Anaheim Plaza

Anaheim Plaza, originally Broadway Orange County Center, then Anaheim Center, in Anaheim, California, was the first shopping mall in Orange County. It was a regional mall from 1955 to 1993 and is now a power center anchored by big-box stores.

This article is about the mall originally called Anaheim Center. For the sports stadium in Anaheim, see Honda Center.
Anaheim Plaza
Coordinates33.8388832°N 117.9396274°W / 33.8388832; -117.9396274
Address510 N Euclid St, Anaheim, CA 92801, USA
Opening dateOctober 14, 1955 (Broadway), as power center 1994
ManagementKimco Realty[1]
ArchitectWelton Becket
No. of stores and services28
No. of anchor tenants5
Public transit accessOCTA Route 37
Websiteshopanaheimplaza.com
Anaheim Plaza
Location in northern Orange County

The Broadway was the original anchor department store opening October 14, 1955,[2] with the mall shops opening gradually in the following weeks and months. Both The Broadway and the center as a whole were designed by renowned Los Angeles architect Welton Becket.[3] The store cost $8.5 million to build, was 208,000 square feet (19,300 m2) in size, employed around 1,000 people and had parking for 5,000 cars. Brown McPherson was the first store manager[4]

In February 1963, a J.W. Robinson's was added as the mall's second anchor store.

In 1974, the center's owner, Prudential Life Insurance Co., completed a $4 million renovation, including enclosing the center and renaming it Anaheim Plaza.[5][6] In July 1977, a Mervyn's was added as the mall's third anchor store.

By the 1980s, better-off patrons had moved out of the surrounding area for Anaheim Hills and southern Orange County and the area were becoming more working-class and Hispanic.[5] In September 1987, business at Anaheim Plaza started to decline which was caused by the grand opening of MainPlace Mall in nearby Santa Ana, California. Robinson's closed in January 1988. By 1992, the mall was only 35% occupied. In January 1993, the mall's original anchor store The Broadway closed for good and in August of that same year, the mall was bulldozed except for the Mervyn's store.[7]

A new strip mall, all new except for the Mervyn's, was opened in November 1994, 547,000 square feet (50,800 m2) in size and costing $30 million. Mervyn's closed in late 2008 due to the chain being liquidated. [7]

Currently (as of January 2019), anchor stores include El Super, Forever 21 Outlet, Petco, TJ Maxx and Walmart (which opened in January 1995).[8]

References
  1. http://www.shopanaheimplaza.com/about_us.aspx
  2. "Anaheim Fetes New Broadway Store Opening". Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1955.
  3. "Work Begun on Large Building". Los Angeles Times. August 12, 1956.
  4. "Broadway to Open Anaheim Store Today". Los Angeles. October 14, 1955.
  5. Anaheim Plaza: Mall That's Been Mauled", Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1990
  6. "Anaheim Plaza - Once an Indoor Mall?", Orange County Register
  7. Jennifer Lowe, "Orange County`s 1st Mall Faces An Overhaul", Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1992
  8. Anaheim Plaza official website


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