Whittwood Town Center is a 65-acre open-air shopping center in Whittier,

Southeast Los Angeles County The Gateway Cities Region, or Southeast Los Angeles County (also shortened to Southeast Los Angeles and Southeast LA) is an urbanized region located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, between the City of Los Angeles proper, Orange ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, located on the southwest corner of Whittier Boulevard and Santa Gertrudes Avenue. The shopping center has a gross leasable area of 841,936 square feet and is close to

Interstate 605 Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Greater Los Angeles urban area of Southern California. It runs from I-405 and State Route ...

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

, and the

Pomona Freeway Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District Mexico * ...

. Anchor stores include CVS Pharmacy, JC Penney, Kohl's, PetSmart, Sears, and Target.

History

Whittwood was built in the 1961 as a competitor to

The Quad at Whittier The Quad at Whittier is a shopping mall in Whittier, California. It was built in 1953 and expanded in 1965 with the addition of a May Company California department store. Arcadia-based Hinshaw's and Pasadena-based Nash's were other major ...

. It had three

anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

on the east,

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

on the west, and Boston Store in the center. Sav-On was located across the northeast mall entrance from JC Penney. Whittwood was originally an open-air mall, which was initially a success. In the late 1970s, it was renovated and transformed into an enclosed mall. Mervyn's was added as a fourth anchor in the 1980s near The Broadway, giving the mall an "L" shape and adding additional small stores between The Broadway and Mervyn's. A food court was added near the entrance in the center of the mall on its southern side. Also in the 1980s, Mimi's Cafe was added as a standalone building in the northern part of the mall's massive parking lot. This would be the first of many standalone restaurants that would be added to the northern parking lot. Black Angus followed in the 1990s, and the rest of the single-occupant restaurant buildings in the north lot were added after the 2004 renovation. The exterior was remodeled in the late 1980s to lure businesses from The Quad, which had recently closed after being damaged by the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. Krikorian Theatres opened a 10-screen Premium movie theater complex on the back lot, which was later sold to

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

. The theater closed in the mid-1990s. Boston Store closed down in the 1990s and wasn't replaced by a new anchor. In 1996,

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

bought out The Broadway and decided not to convert the Whittwood store to a

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

for unknown reasons. It was closed and sold to

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

, which moved in by November of that year. The mall closed in 2004, with the three separate anchors remaining open. Mervyn's went out of business at the end of 2008 and was replaced by

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

in 2009. The only shop open left in the central mall building was Sav-On, now replaced by

CVS Pharmacy CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in ...

. Not long after, the entire enclosed building that had connected the three remaining anchors was demolished, returning the JC Penney and Sears buildings to standalone buildings and making the Kohl's building a standalone building for the first time ever (when it was constructed, it was connected to the mall). CVS Pharmacy (the former Sav-On) moved to a new location in one of the many smaller newly built buildings within the mall property. The mall was replaced by a new town center containing big box retailers, and new condos were built where the former theater was.

Transit Access

There is a bus terminal on the property served by LA Metro route 120,

Montebello Bus Lines Montebello Bus Lines is a municipal bus operator in Montebello, California, USA, mainly serving East Los Angeles, Commerce, and Montebello. History Montebello Bus Lines began on 28 July 1931, with a small lot on the corner of Greenwood Avenue ...

route 10,

Foothill Transit Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that is government funded by 22 member cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. It operates a fixed-route bus public transit service in the San Gabriel Valley region of eastern Los Angeles Cou ...

route 285, and Sunshine Shuttle routes A and B. The bus terminal is located to the west of Sears.

Tenants

Anchor Tenants: * 24 Hour Fitness *

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

Vons Vons is a Southern California and Southern Nevada supermarket chain owned by Albertsons. It is headquartered in Fullerton, California, and operates stores under the Vons and Pavilions banners. It was owned by Safeway Inc. and headquartered in ...

Other Notable Tenants: *

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

Black Angus Steakhouse Black Angus Steakhouse, also known before 2005 as Stuart Anderson's Black Angus, is an American restaurant chain that specializes in steaks, headquartered in Sherman Oaks, California. The chain was founded on April 3, 1964, by Stuart Anderson of ...

Buffalo Wild Wings Buffalo Wild Wings (originally Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, hence the nickname BDubs, or BW3) is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, a ...

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., with franchisees in North & South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa. In 2016, ''Entrepreneur'' listed Carl's Jr. as No. 54 ...

* Chick-Fil-A *

Chipotle A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in dif ...

* Citibank *

Edible Arrangements Edible Arrangements (also simply known as Edible) is a U.S.-based franchising business that specializes in fresh fruit arrangements, combining the concept of a fruit basket with designs inspired by flower arrangement. The company also sells a var ...

The Habit Burger Grill The Habit Burger Grill is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in charbroiled hamburgers. The company also sells other typical fast-casual fare. Its headquarters are in Irvine, California. In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the p ...

* IHOP * Jamba Juice * Massage Envy *

Mimi's Cafe Mimi's Bistro + Bakery (formerly Mimi's Café) is an American restaurant chain with 46 locations in 12 states. Originally headquartered in Tustin, California, its headquarters moved to Dallas, Texas in 2014 after 36 years in California. It serv ...

Miracle-Ear Miracle-Ear, Inc. is a hearing aid company consisting of a network of franchised and corporately-owned retail outlets. The company is a subsidiary of Amplifon, the worldwide distributor of hearing aids based in Italy. Miracle-Ear's U.S. headquarter ...

Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that serves American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded, and is mainly located in North ...

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Loui ...

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised ...

Ruby's Diner Ruby's Diner is a restaurant chain aesthetically designed after American diners of the Swing Era. It first opened on December 7, 1982 by Doug Cavanaugh and Ralph Kosmides. Ruby's Diner serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a menu that include ...

See's Candies See's Candies is an American manufacturer and distributor of candy, particularly chocolates. It was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles, California in 1921. The company is now headquartered in South San ...

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

The UPS Store The UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.) is a subsidiary of United Parcel Service which provides, according to its website, shipping, shredding, printing, fax, passport photos, personal and business mailboxes, and notary services. Histo ...

US Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

Vans Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the comp ...

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

Wingstop Wingstop Inc. is an American multinational chain of aviation-themed restaurants specializing in chicken wings. Wingstop locations follow a 1930s and 1940s pre-jet aviation theme. The restaurant chain was founded in 1994 in Garland, Texas ...

References

{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in Southeast Los Angeles County, California Whittier, California Shopping malls established in 1961