By the early '80s, the newness of OLD TOWNE MALL had worn off. The facility was remodeled and renamed OLD TOWNE PLACE in 1984. As part of this renovation, retail space on the north end was reconfigured as three big box stores.
Graphic from the UMET Properties Corporation
One of these was occupied by Plums, a California-based division of the Dayton Hudson Corporation. The OLD TOWNE Plums was one of three stores opened by the chain in March 1983. Plums, "the elegant discounter," proved to be a retail-based flash in the pan. The entire operation was bought -and rebranded- by Ross Dress For Less in February 1984.
Graphic from the Dayton Hudson Corporation
A second OLD TOWNE renovation was done in 1990, when the demalling started in the 1980s was fully realized. The complex, now entirely open-air, was renamed TORRANCE PROMENADE. Above, we see a logo montage highlighting stores in operation there between the 1980s and early 2000s.
With no vintage store maps available, we created a provisional OLD TOWNE-TORRANCE PROMENADE site plan and store chronology.
Trader Joe's moved into a (10,000 square foot) outparcel in November 2002. The store is still in business today.
Photo from https://www.mapquest.com
Sears Outlet operated out of a (43,500 square foot) store between May 2009 and March 2017.
Photo from https://www.yelp.com
A 2010s photo of the power center's signage.
Photo from https://meirealty.com / MEI Real Estate Services
A 9.1-acre parcel south of the PROMENADE was developed as an auxiliary strip shopping center in the mid-1970s. The complex, currently known as BEST PLAZA, houses twenty-one store spaces. Tenants include Planet Fitness, Touchstone Climbing and David's Bridal.
Photo from https://meirealty.com / MEI Real Estate Services
In-N-Out Burger dedicated a BEST PLAZA store in March 2012. Aside from its native California, this So-Cal-based fast food chain operates in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Utah. A Tennesse store is scheduled to open in 2025.
Photo from https://meirealty.com / MEI Real Estate Services
OLD TOWNE MALL
Hawthorne & Del Amo Boulevards
Los Angeles, California
Perhaps the most unique shopping complex ever built in Southern California, OLD TOWNE MALL was developed by an entity known as Lincoln Realty Old Towne. This was a joint venture of Robert Brindle, Mik Brindle, Clifford Hemmerling and the Southern California Financial Corporation.
The Jenkins & Griest firm of Pasadena designed the facility. OLD TOWNE MALL was built on a 19-acre parcel, located 13 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, in the South Bay suburb of Torrance. Fully-enclosed, the complex measured 1,606 feet -or .3 mile- from end-to-end.
In its original state, OLD TOWNE encompassed approximately 314,800 leasable square feet. It was predominantly a single-level structure, with a small Upper Level on its north end. There were no large department store anchors. However, the mall was connected to a "shadow anchor" Kmart. This 1-level (90,000 square foot) store, which occupied 8.5 acres, opened for business on October 1, 1971.
OLD TOWNE was promoted by its developer as a "recreational retailing" facility. It housed nearly 200 restaurants and boutique-type stores. There was also free entertainment and several carnival-type rides. Old Towne Lane, the main shopping concourse, was flanked by storefronts decorated in styles of the Old West and 1890s America. This brick-paved mallway included old-fashioned park benches, live trees, antique street lamps and a restored cable car.
Tenants began opening for business on October 9, 1972, with a three-day-long grand opening commencing on November 17th. Most retail stores were local mom & pop-type operations. National chain stores included Orange Julius, The Athlete's Foot and Buster Brown Shoes.
Free entertainment was provided seven days a week. There were street magicians, a singing Keystone Kop, ragtime piano players, banjo ensembles, folk singers, Dixieland jazz bands, pantomimists, the Old Towne Singers, Mister Moustache and Spots the Clown. On the south end of the mall was a sunken Puppet Theatre. Other attractions were the Bonanza Shooting Gallery, Sega Center video arcade, Turn of the Century Wax Museum, bumper cars and a mini golf course.
Carnival-type rides included the following:
*Phantasia -a chair-lift conveyance following an overhead track. Riders were taken through a series of fairy tale-themed vignettes.
*The Castle - a haunted house filled with ghoulish monsters.
*The Busy Bee - an aerial carousel-type device with bumble bee-shaped cars.
*The Carousel - a single-story antique Venetian merry-go-round that was eventually replaced by a 2-story model.
A 20,000 square foot area, known as Artisan Way, housed silversmiths, goldsmiths, metal sculptors, potters, glass blowers and etchers, weavers, watchmakers, jewelry craftsmen and other skilled workers. Space on the south end of OLD TOWNE was reconfigured as the mall's first motion picture venue. The Mann's Old Towne Mall Theatre, a 4-screen operation, showed first features on December 19, 1975. Two additional auditoriums opened on May 25, 1978.
There were two major shopping hubs in the vicinity of OLD TOWNE. DEL AMO CENTER (1961) {1 mile south, in Torrance} became DEL AMO FASHION CENTER in 1981. SOUTH BAY CENTER (1957) {.7 mile north, also in Torrance} morphed into GALLERIA AT SOUTH BAY in 1985 and then SOUTH BAY GALLERIA, in 2001. These mega-sized complexes provided more competition than OLD TOWNE MALL could withstand.
By the early 1980s, OLD TOWNE was in a pronounced state of decline. Its proprietor, the Beverly Hills-based UMET Properties Corporation, started a 3.4 million dollar renovation. Project architects were the McClellan, Cruz, Gaylord & Associates firm, of Pasadena. During the remodeling, The Market Place -and adjacent space on the north end of the mall- was gutted and rebuilt as three big-box-type department stores; a (27,000 square foot) Marshalls, (28,600 square foot) Federated Group Superstore and (25,800 square foot) Plums. The latter opened for business on March 17, 1983.
With the completion of the renovation, in January 1984, the shopping center was renamed OLD TOWNE PLACE (often misprinted as OLD TOWNE PLAZA). Plums stores, a Los Angeles-based division of the Dayton Hudson Corporation, were short-lived. The four-unit chain was acquired by Ross Stores, Incorporated in February 1984. The OLD TOWNE PLACE location re-opened, under the Ross Dress For Less banner, on May 16, 1984.
Unfortunately, the recent renovation did not return the mall to prosperity. By the late 1980s, twenty-three out of sixty-seven store spaces were vacant. OLD TOWNE was sold to an entity known as BPT Torrance Associates in July 1988. In March 1989, they announced a second renovation.
The struggling shopping hub would be completely demalled. 13,600 square feet -and the interior mallway- would be gutted, with stores reoriented to face Hawthorne Boulevard. The carousel would be moved to a new food court adjacent to the multiplex cinema. Moreover, four freestanding retail buildings would be built in the front parking area; these adding 30,400 square feet to the center's gross leasable area.
Originally, the reworked mall was to be named TORRANCE CITIPLEX. This moniker was never implemented. In January 1990, the facility was officially renamed TORRANCE PROMENADE. The 40 million dollar redo was complete by late 1990. The multiplex was renamed, as the Mann's Torrance Promenade 6, on January 17, 1991. The power center now encompassed approximately 270,700 leasable square feet.
Over the years, tenants came and went. The Mann's movie house went dark on May 14, 1994. The Federated Group unit morphed into a Silo electronics and appliance store in November 1989 and was shuttered in 1995. Kimco Realty, based in Jericho, New York, acquired TORRANCE PROMENADE in November of the year 2000.
Kmart, a charter store, shut down in January 2012. The vacant building was divided three ways. A (50,000 square foot) Orchard Supply Hardware welcomed first customers on September 1, 2012. This grand opening was followed by one for a (23,000 square foot) HomeGoods, which was held on September 13, 2012. The remaining area was configured as a (30,000 square foot) WalMart Neighborhood Market, which debuted on July 17, 2013.
In the 2020s, TORRANCE PROMENADE contained nineteen store spaces, with five peripheral structures. These were leased as Pollo Loco, The Vitamin Shoppe, Party City, Trader Joe's and Wescom Credit Union.
Sources:
The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Daily News
The New York Times
The Daily Breeze (Torrance, California)
Palos Verdes Peninsula News (Rolling Hills Estates, California)
The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, California)
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)
http://peopletron.blogspot.com
https://freepages.rootsweb.com
http://tailotherat.blogspot.com
https://www.hbsdealer.com
http://www.kimcorealty.com
https://assessor.lacounty.gov
