Text by Patrick Bell.
Climb aboard as we tour some malls and large shopping center parking lots. They are always a good place to see everyday drivers, and we have a good selection today.
For starters, we are in San Francisco at the Stonestown Shopping Center. The year appears to be 1961 as I see a dark blue or black ’61 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 or Super 88 facing this way in the center, and to the right a white ’61 Chevrolet Impala facing away. Plus, on two cars in the foreground were red tags on the license plates which were for ’61. There was one foreign car for sure, a blue Volkswagen Type 1 behind the aforementioned Oldsmobile, and at least two other possibilities, a red one to the left of the Type 1 under the tree, and to the right, about halfway between the “F” pole and the edge, is a light blue one that reminds me of a Renault Dauphine. And just one truck, a white ’55 Chevrolet Task Force company truck with a rack in the bed in the upper right.
In the front row from the left, a gold over white ’58 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Sedan, white over yellow ’56 Mercury Monterey Coupe, gray ’52 Plymouth Cranbrook Club Coupe, and the nose of an ivory ’49 or ’50 Chevrolet.
Now we are at the Northland Center Mall in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was opening day on March 22nd, 1954, and there was lots of American iron in the parking lot. On the left a black ’51 Ford, white over green ’54 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan, black over red ’53 Dodge, black ’51 Kaiser Special 4 door sedan, and perhaps a black over blue ’54 Buick convertible.
Let’s head back west to the Bon Marche in Eugene, Oregon. The newest cars I see were a tan ’57 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 or Super 88 Fiesta wagon on the right edge, and next to it at the curb was a two tone ’57 Buick. Others include another ’51 Ford sticking it’s nose in the left edge, a green ’55 Ford Custom Ranch Wagon 2 door with fender skirts, blue ’48 or ’49 Hudson Commodore Convertible Brougham, gray ’49 Plymouth Special De Luxe 4 door sedan at the curb, and a green over off white ’54 Oldsmobile Super 88 turning the corner.
The Sunrise Shopping Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is where this image was taken in 1956. It looks like a GM town with two Buicks, a white over green ’53 Super or Roadmaster on the far left and a gray ’51 Special DeLuxe Tourback Sedan on the center row. Also there are two Oldsmobiles a green over white ’54 Ninety-Eight 4 door sedan and a white over red ’55 Super 88. And one Chevrolet, a ’54 Two-Ten Handyman wagon.
There were no results from a quick photo search on this one. The newest cars were the two ’60 Chevrolets on the right edge, a white over turquoise Impala Sport Coupe, and a white over black Bel Air 4 door sedan. Some other interesting units were a sharp white over red ’58 Oldsmobile Super 88 or Ninety-Eight Holiday Coupe, black ’53 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 door sedan in the center, and in front of it a blue ’59 Buick LeSabre 2 door hardtop.
This is another one with no quick search results, but I am going to guess somewhere in North Carolina. The ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten or Bel Air 2 door sedan in the lower left is from a dealership in Durham, although the newest car I can ID is from ’61, the license plates have the color and design of ’62 North Carolina, and “Colonial Stores” was a southern institution. There are three ’61s I see, a turquoise over white Plymouth Fury 4 door sedan in the center of the image that looks sharp in that color combo and style, on the other side of it a white over blue Pontiac Catalina Sedan, and further down in the driving lane headed this way was a ’61 or ’62 Ford Econoline, which is also the only truck. Others include a red Volkswagen Type 1 close to the right edge, with a blue Citroen DS on the other side of it, next to the white ’60 Dodge Dart 2 door hardtop.
Here we are at the Dixie Square Shopping Center (later the Dixie Square Mall) in Harvey, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The photo was shot in ’68, two years after it opened. It had a relatively short life as it was closed by ’78. Around that time it was used to shoot a scene in the classic movie “The Blues Brothers”, which was released in 1980. After that it remained vacant until it was torn down in 2012. Parked on the left was a ’66 Buick LeSabre convertible, and to the right a ’65 Dodge Dart 270 is heading away.
We are now in Phoenix, Arizona at a Woolco Department Store. I did not find a photo date, but I am going to say mid ’66 given the license plates and I see at least four ’66 models. There was also some sort of promotion going on for RCA Victor. The ’66 models were, on the first row left edge the corner of a gold Pontiac, next over a Dodge Coronet 500 2 door hardtop with a vinyl roof. And two Chevrolets, an Impala Sport Coupe in green by the building, and above the yellow ’65 Ford Mustang Hardtop was a Bel Air 2 door sedan. Others included a gold ’63 Oldsmobile F-85 DeLuxe 4 door sedan, three Volkswagen Type 1s, and the oldest was a ’56 Buick in front of the Coronet.
Our final image is another one with no search results. The “Hinky Dinky” was a grocery store based in Omaha, Nebraska, with stores mainly in Nebraska and Iowa, so that narrows it down somewhat. Above the red ’59 Chevrolet Bel Air 2 door sedan was the roof of a Chrysler product fuselage style, with a gold wagon fuselage to the left of it. Those debuted in late ’68 as ’69 models, and are the newest I see. At the left edge of the “Hinky Dinky” building was the roof of a light colored Jeep Gladiator, and to the right of the “H-D” sign a blue Volkswagen Type 1, which made up the trucks and foreign cars. Otherwise, in the foreground left a black over cream ’68 Ford LTD 4 door sedan, and on the right a tan ’68 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova Coupe.
Thanks for riding along and have a great day!
And the memories come rolling in .
-Nate
They sure do, in my case Towson, Eudowood, Westview, and Perring Plazas, all around Baltimore in the late ’50s to late ’60s, the prime time for the suburban “Shopping Center”.
great shot of that sharp ’58 Ninety – Eight Holiday coupe in chrome with paint trim.
I can help with the locations of the North Carolina images (Pictures 6 & 7).
Picture #6 (with the red ’58 Olds) was taken at the Cameron Village Shopping Center in Raleigh. I believe we’ve had a few other pictures of Cameron Village here a while ago, but not from this angle. The business far in the background is the Red Wolf Restaurant, which lasted there until the mid-1960s.
Picture #7 (Colonial Stores) was at the Northgate Shopping Center in Durham (later the site of Northgate Mall). The image below (from a grand opening pamphlet) shows how the scene lines up:
Beat me to it re. Cameron Village 🙂 This angle has the Stephenson Music Company (music/record/book store) on the left. That means that Cameron Street is running down the middle of the picture (actually separating 2 parking lots and more shops across the street).
Like the fabulous cars, Malls and most of the stores are now a fading memory. BTW, I believe WOOLCO was an off shoot of F. W. WOOLWORTH, as AyrWay from L. S. AYRES (Indianapolis) which eventually became TARGET.
Mall have sure evolved since the 50s and 60s
Ah, the Emporium now long gone. Had many locations in the Bay Area from San Francisco, out to Walnut Creek, and down to San Jose. Stonestown is out by S.F. State on 20th Ave. I always patronized the main Emporium in The City on Market Street and had a girlfriend who worked the Men’s Department in the early 80s.