THE ESPLANADE
East Vineyard Avenue and North Oxnard Boulevard
Oxnard, California
Ventura County's first fully-enclosed shopping center was built on a 45-acre plot, situated 2.3 miles north of Oxnard's center city. The site was adjacent to the Ventura Freeway-US 101, whose final sections between Oxnard and downtown Los Angeles opened to traffic in 1962.
Construction of THE ESPLANADE mall got underway with the groundbreaking for its south anchor store. This took place on September 16, 1968. A 3-level (249,300 square foot) Sears, designed by Los Angeles' Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta firm, welcomed first shoppers on February 1, 1970.
A single-level mall extended northwest of Sears. It was built by Buena Park's John S. Griffith & Company and designed by Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta. The complex opened, with an initial thirty-four stores, on March 19, 1970. Charter tenants included Harris & Frank apparel, Silverwoods men's wear, Loops Cafeteria, Pet World, Nobby Shops ladies' wear, Anita Shops ladies' wear, Raj of India Imports, an S.H. Kress 5 & 10 and Little People's World child care facility.
A 2-level (150,000 square foot) May Company California was designed by Pasadena's Ladd & Kelsey Architects. The store commenced operation on November 2, 1970. Eighteenth in the Los Angeles-based May Stores division, its exterior featured windowless walls which swept in wide "S" curves. The interior featured "warm and personal" lighting, "unusual" carpeting and "exciting" wallpaper.
May Company's dedication was officiated by Geoffrey Swaebe (May Company California Chairman of the Board) and Howard Goldfeder (May Company of California President and General Manager). The grand opening concluded with the release of a flock of white doves, which was customary at all May Company California store openings.
On the Ground -or Mall- Level of the store, surrounding a 32 foot-high Rotunda, were men's, women's and children's apparel and a Budget Shop. The Upper Level included departments for furniture, floor coverings, window accessories and garden and patio merchandise. There was also a country style cook shop, wine cellar, bath shop, toyland and Danish-style Maykro Restaurant.
In its original state, THE ESPLANADE enveloped 609,900 leasable square feet and housed eighty stores and services. The in-mall Mann Theatres 1-2-3 showed first features on December 25, 1974. This version of the cinema was in operation until October 17, 1991. During a minor mall renovation in early 1984, the shuttered Loops Cafeteria on Center Court was sectioned into a 5-bay Food Court. A mall-wide interior face lift was completed in 1990.
May Company was the only anchor store in the mall to be rebranded. On January 31, 1993, it received a Robinsons-May nameplate. Meanwhile, the vacant movie house was being renovated. It re-opened, as the American Family Theatres Esplanade Cinema 3, on May 21, 1993. The venue was acquired -and rebranded- by Regency Theatres in April 1999.
There were two mall-type shopping centers in Ventura County, other than THE ESPLANADE. These were OXNARD MALL (1966) {3.7 miles south, in Oxnard} and BUENAVENTURA CENTER {4.3 miles northwest, in Ventura}. OXNARD MALL was a small, community-class complex which provided little competition for THE ESPLANADE.
BUENAVENTURA CENTER was a true retail rival. The two primary Ventura County malls coexisted peaceably until the mid-1990s, when it was revealed that the BUENAVENTURA complex was poised to initiate a major expansion. This would, in essence, snatch the two anchor stores from THE ESPLANADE.
Contentious litigation between Oxnard and Ventura erupted in May 1995. A slew of lawsuits were resolved in August 1998. In the end, the mall in Ventura prevailed. Sears and Robinsons-May would move from THE ESPLANADE to a newly-remodeled (and renamed) PACIFIC VIEW MALL.
To add insult to injury, two outlet-type shopping venues had been built in THE ESPLANADE trade area. OXNARD FACTORY OUTLET {1.7 miles east, in Oxnard} debuted in June 1994. The complex was renamed THE PALMS MARKETPLACE in 2004. CAMARILLO ["kam-uh-rio"] FACTORY STORES {5.6 miles east, in Camarillo} welcomed first shoppers in February 1995. This retail hub was renamed CAMARILLO PREMIUM OUTLETS later in 1995.
A hastily-assembled face lift was done to THE ESPLANADE during 1998, with new landscaping and signage installed. In spite of this, the mall's two anchor stores bolted; Robinsons-May in October 1999 and Sears in the following November. Homart Development had established majority interest in THE ESPLANADE in early 1995. They sold the past its prime property to San Francisco's Scheidt Family.
In December 1999, THE ESPLANADE was resold to San Francisco-based M & H Realty Partners. A renovation scenario, proposing the addition of two anchors, a second level of retail and complete refurbishment of the existing mall, was drawn up and then abandoned. It was decided to demolish the shopping center in its entirety and start from scratch. All stores and services were shuttered in February of the year 2000, with a wrecking ball brought in in August.
Sources:
The Los Angeles Times
The Oxnard Press-Courier
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.cinematour.com
