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Valley Plaza
Valley Plaza was a shopping center in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, one of the first in the San Fernando Valley, opened in 1951. In the mid-1950s, it was reported to be the largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States and the third-largest in the country. It was located along Laurel Canyon Boulevard from Oxnard to Vanowen, and west along Victory Boulevard. Like its competitor, Panorama City Shopping Center to the north, Valley Plaza started with one core development and grew over time to market, under the single name "Valley Plaza", a collection of adjacent retail developments with multiple developers, owners, and opening dates.
The idea to develop the plaza came from developer Bob Symonds in 1942, who had helped to create the Miracle Mile concentration of shops on Wilshire Boulevard. from started with a 210,000-square-foot (20,000 m2) 2-story Sears store announced in 1948. The center was on a 50-acre lot, including 15 acres of parking. Urbanism analyst Richard Longstreth noted that Symonds was the first developer in Southern California to recognize the significance of the rapidly growing freeway system for the development of shopping centers, as they would attract large numbers of shoppers who would find it convenient to visit by car, avoiding problems with existing shopping areas, almost all of which required navigating streets choked with traffic, either in Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, or the central business districts of the surrounding towns, and which provided limited parking some distance from the stores.
The shopping center opened on August 12, 1951, with parking for 4000 cars, and had cost between $20,000,000 and $40,000,000 (depending on the source) to build.
Early anchors included (from north to south):
Valley Plaza would later extend along Victory Boulevard to cover 100 acres (40 ha). By 1956 it was reported to cover 100 acres with 1,039,000 square feet of retail space, the third-largest in the nation at that time, after Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers, New York and Northland Center in Greater Detroit. It was reported to have close to $100 million in annual sales. The Valley Plaza Merchants Associated counted the May Company department store at Oxnard St., as part of "Valley Plaza", but later, in 1968, May would build an enclosed mall, Laurel Plaza, attached to their store, thus forming a separate identity from Valley Plaza. The May Co. being very large, 452,000 square feet (42,000 m2), Valley Plaza was reported to have the second-largest suburban branch department store in the country, outsized only by a branch of Hudson's in suburban Detroit.
On February 5, 1959, a third major department store anchor, a 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2), two-level J. C. Penney opened on the north side of Victory Blvd. just west of Sears and just east of the Hollywood Freeway. A Goodyear tire store also opened around this time.
It was also around this time that the Hollywood Freeway was extended north to Magnolia Boulevard and the Ventura Freeway was completed nearby, greatly increasing the accessibility of the center.
In 1960 the Los Angeles Federal Savings and Loan Tower, now known as the Valley Plaza Tower, was completed. The building is now occupied by Wells Fargo Bank. It was upon opening, the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley. Architects were Douglas Honnold and John Rex and the style is "Corporate International". It was one of the first skyscrapers built in Los Angeles after the 1957 repeal of a 150-foot height limit ordinance. Murals have covered the entire height and width of the tower's western side over the decades. Today it portrays the history of Los Angeles; previous subjects were the 1976 United States Bicentennial, the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, and former football team of the city, the Los Angeles Raiders.
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Valley Plaza
Valley Plaza was a shopping center in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, one of the first in the San Fernando Valley, opened in 1951. In the mid-1950s, it was reported to be the largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States and the third-largest in the country. It was located along Laurel Canyon Boulevard from Oxnard to Vanowen, and west along Victory Boulevard. Like its competitor, Panorama City Shopping Center to the north, Valley Plaza started with one core development and grew over time to market, under the single name "Valley Plaza", a collection of adjacent retail developments with multiple developers, owners, and opening dates.
The idea to develop the plaza came from developer Bob Symonds in 1942, who had helped to create the Miracle Mile concentration of shops on Wilshire Boulevard. from started with a 210,000-square-foot (20,000 m2) 2-story Sears store announced in 1948. The center was on a 50-acre lot, including 15 acres of parking. Urbanism analyst Richard Longstreth noted that Symonds was the first developer in Southern California to recognize the significance of the rapidly growing freeway system for the development of shopping centers, as they would attract large numbers of shoppers who would find it convenient to visit by car, avoiding problems with existing shopping areas, almost all of which required navigating streets choked with traffic, either in Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, or the central business districts of the surrounding towns, and which provided limited parking some distance from the stores.
The shopping center opened on August 12, 1951, with parking for 4000 cars, and had cost between $20,000,000 and $40,000,000 (depending on the source) to build.
Early anchors included (from north to south):
Valley Plaza would later extend along Victory Boulevard to cover 100 acres (40 ha). By 1956 it was reported to cover 100 acres with 1,039,000 square feet of retail space, the third-largest in the nation at that time, after Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers, New York and Northland Center in Greater Detroit. It was reported to have close to $100 million in annual sales. The Valley Plaza Merchants Associated counted the May Company department store at Oxnard St., as part of "Valley Plaza", but later, in 1968, May would build an enclosed mall, Laurel Plaza, attached to their store, thus forming a separate identity from Valley Plaza. The May Co. being very large, 452,000 square feet (42,000 m2), Valley Plaza was reported to have the second-largest suburban branch department store in the country, outsized only by a branch of Hudson's in suburban Detroit.
On February 5, 1959, a third major department store anchor, a 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2), two-level J. C. Penney opened on the north side of Victory Blvd. just west of Sears and just east of the Hollywood Freeway. A Goodyear tire store also opened around this time.
It was also around this time that the Hollywood Freeway was extended north to Magnolia Boulevard and the Ventura Freeway was completed nearby, greatly increasing the accessibility of the center.
In 1960 the Los Angeles Federal Savings and Loan Tower, now known as the Valley Plaza Tower, was completed. The building is now occupied by Wells Fargo Bank. It was upon opening, the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley. Architects were Douglas Honnold and John Rex and the style is "Corporate International". It was one of the first skyscrapers built in Los Angeles after the 1957 repeal of a 150-foot height limit ordinance. Murals have covered the entire height and width of the tower's western side over the decades. Today it portrays the history of Los Angeles; previous subjects were the 1976 United States Bicentennial, the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, and former football team of the city, the Los Angeles Raiders.