The Golden Mall was a pedestrianized mall in downtown Burbank, California from 1967 to 1989. It consisted of San Fernando Boulevard from Tujunga Avenue to Magnolia Boulevard, immediately south of the present

Burbank Town Center Burbank Town Center (formerly Media City Center) is a large shopping mall and complex that opened in August 1991 on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California, with three levels of interior shopping anchored by Macy's, Burlington, Sears, and RO ...

Origins

The Golden Mall was built at a cost of $915,000 and opened in November 1967.

Success

During the mid-1970s one source stated that the mall was still considered an important retail hub in Burbank. However, another source stated that already by 1970, only three years after opening, new businesses stopped coming in to the mall, and customers starting coming less and less. The reasons given for lower customer traffic were firstly, because of the difficulty of parking away from the stores (instead of in front as previously), and secondly, that the store windows were not visible from any major street, so people driving by were not inspired to stop and shop there.

Attempts at revitalization as a pedestrian mall

By the late 1980s, the mall had deteriorated. Overgrown landscaping and deteriorating vegetation were a haven for vagrants, according to the Los Angeles Times. Unkempt storefronts and vacant stores were also putting off customers. Revitalization efforts focused on an empty parcel adjacent to Golden Mall, now the site of the

mall. Ernest Hahn didn't follow through on plans to build a $140 million "Towncenter" there - plans that included transforming Golden Mall into a themed " village street" that would feed into the new development. In April 1988 Walt Disney Co. abandoned plans to build a $611 million shopping and entertainment center there.

Reintroduction of vehicle traffic

The city decided in the end to revitalize the area by reintroducing automobile traffic to the street. A multicinema opened in the late 1980s as well, helping bring traffic to the mall. The plan to return vehicular traffic to the mall was proposed in 1985. 1987, the block from Tujunga to Olive were opened to vehicles. In June 1988, the city council studied the opening of the remaining three blocks from Magnolia to Tujunga.

finally opened at the north end of the former Golden Mall, built by European mall developer Haagen Co, in 1991, with IKEA moving in earlier in 1990. Today this stretch of San Fernando Road forms part of the "Burbank Village" district."BURBANK : Downtown District Gets a New Name", ''Los Angeles Times'', September 30, 1993
/ref>

References

External links

- historic photo gallery of Golden Mall
"Golden Mall" in ''Growing up in Burbank''
Wesley H. Clark, Michael B. McDaniel, 2017, Arcadia Publishing, . Also in ''Lost Burbank'' by same authors,

External links

{{History of Retail in Southern California Pedestrian malls in the United States Buildings and structures in Burbank, California Defunct shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls established in 1967 Shopping malls disestablished in 1989 1967 establishments in California 1989 disestablishments in California Shopping malls in the San Fernando Valley