EASTWOOD MALL ::: Pictures

Eastwood Mall as it looked from the intersection of Montevallo & Montclair, 1966

This is another high-resolution image ... some close-ups can be seen below:

CLOSE-UP #1 -- The grand sign, once again...... It appears to have been slightly modified with a neon sign on the large pole just below the "E" logo. I might be mistaken, but I think the neon reads "OPEN TONIGHT TIL 9." Did I mention how much I miss Newberry's?
	CLOSE-UP #2 -- I'm not sure about the advertisement on the side of the bus, but here you can see the side of the Eastwood Mall Theater, along with Hill's Food Store and, yes, the bowling alley.
CLOSE-UP #3 -- A common sight for almost the last half century, the Sputnik-esque icon atop Eastwood Lanes! Barely visible atop the striped facade (which I believe to be the world famous Boom-Boom Room) is a sign reading "FunTown"
	CLOSE-UP #4 -- S. S. Kresge as it looked in 1966. Around the same time, Kresge opened a large store on Green Springs Highway using its new "super discount store" format, which it called ..... K-Mart.
Good health to all from Rexall! -- Frontal shot of the mall entrance to Liggett Rexall Drug. Visible to the right is part of the store's lunch counter. The lawn chairs displayed here were on sale for $3.19! And what was the lunch special on the day Mr. Hudson captured this photo? Get ready......
	*Not to be confused with the rock artiste* -- On this unassuming 1966 midday, you could partake of yummy, scrumptious MEAT LOAF in tomato sauce (was Chef Boy Ar Dee moonlighting for Liggett??). I wonder what Newberry's luncheonette was serving today. Please don't be offended if you happen to enjoy Alpo -- um, er, I mean, meat loaf. You can like it for me, too. :-) Now, I WILL take the veggies and roll, thank you. Y'know, come to think of it, I believe I would gladly** have some meat loaf if I could go back in time and eat it at a lunch counter like this one.........
Tweet, tweet! -- The famous bird cage, shown here in a different setting. Notice the pennants with all the different high schools?
	When "Savings and Loan" wasn't a punchline! The Eastwood Mall office of CITY FEDERAL. Your savings paid a spiffy 4% per annum.
And I'll bet school didn't start 'till after Labor Day, either!
	A theater and a mall ... 'strange bedfellows' indeed -- (March 1965) The marquee for the Eastwood Mall Theater, long a familiar sight for those driving on Oporto Road between Crestwood and Montclair. This neon masterpiece was put into place the day the theater opened for business, Christmas Day 1964 ... and was there until the theater closed, either late 1989 or early 1990. Somewhere I have a picture of this marquee at night, which I took in January 1989. If (!) I find it, I'll scan and share. Visible here is the steel skeleton for the 1965 expansion of Eastwood, bringing us the Barber's (later Pioneer) Cafeteria and several other stores. And, theater fans, check out these photos:
Eastwood Theater Lobby -- I don't think you can get more "1960s space-age elegant" than this. I love those lamps and sofa back toward the window! A very quaint notion in this day and age of video games and movie posters all over the lobby of your friendly neighborhood 54-screen "Rave" movieplex. And at the time there was just ONE auditorium in this theater. Just one screen. And just one movie. I told my 14-year-old son how most theaters offered just one or two screens back when I was his age, and he gave me that "you were so deprived, you old fossil" look!
	We don't need no steenkin' THX! -- Here, in all its pristine heart-stopping glory, is the auditorium and balcony of the Eastwood Mall Theater. Even without today's advances in sound quality, I'll bet 2001: A Space Odyssey shook the walls of this baby!
What's the matter? You never saw a COLOR picture before??!! -- And now we jump to March 1981, when YEILDING'S department store remodeled its Eastwood store, including a neon-based facade more fitting for a mid to late '80s storefront! (courtesy of Dixie Neon Company archive)
	A last glimpse at how it used to look -- The west entrance to Eastwood Mall as it appeared in 1989, just prior to the renovation. The original 1964 Mall Theater sign was still being used until its demise. There's nothing on the marquee, so I'm guessing by this time it had already closed. Visible just behind the white car to the left of the sign is a barricade. I'm guessing renovations were this close to beginning. Notice the building beside Dilly's? That's right, it was still in business in '89, the original drive-in building that originally housed Wagon Ho and later Kelly's. (special thanks to Tommy Cosgrove for sharing these)
And one more... -- Probably taken the same day as the above. Here's how Eastwood Mall, and the intersection of Oporto and Crestwood, appeared from the vantage point of the Century Plaza parking lot. (I want some doughnuts!) Here's a close-up of the Parisian facade partially visible: These pictures, while valuable, depress the heck out of me. (courtesy of Tommy Cosgrove)
	Still another... -- The doughnuts were hot, and so was the Eastwood Mall area. Signage for two long-gone chains can be seen in this picture, also from early 1989: Remember Grandy's Chicken and Zayre Discount stores? (courtesy of Tommy Cosgrove)