Los Altos Center is a regional shopping mall in the Los Altos area of northeastern

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

along Bellflower Boulevard, 4 miles south of Lakewood Center Mall and 5 miles east of

Downtown Long Beach Downtown Long Beach, California, United States is the location for most of the city's major tourist attractions, municipal services and for numerous businesses. There are many hotels and restaurants in the area that serve locals, tourists, and c ...

History

Launch (1953–1956)

Some stores opened on site in 1953; the full mall opened in 1955, designed by the L.S. Whaley Co.;

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

was the architect. Trees, floral plantings, benches and canopies lined an outdoor center court with piped-in music, while parking surrounded the mall. "Friendly… casual… convenient, Los Altos Shopping Center" was the motto. Stores that opened from November 1955 through January 1956 included the three anchor department stores: * Walker's, costing $4 million, with of retail space. Two years later in 1957 Walker's Los Altos store was sold to, and rebranded as, The Broadway. The Walker's had a "Palm Room" restaurant and coffee shop. *

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, two stories plus a basement * Woolworth's, , with a 52-foot-long lunch counter * Sav-on Drug Store () Other stores included Horace Greens hardware, a Kinney's Shoe Store, a Long Beach National Bank, a John Norman Store for men, Alloway's Barber Shop, a Lerner's women's clothing store, at that time the 235th store in that chain; C.H. Baker Shoes, Children's Bootery, Dinels', Helen Grance Candies, Lonnie's Sporting Goods, Marie's' Kiddies Shop, The Music Box, Ramona Banking Co., J.C. Wehrman Jeweler, and Brownie's Toy Shop.

North section (1964)

The northern section, north of Stearns Street, opened in 1964 on in two buildings with of gross leasable area. New tenants at opening were

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, Glendale Federal Savings & Loan, Leeds Shoe Store, Foreman & Clark, Zales Jewelry, the

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, Household Finance, Dunn's Men's Wear, Quick 'n' Clean Laundry and Dry Cleaning, Alice King Beauty Salon, House of Fabrics and Winsted Bros. Camera, adding to the previous tenants Unimart discount store (became Disco Fair, later Two Guys and

FedMart FedMart was a chain of discount department stores started by Sol Price, who later founded Price Club. Originally a discount department store open to government employees paying a $2 per family membership fee, FedMart earned four times more than i ...

in the 1970's),

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and

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gas station. In 1963, The Broadway added an additional floor. In 1982, the FedMart store closed its doors, which is now a

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store, which opened in April 1983.

Decline

By 1990, the center was in decline. In 1996, The Broadway closed & the building was converted to a

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Today

The shopping center now houses a CVS Pharmacy, L.A. Fitness, T.J. Maxx, a grocery store, medical office & some smaller shops & restaurants. On February 15, 2021, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location along with a standalone

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

located North on Bellflower Blvd & Spring Street as part of a plan to close 34 stores nationwide. Both stores closed their doors by early May 2021.

Transit Access

The shopping center is serviced by Long Beach Transit Routes 91, 92, 93, 94, 96 ZAP & 172.

External links

"Los Altos Center", ''Mall Hall of Fame'' (blog)

References

{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in the South Bay, Los Angeles Buildings and structures in Long Beach, California