Blackest Friday: Westside Pavilion's Ghost Town

Over at LA Observed, Kevin Roderick (who took the photo above) writes that he "had to kill some time before seeing ‘The Favourite’ so walked over to see what a dying mall looks like on Black Friday weekend. Why even keep the lights on?" Check out his Instagram for some truly sad photos of an empty Westside Pavilion. Macy's and Nordstrom have already left; at this point, how can any of those remaining stores even stay in business? As the L.A. Times wrote, the plan is to turn the mall into business offices by 2021. But there's no way any of the remaining shops can hold on that long.

Westfield Century City Turns Into a Ghost Mall for 2016

Westfield Century City's $800 million remake is underway -- but for now, that means it's looking like a ghost mall. Most retail and restaurants have now closed, with the exception of the food court and AMC movie theater, and some retail around it.

The LA Times summed up the new look last fall:

The overhaul comes after a major renovation just a decade ago, underscoring the challenge of keeping pace with the revolution in retail.

When the work is completed in 2017, Westfield will have spent about $1 billion on improvements since acquiring the mall in 2002, estimated Peter Lowy, co-chief executive of Westfield Corp.

The project will transform and expand the luxury property with new shops and a heavy emphasis on restaurants — largely in an outdoor setting intended to embody the Southern California lifestyle.

The transformation into a so-called lifestyle center — a concept popularized in Los Angeles at the Grove — will include the addition of a Nordstrom department store that is moving from rival Westside Pavilion, and the first California branch of Eataly, a fashionable gourmet Italian food emporium co-owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali.

The latest restaurant to depart: BJ's, which joins Pink Taco, Seasons 52 and The Counter in leaving. Macy's is now closed, as are most shops on the East end of the mall.

Warning: Westfield Century City Starts Charging For Parking On...

As we wrote in October, the days of free parking at the Westfield Century City mall are about to end. And now it's official: According to a sign spotted today at the mall, effective February 1, you're going to pay for the luxury of parking.

And it won't be cheap. According to the sign, the parking will cost you $1 PER HOUR for the first three hours -- and then $1 PER 15 MINUTES after that. (In other words, stay 3 hours for $3, then get out.) Looks like the theater will validate (and apparently Gelson's too, although it's not clear for how long). But other than that, you're screwed.

But hey, if you spend $250 in a single day, Westfield will kindly give you free parking for the day. THANK YOU WESTFIELD.

Los Angeles' New Caviar (!) Vending Machines Pop Up at Local Malls

Tucked away next to the Bank of America ATM machine in a corner of the Century City mall's food court, a vending machine sits, offering $400 caviar to folks who are willing to spend $400 on vending machine food.

Seriously, I've never seen anyone actually use this machine. It's almost like it's a gag. But apparently it's not. According to ABC7, the vending machines are the brainchild of Beverly Hills Caviar's Kelly Stern.



The machines can also be found at Westfield Topanga and Burbank Town Center. Details:

The prices range from a mere $10 for two ounces of Wasabi Tobiko Caviar to $500 for one ounce of Imperial River Beluga Caviar. Stern said those are wholesale prices.

"We can sell it to restaurants at that price, and people can come here and get those prices," said Stern.

Stern admits not everyone will be interested in dropping hundreds of dollars into a vending machine, but then again, she's not targeting everyone.

"We're going after the people who have money but not time," said Stern.

The End of Free Parking at the Century City Mall

[Flickr pic by Seaside Signs.]
Every once in a while I forget the parking card to my Century City office, which is why the free three-hour parking at the Westfield Century City mall comes in handy. Well, that emergency option is about to get expensive: According to Westwood-Century City Patch, that free parking is about to end:

The Westfield Century City mall has the green light to eliminate its three-hour free parking policy and start charging customers to use what is currently the only free parking structure in Century City.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission gave Westfield its stamp of approval in August but it is now up to the mall to decide when to begin charging patrons. It could be as soon as fall of 2013, coinciding with completion of 500 new parking spaces, but the company has not set a date, Westfield spokesperson Katy Dickey said.

The mall has offered free parking since 1988, according to the Planning Commission report. Under the new plan, the shopping center will no longer need to provide three hours of validated free parking to patrons, nor will restaurant and food court lessees be required to advertise a validated parking policy.

The parking fees have not yet been set, Dickey said.

"Everybody likes free stuff, but we believe that [prices are] going to be consistent with and comparable to similar centers in similarly dense areas," she said.

Things are falling apart at the Westfield Century City mall -- a good 50% of the mall's food court has shut down in recent months due to escalating rents, including major chains like Baja Fresh.

L.A. Cameo: 'Glee' Returns to the Eagle Rock Plaza

The Eagle Rock Plaza had already been featured prominently on Fox's "Glee," in a scene last year involving a flash mob imagined by Artie (the kid in the wheelchair).



For this week's episode, "Glee" once again featured a flash mob -- and once again headed to the Eagle Rock Plaza to perform it. As the cast (led by Kurt, played by Chris Colfer) and many others danced to Duck Sauce's "Barbra Streisand," you could easily see plenty of Eagle Rock Plaza stores, including Target, Seafood City, Chowking and Jollibee.



(I'm pretty sure there's no outposts of Jollibee and Chowking, two Filipino fast food chains, in Ohio, where "Glee" is set. Last May, when Jollibee was also spotted on "Glee," it caused such a stir that "Jollibee" became a trending topic on Twitter.)



According to the Eagle Rock Plaza website, the mall is regularly used for film shoots, and has been seen in episodes of "Criminal Minds," "The Closer" and "Without a Trace," as well as countless music videos and commercials.

Retro Friday: L.A. Shopping Mall Edition

The Glendale Galleria plays a supporting role in 1984's "Cloak and Dagger"



The "Downtown of the Future" -- the Bonaventure Hotel's shopping center, circa 1977 -- "an experience you'll never forget."


A time-lapse video of the complete reconstruction of the famed Sherman Oaks Galleria.

Our First Look at the New Santa Monica Place

View from the Santa Monica Place food court

It wasn't too long ago that Santa Monica was still mulling what to do with the fading Santa Monica Place. Earlier this month we finally got our first glimpse at the result: A new, open air shopping center that sits on the old Santa Monica Place foot print.

But this isn't the Santa Monica Place you remember. The old Frank Gehry-designed structure has been replaced by something that faces both the ever-popular Third Street Promenade (I'm not a big fan) and the Santa Monica Pier (bigger fan).

The food court now sits on the third floor, with viewers of the Pier and the ocean. And the mall also contains more higher-end stores than the old Santa Monica Place. The verdict? Fine, although at times I felt like I was simply at the old mall, but with the roof ripped open.

Your thoughts?

The Results Are In: Hollywood and Highland is Your Least-Favorite L.A. Mall

(Flickr pic by Stuck in Customs.)

Our regrets to Hollywood and Highland, which pulled ahead to easily win our survey for worst shopping mall in Los Angeles.

The Beverly Center came closest -- and for me, it's a toss up. The Beverly Center is a hulking mess of an ugly building with no character, but at least it has some actual shopping options.

Hollywood and Highland was terribly designed, with no thought given to where stores are laid out. Some unfortunate shops are found in dead ends, and the corridor next to the Kodak Theatre entrance is particularly sad and un-pedestrian friendly. But at least it's airy, and has views of the hills.

Nonetheless, for being a disappointing example of what could have been -- but wasn't -- Hollywood and Highland wins. Here are the full results:

Franklin Avenue's Wednesday Poll: Pick The L.A. Region's Worst Shopping Mall

(Flickr pic via Champnet.

Having just spent what I assume was a less-than pleasant several weeks at Southern California's various shopping malls, you probably now have a pretty good take on which one best represents the innermost circle of hell.

It's the return of the Franklin Avenue Wednesday poll!

Retro Friday: "This Is A Shopping Mall"

A 1960s tutorial on shopping malls -- including a visit to a Bullock's location. According to the comments, it's likely the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. Any guesses?

Stripped in L.A.

(Flickr pic by Fridayinla.)

The L.A. Times' Thursday "The Guide" section takes a look this week at the hidden treasures of L.A.'s strip mall culture:

Strip malls are a side effect of car culture, after all. But despite their questionable reputations (a blight on the cityscape, say some; Dante's circles of hell, say others), our strip malls hold countless local gems, including gourmet restaurants, music venues, nightclubs and trendy shops.

A few strip mall restaurant faves, according to the paper: Alegria (3510 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake), El Cochinito (3508 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake), Hollywood Thai (5241 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood), La Taquiza (3009 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles), Lempira (4848 Hollywood Blvd., Los Feliz), Lou (724 N. Vine St., Hollywood), Mashti Malone's Ice Cream (1525 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood), Pho Cafe (2841 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake), Saito's Sushi (4339 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake), Zankou Chicken (5065 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood).

Beverly Hills' 1920s-era Clock Market -- which has long since been turned into a car dealership -- is considered the area's first strip mall. As the story notes, the mini-mall phenomenon really took off int the 1980s, when they sprouted up everywhere.

I also blame the strip mall phenomenon for inspiring the current media trend toward combining celebrity couple names. Think about it: Long before Us Weekly began referring to "Bennifer" or "Brangelina," strip mall developers were merging street names to lazily name their properties. Santa Monica and Fairfax? Hmmm... how about the "Santa Fair Plaza"!