Malls in Phoenix, AZ (Scottsdale, Carefree: nicest, Walmart, area)

[ajonesaz]

Check out the movie Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure for a bunch of early 80's shots of inside Metro Center. It's interesting to see the old stores and food court. I think you can see the glass elevator in that movie as well if thats your thing

[AirportFan]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

The Galleria extension to the Tucson Mall, later an American Home Furnishings, had a glass elevator. It was kind of odd to see it in a two-story furniture showcase; the main mall and department stores had old-school interior elevators, not sure if there was any one inside the corridor. I left Tucson before the remodels of all three malls, and since Park Mall was on the east side and I was a Westsider, I rarely went there, but except for the anchors it was one level, and El Con is now an open-air center, was single-level as well.

In 1988 Tucson had 4 malls. Tucson was the largest, at Oracle and Wetmore. Park Mall, now Park Place, was at Broadway between Craycroft and Wilmot. The El Con Center, which was aging when I first was stationed in Tucson for training in 1983, was at Broadway and Alvernon; it reminded me of the old Tri-Cities Mall in Mesa on Main (near Dobson?). Finally, Foothills Mall was at Ina and La Cholla, and was supposed to be an upscale mall servicing the expanding NW Tucson area, but it folded in the mid 90s and became an outlet center. It was always empty of foot traffic.

Reference Tri-Cities for old East Valley residents: did it have a movie theater there? I'm trying to remember where I saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High, it was in West Mesa somewhere.

I know the American Home Furnishings. I think I've seen the building before. Isn't right across from Tucson Mall with that parking garage? You park and the store is on top of the garage? There is also a theater right? I am guessing American Home Furnishings is now vacant. You mentioned the main mall and department stores. Are you talking about Tucson Mall there? Park Place Mall is a nice mall. So it seems Tucson also once had a store with a glass elevator as well.

[AirportFan]

Originally Posted by ScottsdaleMark

I was inside MetroCenter a few months ago and I will say if you ever need to buy clothes for babies/toddlers, they have a great store in there, Kids Club I think it's called...it's all the same stuff you see at other stores like Target or Wal Mart or Children's Place (which they Also have at Metrocenter, IIRC), but much cheaper. Some of it is brand names, so maybe it's closeouts they acquired, and some of it is generic/stuff you've never heard of. If you have young kids or grandkids and you're in there, I recommend checking it out.



When there are threads about something very specific like this, I always wonder what amazing memory the OP might have to make them have an undying passion for glass elevators inside commercial buildings, or to make Pink Jazz obsessed with freeway signs, or so forth.

I was speaking with a member of the Phoenix Bonsai club recently and it was pretty fascinating. Man, I wish I had that level of passion about a hobby, but I doubt I'd have the patience to be that good at something like that. Always interesting to see what people are into.

I just like elevators. They are really cool.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by AirportFan

I know the American Home Furnishings. I think I've seen the building before. Isn't right across from Tucson Mall with that parking garage? You park and the store is on top of the garage? There is also a theater right? I am guessing American Home Furnishings is now vacant. You mentioned the main mall and department stores. Are you talking about Tucson Mall there? Park Place Mall is a nice mall. So it seems Tucson also once had a store with a glass elevator as well.

There is nothing left in the building other than those theatres on the 4th floor. And that theater has the appearance of being on its last legs. Its only redemption is that it is the ultra-budget theater in town.

[KurtAZ]

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

There is nothing left in the building other than those theatres on the 4th floor. And that theater has the appearance of being on its last legs. Its only redemption is that it is the ultra-budget theater in town.

I figured as much with AHF. The theater was showing stinkers (think ones like Sylvester Stallone's Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot) which I saw in the 90s there. Foothills had the better mall theater.

[TempeAZnative]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

It is indeed sad to see what the inside of Metro Center has turned into, pretty much a ghost town with all the unoccupied spaces, and not to mention all of the buildings around the beltway of the mall that have been sitting unoccupied for a while, especially on the west side of the mall around where Best Buy used to be, which moved to I-17 and Thunderbird.

I would love to see Castles & Coasters buy the land the mall sits on and expand by adding more roller coasters. It would have a great positive impact in the area.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by AirportFan

It depends on the mall actually. I like malls from pre 1985. Anything post 1985 is very modern to me. 1970s malls and 1960s malls especially have a big history of department stores. Unfortunately, most of the malls in Phoenix are all very modern and from the 1990s. But in Tucson, the two malls there are historic. Same in El Paso and in San Antonio. Phoenix is one of those cities where everything has to be modern, along with Las Vegas.

I do remember liking the two - Thomas and Fashion Square - when I was a kid. But now it's just a batch of boring chain stores to me.

Have you ever read "The Call of the Mall"? That might be right up your alley.

Call of the Mall | Book by Paco Underhill | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by TempeAZnative

I would love to see Castles & Coasters buy the land the mall sits on and expand by adding more roller coasters. It would have a great positive impact in the area.

If that were to happen, it would have to be an indoor roller coasters/theme park type of place in order to be successful, I can't imagine huge crowds with an urge to walk around an outdoor theme park in the middle of summer... Remember Legend City?

[azdr0710]

arguably, some of the oldest "malls" in Phoenix could be called historic because of their place in the rise of suburbs and related social history....

only Park Central, Chris Town, and Uptown Plaza (hardly a mall) might rise to this level, though.....and the first two have been so modified as to lose their significance anyway....Uptown Plaza is apparently in a revival state right now and the owners/managers seem dedicated to preserving its history.....

some here pooh-pooh malls, but they have been a significant part of recent American history, geography, demographics, and economic trends