Thursday, May 25, 2006

Eastwood Mall


Birmingham, Alabama - 1960's

Haven't blogged this mall yet, so gaze in wide-wonder at the beautiful photograph above! Some of those groovy retro light fixtures we all love, a fountain, a birdcage (it's waaay down there at the other end), nice shadowy "mall" mood lighting, and a cool looking Penney's store sitting fat and sassy just to the right!... who said we can't have it all? :)

Once-thriving (ad at left is circa 1973), but aging in the '80s, Eastwood Mall was renovated in 1989, pumping fresh life into it for a while, but alas, it didn't stick in the long run. After steadily losing most if its tenants by the end of the 1990's and early 2000's, the mall was finally closed to shoppers for good in 2004, and is now awaiting (or just undergone?) imminent demolition to make room for a Wal-Mart. What else?

Mall history: 1960 - 2004
Current aerial view

[images courtesy of The Birmingham Public Library]



2 Comments:

Blogger Scott Parsons said...

I wonder who thought birds in a mall was a good idea. Although, my classic sounds of a mall is water movement and birds squawking.

Sat May 27, 01:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I maintain a "tribute/historical" page on Eastwood Mall:

mywebpages.comcast.net/Eastwood.Mall

As of this writing (07/05/2006) it's being demolished little by little. It's last tenant - Regions Bank - will be closing this Friday (7th).

Wed Jul 05, 08:32:00 PM  

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