Santa Monica Place; Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica Place is one of the latest enclosed malls to meet with the grim reaper: the place is scheduled to close up shop at the end of this month! Socal Labelscarrers: act fast if you want a chance to say goodbye!
Santa Monica Place is a three-level, 570,000 square foot shopping mall located in the heart of downtown Santa Monica, California, just a few blocks from the beach and the infamous Santa Monica Pier. The mall, which opened in 1980, sits at the southernmost end of Santa Monica’s bustling third street shopping district, which is a lively and vibrant downtown pedestrian mall (and one of the best pedestrian-friendly areas in all of Los Angeles, really). Somewhat surprisingly, the mall was designed by renown architect Frank Gehry with Victor Gruen Associates, giving it a more stunning architectural pedigree than most centers. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the interior architecture at the 120-store mall is considerably blander than the names of those starchitects might suggest. The mall has two anchors: a large Macy’s and a former Robinsons-May which closed in 2006 and was partially replaced by a new Steve & Barry’s store in 2007. Santa Monica Place is most famous for cameos in movies and television; most notably appearing in Beverly Hills: 90210, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and also as the exterior of the “Ridgemont Mall” in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (the interiors were at the now-deceased Sherman Oaks Galleria).
The mall, which was less than 50% occupied by 2007, apparently never turned a profit. The Macerich Companies purchased the ailing center in 1999 and first floated a redevelopment plan in 2004 that would’ve replaced it with a large complex of offices, condominiums, and retail. The plan was met with opposition and scrapped. In 2007, Macerich proposed a more modest redevelopment plan that would tear the roof off the current center and convert it into an outdoor mall to anchor the southern end of the Third Street Mall. This plan is now moving forward and the mall was in the process of clearing out most of the tenants when these photos were taken in November 2007.
Santa Monica Place’s prime location is probably a big part of the reason this place is going to come down. Given the lively streetscape and near-perfect weather, it seems silly to force people inside to shop, when a superblock component to the existing downtown streetscape would probably be more successful. Plus, California has many fully outdoor “malls,” and it seems the plan is to turn good ol’ Santa Monica Place into one of them.
There’s another retail oddity just behind Santa Monica Place. This 1945 vintage Sears store is not part of the mall itself, but I thought it epitomized classic Art Deco California cool, and how Sears utilized some ancient logos (or simply just kept them up?) Either way, a neat find.
on January 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Cool. Why’d it fail, though?
on January 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
The Sears store is the real deal. Designed by famed architect Roland Crawford and opened in 1945.
on January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 am
I LOVE THAT SEARS!!!!
on January 28th, 2008 at 1:49 am
The mall is closing on the 31st permanently.
The third floor of the mall was pretty much always dead. The only activity that ever happened was at the food court that was located at the main entry (top pic). One neat labelscar (which you can barely see on the main top pic) is located on the Robinsons-May store. Its an old Robinsons labelscar (1980-1992, when it merged with May Company). The Macys store was a former Broadway department store that has not been remodeled since the merger, and still looks like an old Broadway store inside.
The mall is going to be opened up in the new incarnation. The food court is to be located on the third floor overlooking the ocean, and Macys is going to stay open. They are looking for a 2nd anchor to fill the Robinsons-May spot.
All the big chain stores once in the mall (Gap, Foot Locker, Champs, etc) all moved out to the Promenade.
on January 28th, 2008 at 4:04 am
All that glass…..definitly a mall out of the ’80s.
You struck gold with that Sears though. Nice find!
on January 28th, 2008 at 10:40 am
After visiting L.A. a few years ago & Santa Monica in particular i realized that an enclosed mall is not nessessary there. Open it to the rest of the promanade & include a new megaplex theatre., AMC has been wanting to replace it’s 4 & 7 screen locations along 3rd street for about a year or more. Now they can do just that, the location is unbeatable.
on January 28th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I agree that this mall is largely unnecessary. The downtown is such a thriving area and the mall doesn’t effectively feed off of the success of the promenade, plus the weather there is just so perfect. LA is full of fully outdoor “malls” (which in almost every other way look like any indoor mall would, just with no roof) that it makes sense to convert this one to be one of those. It would probably flow better with the rest of the streetscape and be much more of an attractive asset that way.
on January 28th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
The key here is that Santa Monica Place is NOW largely unnecessary. When it opened in 1980, downtown Santa Monica was deader-than-dead. The city had closed off Third Street and turned it into a pedestrian mall following the Fresno model. Basically only two things kept the old pedestrian mall going–Hennessey and Ingalls Bookstore (great architectural bookstore) and the Vidal Sassoon School. Santa Monica Place thrived (I don’t know about its profitablility but it was always busy), but Third Street was dead. Then in the late 1980s, Santa Monica partially reopened up Third Street to traffic, relandscaped the street, and convinced a large movie theater chain to open up a complex. And the Third Street Promenade began.
To help fund USC architecture school, I worked at that Sears in 1988-1989 unloading trucks for the catalog department. They had changed nothing in that store back then from when it had opened. I’ve always wondered what it looked liked now. Thanks for the current pix of the store. I’m glad it looks basically the same and will have better access to the Promenade.
on January 28th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hay caldor;
When are you going to do a post on White Plains? I could help you out.
back to SMP if AMC is building new theatres all over the L. A. area why not in an area as popular as Santa Monica?
The former Robinson’s May would be the most logical place for it.
on January 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I used to shop with my grandmother at the old Santa Monica Mall, which is what 3rd Street was known in its pre-Promenade days. I could never get into the Promenade because I remember it as the old mall. I guess it’s the memories of childhood the supercede wanting to shop at The Gap and Borders (or whatever stores are there now).
That Sears is a landmark, clearly visible from the 10 Freeway as it merges with PCH. The Sears Auto Center, which is the standalone building with the script sign on the pylon is slated to become a station for the Expo line if it ever gets extended to Santa Monica. There’s a cool little auto tunnel that goes under 4th Street that connects the auto center’s parking lot with the main store’s parking lot.
on January 28th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I just realized something, the westside of L. A. is home to no less than 3 retail real estate developers. 1. macerich 2. westfield u.s. corporate offices 3. caruso affiliated. The last one most people would not know because all of there project are lifestyle centers in california. However he is no less very active in retail developement.
Amazing, it must be something in the water.
on January 28th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Rick Caruso is his full name.
www.carusoaffiliated.com
on January 28th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
The old Santa Monica promenade is also featured in Pee Wee’s Big adventure. I went there shortly after the movie, and yeah it was very very dead, but the store fronts were cool.
As for the mall, the escalator layout is really annoying, 3 stories is overkill (for the area), and with all that action outside, why would you come inside? I was there 2 weeks ago and although a lot of stores have already left, there were a number of them still there. And wasn’t that Dave an Barry’s only opened up a few months ago? I think it moved up from the Fox Hills mall? And man it is scary in there. They just moved in without fixing anything from the Macy’s move out. Very weird.
The Sears is very vintage and in my experience very depressing. In another city it would be cool and adventurous but here it just seems sad and old.
on January 31st, 2008 at 4:09 am
I visited this mall back in 2003, and it was deader than a doorknob then too. The Third Street Promenade is such an enticing alternative. I guess this is part of the changing times. However, this mall is definitely the epitome of 80’s California Architecture. Who knows? If this mall held up a few more decades, it would be a historical landmark.
on February 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
The website now staes that the mall is closed. So sad.
on February 5th, 2008 at 1:55 am
That is sad… When this mall first opened, it was the epitome of flash and glitz by one of American’s most notable architects. Guess it takes more than architecture to motivate people to shop. I’m glad you immortalized it with your photos. I have an Architecture magazine with this mall featured in it. Guess I’ll laminate it, now.
Ah, Santa Monica, one of California’s most overpriced cities. You have to admit, the weather is darn near perfect. Who’d need a roof on a mall there?
Nevertheless, I’m sorry to see it go.
Scott
on February 5th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
This mall is soooo 80’s. I bet when it was opened in 1980, it was considered state of the art and the future of shopping with the dawn of the new decade.
This is one of those malls that just has lost its usefulness. I guess some malls are just not meant to be around forever. It looks like this is not a bad or dead area of town, but just no need for this mall. This mall is just
one of the many malls of the 70’s and 80’s indoor mall boom when the indoor mall was the thing and no one would have ever thought that they would ever be in danger of extinction. It is a shame that it has to go, multi level malls with all the glass, and painted beams and pillars are always my favorite types of malls. I was always fascinated by the big multi level super structure type malls. I never saw any malls like this until I was older because all the malls in my city as a kid were single level. This kind of mall was the kind of mall on television and movies, almost like it was not real. It also looks very bright and fun place too.
Goodbye Santa Monica Place.
on February 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Plain vanilla shell reports that SMP is closed for good. The new design brings the 3rd street prominade into a complete shopping district by opening the mall to the outdoors.
www.plainvanillashell.com
on February 8th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
That’s funny, I was just there in December and it was packed with a decent occupancy rate. They must have kicked everyone out fast, but I’m sure they knew it was coming.
Seems the mall closed for good on January 31, 2008.
http://www.santamonicaplace.com/assets/santamonicaplace/SMP_Retailers.pdf is a list of the displaced stores and their “new locations” - some of which are 40 miles away in southern Orange County. At least many of them appear to have gone outside to 3rd Street and the neighboring downtown area.
At least this is one of the de-malling redevelopments I can’t disagree with. Having it there as an enclosed mall was neat, but to fit in with the retail climate of downtown Santa Monica considering the success/dominance of Third Street Promenade and the other outdoor amenities (the ocean, beach, pier, etc.) having this be outdoor makes perfect sense. That said, I’m still sad to see another one bite the dust.
on February 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Mmmm…Jamie’s right. This is the cool kind of malls. It’s sort of like pizza…New York style and California style.
California malls are zippier, they have two stories, and colorful pillars straight out of the 1980s…
New York malls are larger but more bland…
Isn’t that the opposite of pizza, though?
on February 8th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I knew I recognized this mall from somewhere(albeit a movie)! Enjoyed reading the write-up on SMP, and the pics.
Speaking of Caldor’s comment about this mall being in a very successful street shopping area, this mall reminds me a little bit on the entry on City Place Mall in Silver Springs, MD, as I recall it was also in a downtown shopping area that later became successful, but didn’t succeed in drawing many shoppers inside. And (probably)a stupid question I’ll ask about downtown Santa Monica, was its downtown not as successful back when this mall opened in the 1980s, compared to today?
Good find on spotting a 1940s art-deco Sears, too right by SMP! I sure wonder sometimes if Sears is ever gonna expand on their Gwinnett Place Mall prototype Sears in northeast suburban Atlanta, and use elements from it(such as reintroducing their old logo) to the rest of their stores nationwide. Something tells me I doubt they ever will, considering how little Sears seemingly ever adopts any test concepts/prototypes/etc. they try. *sigh*
on February 8th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Also have to agree with Prange Way too about this de-malling project one that makes sense to me and isn’t a bad idea for SMP, instead of just other bland de-malling projects I’ve read about that only turn former malls into a lifestyle center, or a big box center/’power center’.
on February 11th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I may be alone on this, but I personally don’t see what is so stunning about the architecture of this mall, am I missing something? It looks quite old and industrial, I can’t see the beauty of it. I’ve never been to it, so maybe it’s different in person. Our Twelve Oaks Mall where I live was built in 1977, and features a stunning interior with amazing ceilings.
on February 13th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I knew that loooked familiair the front of the mall its a shame its closing oh well
on February 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Its 1980 opening was marred by a fire at the Robinson’s building which it nearly destroyed, killing one person who was either a security guard or a janitor. I don’t think the cause was ever determined, but it was the biggest fire in Santa Monica’s history. As a result, Robinson’s grand opening was pushed to August 1981.
on February 21st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I believe that Gehry’s firm was only responsible for the makeover 15 or so years ago. Interestingly, the north entrance was expanded to feed customers into the newly opened Promenade. It ended up the other way around. The need for a complete redevelopment became clear years ago, and the mall started bleeding tenants. It may have appeared full recently, but the place really was Potemkin Village consisting largely of false storefronts. Plus, the parking was a nightmare. Oh, and the escalators were terrible.
on February 24th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Yes, right before the “Third Street Promenade” opened in 1989, that strip was deader than dead.
Fast forward a few years and it’s getting some of the highest rents in California, some of them higher than Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills!
Rents on Third Street were so high that Disney couldn’t stay there. It went from empty stores with a few independents, to chains moving in, to more upscale chains moving in, to high-end fashion boutiques moving in, which where it is right now.
In 1989, the SMP mall was the only bright spot in that area. Now, forget about it, it’s Beverly Hills Junior.
on April 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I am the grandson of Roland Crawford and am interested if any readers are aware of other buildings he designed.
Craig A Crawford
on April 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I am glade Santa Monica Place closed for the lat few years there was no bussiness in the mall the look was out of date the new look of the mall will be like centurty city Stores like Gucci and Tifferys it is about time the new Santa Place will be open Noverber 2009
on July 16th, 2008 at 9:28 am
PR Newswire reports that Nordstrom has signed a letter of intent to open a 3-level 122,000 square foot store at Santa Monica Place.
The story is on Plain Vanilla Shell today, along with a brief discription of Maceerich’s plans for the 550,000 plus square foot center.
That is exactly the shot in the arm they needed, now how about adding a new AMC theatre complex to replace the 4 & 7 screen locations on 3rd street.
on August 26th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I went to this mall when I visited Santa Monica in the summer of 1991. It seemed to be booming back then. I am discovering through this web site that a huge % of the malls I visited in the 70s-90s are now closed or a shadow of their former selves.
on September 11th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Bloomingdales is replacing Macy’s at the mall.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mall11-2008sep11,0,694250.story
The Bloomingdales at Santa Monica will be based on the smaller SOHO store concept.
on October 16th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I worked on the original construction of the Santa Monica Place…Frank Gehry did indeed design the oroiginal mall, Gruen Associates did the Construction documents and the Construction Administration. (Victor Gruen was the ‘grandfather’ of the mixed-use center, a.k.a Shopping Center) and they were added to the team to get the project built since Gehry’s office has always been high on design, but not so much common construction practices.
There was a fire two weeks before the original mall opening date in the Robinson’s and a Security guard did perish in the fire. However, the mall opened as scheduled even though every clerestory pane had to be replaced and the handrails and tiles repaired where the glass fell on them. (The firemen broke the glass to allow the smoke out-too bad they didn’t know the clerestory had operable windows.)