Archive for the 'History' Tag
August 2nd, 2009, 6:00 am by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
 Construction on the second Nordstrom at South Coast Plaza was completed in 1986. / File photo, The Orange County Register The first Nordstrom at Fashion Island is under construction for a 2010 opening now. But two had been built at South Coast Plaza by 1986.
Nordstrom expanded for the first time outside the Pacific Northwest when it opened at South Coast Plaza in 1978.
According to a 1986 South Coast Plaza newsletter:
“We thought we made a good offering when we came in 1978,” explains Betsy Sanders, Nordstrom vice president, California division, “but we’ve learned a lot - both about ourselves as merchandisers and about our customers in Orange County and Southern California - and we now know which ways in which we can improve.”
Apparently, customers liked what they saw. That South Coast Plaza store “did two and a half times the expected volume from the very beginning and now handles at least three times the business for which it was physically designed,” the 1986 newsletter said.
Nordstrom’s first tentative step outside its original geographic area was clearly a success. And it followed by building a new store that was twice as big as its first one near its original location. The second Nordstrom at South Coast Plaza opened in May 1986.
Among the additions to the new 237,000-square-foot space were the Collectors, Gallery, and Savvy departments for women; the men’s department; three departments for shoes; couture department; fine jewelry salon; expanded fur gallery; and new gift boutique.
“Special services, including a shoe shine stop in the men’s area, an expanded Cafe Express - complete with a terrace for dining alfresco - a full-range personal shopper program, and a multi-purpose room designed specifically for fashion shows, seminars and other special events, make this store unique,” the newsletter said.
Bruce Nordstrom, a co-chairman of Nordstrom at the time, said in the newsletter that South Coast Plaza “provided a launching pad for us. I don’t think (our success) would have come as quickly or as successfully anywhere else. We were so fortunate to have that first store at South Coast Plaza.”
Click here for a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story on Nordstrom’s decision to come to California.
Thanks to the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau for access to its archives.
More on History from the South Coast Plaza blog:
For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • Department stores • History • Nordstrom | Post a Comment »
July 26th, 2009, 9:21 am by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
 A 1999 photo of Crystal Court / File photo, The Orange County Register When it opened on Oct. 31, 1986, there was not yet a bridge connecting it to South Coast Plaza, but it had a name: Crystal Court.
Although the Crystal Court name has since been discontinued, several of its inaugural stores are still open today.
Three - Coach, Ralph Lauren and Footlocker - eventually moved to the main shopping area of South Coast Plaza. Three others - Jessica McClintock, See’s Candies and Talbots - remain in what I now call the West Wing.
The two original anchors, The Broadway and J.W. Robinson’s, have been replaced by Macy’s Home, Crate & Barrel, Borders and Sport Chalet.
Here is a list of stores and their descriptions, as written in a 1986 South Coast Plaza newsletter:
- Aca Joe - Men’s and women’s apparel
- Alcott & Andrews - Executive women’s apparel
- American Museum - Prized historical documents
- B.B.C. - Apparel for the fashion conscience
- Bass - Shoes
- The Broadway
- Casual Corner - Women’s apparel
- Coach - Classically styled leather goods
- Connie Shoes - Women’s shoes
- Daniel Cremieux - Men’s and women’s apparel
- El Portal - Luggage and luxury leather goods
- English Heritage - One of a kind gifts
- Esprit/Children
- Esprit/Shoes
- Esprit/Sport
- Footlocker - Sport shoes
- Gianni’s - Italian cuisine
- Hathaway’s - Gifts and cards
- Jessica McClintock - Designer women’s apparel
- J.W. Robinson’s
- Koala Blue - Australian-themed designer apparel, gifts and snack bar (founded by Olivia Newton-John)
- North Face - Outdoor apparel and equipment
- Optical Fashion Center - Eyewear
- Overland Trading - Men’s and women’s apparel
- Pappagallo - Women’s shoes and apparel
- Ralph Lauren Polo - Men’s and women’s apparel
- Rainbows - Custom jewelry
- Red Cross Shoes - Women’s shoes
- Scribner’s - Publishers of fine books
- See’s Candies
- Shane Elliot - Fine jewelry
- Talbots - Classic women’s apparel
- Tutti Animali - Plush animals
Thanks to the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau for access to its archives.
I’ll be sharing more historical tidbits about South Coast Plaza on upcoming Sundays.
More on the West Wing from the South Coast Plaza blog:
For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • History • West Wing | 2 Comments »
July 19th, 2009, 6:00 am by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
 Air conditioning ducts are installed at a school in Anaheim. / File photo, The Orange County Register Of all the superlatives South Coast Plaza has earned, here’s one from the February 1967 issue of Orange County Illustrated: “California’s largest and most exciting weather controlled suburban marketplace.”
It refers, of course, to the air conditioning, a relatively novel idea for a shopping center at the time.
According to Orange County Illustrated:
“The new regional shopping center makes use of one of the world’s most modern air conditioning installations, producing hot and cold air from a central plant and piping it to the individual shops where it can be controlled to the proper temperature requirements.
“Actually it represents the first time in California that a development of this type and scope has utilized an office building or hotel approach to air distribution.”
The architect behind South Coast Plaza, Victor Gruen Associates, had also designed the nation’s first air-conditioned enclosed mall at Southdale in Minneapolis.
Karl Van Leuven, one of the design team’s members, told Orange County Illustrated that an advantage to controlling the temperatures of the mall and the individual stores is that the stores may eliminate its conventional doors and show windows.
The merchants “can fully open the front of his store to pedestrian traffic. In effect, making the entire storefront a show window without glass,” he said.
Indeed, unlike stores that have exterior entrances, South Coast Plaza tenants can keep their doors open to customers without wasting any energy.
The A/C is also why the historical publication’s 30-page story on South Coast Plaza is called “Every Day is Spring.”
And in this hot weather, we are certainly thankful for that.
I’ll be sharing more historical tidbits from Orange County Illustrated and other sources on upcoming Sundays.
More on History from the South Coast Plaza blog:
For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • History | 1 Comment »
July 17th, 2009, 12:00 pm by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
Yes, South Coast Plaza has - a lot - of security.
But aside from protecting all the valuable merchandise within, they no doubt also deter the petty vandalism that former operations manager Bus Cornelius recalls.
Here are a few ways people misbehaved during Cornelius’ tenure in the early ’70s when there just one security chief and 13 officers:
- The fire department had to be called out about once a month to put out fires in trash bins, which had been caused by people flicking their cigarettes. Because they occurred so frequently, Cornelius suspected they had to be intentional but the firefighters didn’t seem to mind. They told Cornelius, “Oh gosh, Bus, we don’t mind coming to the mall where the nice-looking girls are at. It gets us out of the fire station,” he said.
- Some visitors would bring liquid soap in innocuous-looking soda bottles and dump them in the fountain. Security officers found a spray that would kill the bubbles immediately.
- When coins seemed to be missing from the fountain, maintenance workers were suspected but security officers were later caught.
- Today, shoplifters target the stores. Back then, people were seen pulling the center’s expensive plants out by their roots and taking them home.
- When graffiti began showing up in the back corridors, fake cameras dissuaded future vandalizers.
More Behind the Scenes from the South Coast Plaza blog:
For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • Behind the scenes • Crime • History | Post a Comment »
July 17th, 2009, 6:00 am by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
 Bus Cornelius was in charge of constructing the fountain at South Coast Plaza. / Photo by Candice Shih A recent article about the outdoor carousel horses at South Coast Plaza struck a particular chord with Merl “Bus” Cornelius.
As a former superintendent in charge of construction and an operations manager, Cornelius led the refurbishment of the wooden horses.
But his memories go beyond the equine decorations. From 1968 to 1970, Cornelius, 87, had been responsible for building Phase Two of South Coast Plaza, an area stretching from the fountain to Jewel Court.
On a recent tour of South Coast Plaza, which is about half a mile from his Costa Mesa home, Cornelius pointed out the landmarks he worked on.
We started first at Jewel Court. “This is my milestone here,” he said.
Then Cornelius pointed at the stained glass in the dome. “You’d think it comes from Italy. It comes from a cave in Pasadena,” he said.
The travertine marble in the walls is Italian, however.
Before there was marble in the flooring as well, Cornelius said, there were red tiles the size of bricks but about a half-inch thick. But sunlight expanded them and they came loose.
The fountain, his other major landmark, was a work in progress, too. A hole that could accommodate two cars was dug about 100 feet east of where it is now.
For reasons unknown to Cornelius, the architect relocated it to where it is now and the superintendent had his workers fill in the first hole and dig another. Not knowing what the finished product would look like, they also ended up constructing a plywood model of the fountain that cost $64,000 in itself.
“The Segerstroms, when they do anything, they do it with a touch of class,” said Cornelius, referring to South Coast Plaza’s owners.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • Behind the scenes • History | 2 Comments »
July 12th, 2009, 6:00 am by Candice Shih, Staff Writer
 The May Co. building is seen in this historical photo. / Courtesy photo   Many of you will remember the grand opening of Bloomingdale’s at South Coast Plaza two years ago.
Fewer will recall the store that originally opened in that location - May Co.
The department store chain opened what it called its “lucky 13th” location at South Coast Plaza on Feb. 21, 1966, according to the February 1967 issue of Orange County Illustrated.
More than 5,000 celebrated May Co.’s opening night at a champagne gala hosted by the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor.
Here’s what Orange County Illustrated said about May Co.:
“May Co. South Coast Plaza comprises 248,000 square feet of shopping facilities - including its Forecast Shops, with designer news, sportswear (sea, surf, ski, sand, lounge), furs, furbelows, shoes, millinery, hosiery, jewelry … its Barton Hall for collegians and Men’s Store for boys, young men, collegians and businessmen … its May Mart, a store-within-a-store on the lower level, with timely merchandise arranged for easy selection and planned to pamper the budget - with quality and flair in men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, accessories, linens, draperies, floor coverings and more … and its customer servives, including Auto Center, Decorating Service, Beauty Salon, Shop At Home, Travel and Phone, Mail Order.”
(I’ll save you the trouble of Googling “furbelow.” It’s a ruffle or flounce on a garment and it’s pronounced as it looks, “fur-below.”)
In addition, May Co. housed the Terrace Room restaurant, which included a coffee shop and served “luncheon and supper.”
According to Orange County Illustrated, General Manager Ray Klauer “initiated something unusual - a women’s advisory board made up of representatives of selected organizations from most of the neighboring communities.”
“This is so we can tell them more about May Co. fashions and the department store business,” he told the magazine. “In turn, this allows the members to ask questions … and make suggestions as to how we can serve them better.”
May Co. and Robinsons collaborated to form Robinsons-May in 1993.
I’ll be sharing more historical tidbits from Orange County Illustrated and other sources on upcoming Sundays.
More on History from the South Coast Plaza blog:
For more on South Coast Plaza, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Posted in: South Coast Plaza • Department stores • History | 2 Comments »
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