition I moved shortly after ih yeah the rite aid first installed metal detectors in my era though I never hit them hard just bb gums from kaybee mostly :D
DeleteI have just stumbled upon this site and read all of the great comments. These photos are very dear to my heart. I love jdbukos idea about a site devoted to the lost malls and shopping centers.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember the old Parole Plaza Shopping Center? My brother and I grew up running around that place. Our grandma worked at the Reads Drugstore as a waitress until they closed their doors. Amazing memories!
I do remember that mall, except I remember it with broken windows. I used to bring my lunch there before work. The entire place was covered in trees and vines. It looked post apocalyptic. I am kicking myself for not taking any photos.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I lived on Ridgewick Road, in the Oakwood Park neighborhood. We were about a mile from the mall. I remember they had a weird store for a time that sold jewelry made out of of glass eyes. This would have been around 1970.
ReplyDeleteI remember Harundale Mall as a neat place to go. We came from Calvert County to see a 'mall' whatever that was. I remember the below ground restaurant and also a shoe store that was sunken in a similar way? The rock and fountain were interesting and above the fountain you would walk up the stairs to HK Department store? There was a girl in knee-high boots walking around looking like she was right out of 'Twiggy' England... oh well. I remember the drug stores, Reads, GC Murphy's, more than one drug and five and dime, and getting fresh roasted peanuts and siting and walking and watching people. A woman in a wig store would stand there and comb girl's hair pieces through a big combing device. We were bumpkins and this was cool to be in air-conditioned indoors that seemed like it should be outdoors. We would buy things not availablde in rural Calvert... back in the days when an outing like this was forever seared in my memory. Cool.
ReplyDeleteI was Junior at Glen Burnie High when Harundale Mall opened. It was very classy for its time and actually had the "town center" atmosphere that the developer (Rouse Co.) intended. You'd always see neighbors there & stop to schmooz. They had a large cage with myna birds that were very loud. Though not known as "mall rats" at the time, the phenomenon set in immediately -- the ornery kids taught the myna birds to squawk obscenities which could be heard all over the mall. I've since lived in many cities and malls everywhere seem to be like mushrooms, popping up and dying out. What I really miss is the old uptown shopping districts with huge department stores. Baltimore had Hochschild Kohn's, Hecht's, May Co., Hutzler's, The Hub and several others uptown and their Christmas windows and interior decor were magical.
ReplyDeletehello I too used to live on Ridgewick (1906 actually) , As a child I spent many a day there also, (in the 70/80's)
ReplyDeleteI loved the pizza at Italian delight it was strange how you sat down in so to say and the stools were below the floor grade. I remember the fountain, sneaking a few quarters for the candy machines when someone wasnt looking (hey I was only 6)
there was a grocery store down the hall from Dr Pet and the Bills music house, it was called Pantry Pride and it was our grocery store for the ages, unless you wanted to drive to "big value" which is now the le fountain bleu or whatever.
I dont live there anymore, but i remember when it closed, not when they tore it down, but Marley station closed that mall down, and I remember it was kind of crappy towards the end. the kids and the arcade, Sidels Jean Scene and all the skaters, everything has its time, but back in the late 70's to mid 80's it was a great mall.
hey remember the like 30 public phones near Dr pet and bills on the back entriance, I used to check them for quarters all the time as a kid.
I'm trying to remember the name of an Italian restaurant at the corner of Ordance Road and Ritchie Highway where a Taco Bell is now. I'm thinking it might have been Enze's or Ense's Spaghetti House. Does anyone remember this place?
ReplyDeleteJoyce
does anyone remember the name of the seafood place right outside the mall with the round window. no one i know can remember the name.
ReplyDeleteHi i'm writing from Italy. Couple of months ago i have buy a 1972 les paul custom.
ReplyDeleteIn the back of the headstock there is still a stick who have impressed on "Music Hall" 360 Harundale Mall Md. So tonight i have search if this shop still exist and i just found this blog.....Nice story for a dreamer like me... Now i know some more about this marvellous piece of history(very light one).
So,when i will play again i know more feeling will come out from this guitar. Cheers
I also want to know the name of the restaurant on the south east corner of the Harundale Mall parkimg lot.
ReplyDeleteGreat mall! I worked at S&N Katz Jewelry in 1986.
Scott
The name of the place at Ordenance and Ritchie was Enze's.
ReplyDeleteThe seafood place with the round windows was called The Family Fish House, I believe. It was my absolute favorite place to go as a young child!
ReplyDeleteI went to the mall one day and saw this awesome looking girl working at Great Expectations. I must've walked by 10 times then I decided to go in and talk to her. I did get her number. That beautiful woman is my wife!
ReplyDeleteI used to live in the area and shop there when I was a kid, I wish I could go back to those times sometimes,sigh
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember what the name of the bakery was that used to be in the A & P that was just down Richie Hwy. It was in the early 60's I believe my Grandma used to work there..
ReplyDeleteYou can contact me at ldywilow@yahoo.com
you can join the facebook group called "I remember a time when harundale had a mall" were all there, and theres about 100 pictures from all of us contributers.
ReplyDeleteSee you there.
Chris
The name was actually Ense's Spaghetti House. I could walk there from where we lived. My grandfather worked their occasionally and was good friends with Mr. Ensenat.
ReplyDeleteanybody here from the "LITTLE MAFIA" the gang from the mall
ReplyDeleteIn 1959, I went to the Harundale Mall one day, and people said that a new candidate for president was coming. I didn't know JFK at the time. He spoke from the balcony down to the mall floor with a few dozen people listening. He spoke for only a few minutes, introduced himself, and asked for a raise of hands of who were Democrats and then Republicans. He later became my hero.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Kennedy May 1960.
ReplyDeleteI use to go to the Harundale mall with my friends after school sometimes during school . I was not a Mall rat but I was there quite a bit. I remember it quite well but I never knew it was the first mall on the whole east coast awesome !!!!!!! I would think since it was the first they would have fought to keep it as a Mall.
ReplyDeleteWhen my family moved to nearby Pasadena in the early 80's, we'd frequent that place quite a bit. Not a fancy place by any means but surprisingly confortable place to hang out as a teenager. I have quite a few memories; the "real" record store, pizza at the "sunken" Italian restaurant in the middle, hanging out under the stairs by the fountain on the northern side of the building. Hell, I even enlisted in the Navy in the recruiting office around the corner from the fountain.
ReplyDeleteThe Music Store inside of Harundale Mall was Not "Bill's Music House. Bill's was in Catonsville, Md. on Frederick Rd. Harandale Mall (on Richie Hwy, in Glen Burnie, Md) was home to Jim Eder's "Music House". It would later move further south to a strip mall
ReplyDeletenear Jumpers Hole Rd and Richie Hwy.
I would bet that everyone on this site know each other well, it was a great place to go and hang out with the teen center in the 70's. Pixie Pizza in the annex building. Eating lunch at one of the places, Reads was always are go to. I remember the trees growing inside just made it feel very special. Grew up a mile from the place, walked there all the time. Lived in the are from 55 to 2005
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At the Harundale Mall, in the late 60's early 70's, if you were talking to two or more of your friends the security guards would make you move or even throw you out. When you went into a store and didn't buy anything with in 15 min's you were told to leave. Talk about harassment, violation of Civil Rights and profiling...
ReplyDeleteMy second job was as stock boy and maintenance at Wyman Shoes. (1st job was an usher at Harundale Cinema). I met my wife at the Harundale Mall, when I was 17, at the bench at the bottom of the stains, by the pond, out side Lerners.
I miss that place and was very un happy when they, unannounced, started tearing it down.
That was hallmark cards
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