East Vineyard Avenue and North Oxnard Boulevard
Oxnard, California
Ventura County's first fully-enclosed shopping center was built on a 56-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 were opened to traffic in 1962.
Construction of THE ESPLANADE mall got underway with the groundbreaking for its south anchor store, which took place on September 16, 1968. The 3-level (249,300 square foot) Sears was designed by the firm of Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta. The store welcomed its 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 the Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta firm. 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 and an S.H. Kress 5 & 10.
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 (President and General Manager of the chain). The grand opening celebration concluded with the release of a flock of white doves, which was customary at all May Company of California store openings.
On the Mall Level of the store, surrounding its 32 foot-high Rotunda area, were men's, women's and children's apparel and a Budget Shop. The Upper Level included departments devoted to furniture, floor coverings, window accessories, garden and patio furniture and flowers, with a country style cook shop, wine cellar, bath shop and toyland. There was also the "quaint" Danish-style Maykro Restaurant.
THE ESPLANADE mall enveloped 609,900 leasable square feet and eventually housed eighty stores and services. Its Mann 3 Theatres showed its 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. It showed its final features in February of the year 2000.
Ventura County hosted two shopping malls other than THE ESPLANADE; BUENAVENTURA CENTER (1964) {4.3 miles northwest, in Ventura} and OXNARD MALL (1966) {3.7 miles south, in Oxnard}. The latter was a secondary shopping complex which provided little competition for THE ESPLANADE. Such was not the case with BUENAVENTURA CENTER.
The two primary Ventura County malls coexisted peaceably until the mid-1990s, when it was revealed that the BUENAVENTURA property was poised to initiate a major expansion which, in essence, would snatch the two anchor stores from THE ESPLANADE.
Contentious litigation between Oxnard -THE ESPLANADE and Ventura-BUENAVENTURA MALL 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.
Homart Development had established majority interest in THE ESPLANADE in early 1995, and sold the property to San Francisco's Scheidt Family. In December 1999, it 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 nixed. It was decided to demolish the shopping center in its entirety and start from scratch. The wrecking ball was brought in in August of 2000.
The "blighted" shopping center was replaced by an entirely open-air power plaza, known as ESPLANADE CENTER. The first group of stores opened in September 2001. These included Cost Plus World Market and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Phase Two stores, including a 1-level (136,000 square foot) Home Depot, were dedicated in February 2002.
The 492,800 square foot complex, completed in the spring of 2003, housed thirty-eight tenants. In addition to Cost Plus World Market, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Depot, there were Staples, Nordstrom Rack, Borders Books and T.J. Maxx.
Sources:
The Los Angeles Times
The Oxnard Press-Courier
http://www.centro.com
http://www.icsc.org
http://www.scribd.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.cinematour.com
Comment post by Greg
The 492,800 square foot complex, completed in the spring of 2003, housed thirty-eight tenants. In addition to Cost Plus World Market, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Depot, there were Staples, Nordstrom Rack, Borders Books and T.J. Maxx.
Sources:
The Los Angeles Times
The Oxnard Press-Courier
http://www.centro.com
http://www.icsc.org
http://www.scribd.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.cinematour.com
Comment post by Greg