December 4, 1968
Some in the downtown feared the 1968 opening of a shopping mall with free parking but there are businesses still here from that era.
The demise of Gottschalk’s is a reminder that shopping trends can be fickle.
Not a single one of the stores that opened in the shopping center next door to Gottschalks, remain there today a little over 40 years later.
We still buy shoes but not at Gallenkamp or Kirby’s.
There is a pet store there, but it’s not Pet Manor.
Maxwell’s and W.T. Grant Co. Department Stores preceded Mervyn’s and Gottschalk’s in death.
Even the steadiest business of all, a bank, United California Bank, is now only a memory.
Perhaps I chose a bad example highlighting banks as a steady business.
T.G.&Y Variety Store, gone,I guess no one wants variety any more.
Thrifty Drugs is long gone.
Kids no longer have a chance to spill rapidly melting dime ice creams on car seats, after they burn their legs sitting on the overheated vinyl back seat in shorts.
I’m not saying this ever happened but it seems plausible.
My microfilm search could not match the photo with a news clipping but it looks like a grand opening type crowd. There are no decorations so it may be some other event but the original stores are in the background.
Later Sears would be wooed from downtown to the Grant location.
Another page outlines the opening of the Madonna Plaza Theater.
When I worked at the Wiz One Hour Photo during my college years the overwhelming scent of popcorn would waft through the ventilators every afternoon about 3 pm.
On the right of the page Mrs. Joseph Sarullo placed an ad protesting the teaching of Sex Education in schools.
She protests “Sexual Dictatorship” in Sweden and declining morals on television.
I wonder what she would think of MTV today.
Photo by Michael Raphael
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Ahhhh, Fishers Steak House! With the big flame pit in the middle! After dinner, either a Thrifty’s ice cream, or an Orange Julius with fresh egg.
Funny how the same argument about the downtown demise, was used to destroy Ernie Dalidio’s plan to use his land…..despite a vote that agreed with him.
Oh yes, and Madonna Plaza Theater. The ONLY place in town to watch the new space alien movie called Star Wars…..for like 6 months
Orange Julius, I forgot about that place.
This was long before the city banned smoking in restaurants, for a while they had a couple of heavy smokers working there and everything came out of the blender with a vague fragrance of tobacco.
I was told my grandfather is the architect who designed the Madonna plaza
Wasn’t BENOs store there too, you could agree to post their logo on your car door and get a free pair of jeans…..:)
Was the Madonna Plaza Theater the same theater that later became Edwards Madonna Plaza 3? If so, in what year were the two more screens added.
Thank you very much for posting this. I’ve been interested in the history of this area for some time. I did have one question: The article says that none of the original stores that opened with Madonna Plaza are there anymore. What about Sears? When did it open? It’s been there for as long as I can remember. (Though I wasn’t born until ’79.) If Sears isn’t an original store, what business preceded it in that building?
Sears is not listed in the opening day ad in Dec. 1968. The aerial photo at the bottom of the ad shows W.T. Grant Co in the current Sears location. In 1968 Sears was downtown roughly where Gap is now on Higuera Street.