Edina, Minnesota - circa 1956
Stunning photos of Southdale Center being readied for its upcoming grand opening in 1956! Look closely, you can see a paint can literally sitting there on the stairway in the first photo, as well as workers toiling in the unfinished storefronts, and a few boxes and whatnot lying around.
What a rare glimpse into this amazing, classic mall's development and early beauty. I thank Southdale Center very much for making these available for our study and enjoyment!
Mall history: 1956 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Resource articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
(Images courtesy of Southdale Center)
I remember visiting Southdale on one of my early visits to my grandparents. I especially remember the various animals used to identify the different parking areas. At that time the street life of downtown Minneapolis was still going strong, not at all like it is today. Having visited in the winter I can understand why they internalized the downtown area, but it really has suffered on the outside.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, on my last visit to Southdale, there was not enough recognizable of the original design to allow it to really stand out in any way. It had become just like every other indoor mall.
WOW!!!!!!! Words fail me on these amazing shots.
ReplyDeleteJust, wow, man.
SOUTHDALE celebrates its Golden Anniversary -of being open for business- this coming October 8th.
ReplyDeleteI am not near Edina-Minneapolis, so I don't know whether or not the current owners of the mall (Mills, I think) are commemorating this 50th birthday.
The last time that I checked the mall's website, there was no mention of any sort of birthday/anniversary thing in the "events" section.
Frankly, I'm quite surprised that they are not observing this. It seems to me that it could be quite a big media event..........but then, malls and their owners are not that big on promoting the history of their shopping centers.
Go figure.
Dennis
North Georgia
I love seeing the different angles of the Grand Court. I'll bet it was really something back in the day.
ReplyDeleteStunning photos! I love this place and wish I could visit it.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder why "south" is such a popular part of mall names?
Scott
go here all the time and I agree that the mall looked stunningly better when first built. It is called SouthDale becaue it is just barely across the southern border on Minneapolis
ReplyDeleteI worked at Tobacco Road in Southdale 40 years ago. I went there today 10/22/19 and I didn't recognize anything. Nice place though!
ReplyDelete