  Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 840 Registered: 10-2003 |
2007 marks the 50th anniversary of Eastland Center. In celebration of the event, the center has created a photo exhibit detailing the history of Eastland. Sadly, the poster sized photographs have been mounted on the false facades of the many vacant stores that now dot Eastland's landscape. It would have been nice if the photos had been captioned, but I'll bet that there are no old timers around in the organization who remember the once great shopping center's glory days. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 379 Registered: 09-2007 |
They used to all be in a hallway at the other end of their old Food Court (you could see them all the time). I guess they collected them and moved them around when they demolished it for Lowes. I don't think any of their original stores are even there now (besides Macy's). | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2014 Registered: 01-2004 |
The photos are mostly strange idiosyncratic happenings - I wish they had construction photos or images showing the original configuration of the outdoor mall. The new mall built recently was touted as some special thing for being an outdoor design - its like nobody remembers what Eastland was. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 3873 Registered: 02-2005 |
This is the only mall I've ever been vaguely familiar with, as it was about 3 miles from where I grew up. I haven't been in the actual mall for probably five years. Like all malls, it is doomed to eventual failure. It is handy having the two home improvement stores there, though. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 841 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroitrise, There are a handful of original tenants still toughing it out. I have a list of Eastland's original retail stores, if anyone is interested. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 906 Registered: 01-2007 |
We used to steal stuff from there (Eastland) when we were kids. That is till we got nabbed and beaten. Any photos of the old open mall anyone? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 381 Registered: 09-2007 |
"We used to steal stuff from there (Eastland) when we were kids. That is till we got nabbed and beaten. Any photos of the old open mall anyone?" Well at least we know why Eastland has a high vacancy rate (j/k Bullet, lol). | ||
Maxcarey Member Username: Maxcarey Post Number: 189 Registered: 07-2006 |
Ed Please list | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1676 Registered: 03-2006 |
my whole family (ma, pa aunts uncles) all worked at the Big Boy | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 842 Registered: 10-2003 |
Original Eastland tenants, from the March 1958 edition of The Eastland Center News. A.A.A. Bird Store Albert's, Inc. Alexander & Hornung, Inc. Appearance Shop Artiste Beauty Salon Awrey Bakeries, Inc. Baker's Shoes Barna Bee Children's Shop A.S. Beck Shoe Store George M. Beebe, Inc. Brothers Restaurant Brothers Carry-Out Chandler's Shoes Community Key Shop Corey's Jewel Box Cunningham Drug Stores Detroit Edison Detroit Vital Foods Dube's Barber Shop Eastland Flower & Plant Market Elliott Travel Service Emile Beauty Salon Englander Furniture Company Evelyn's Town & Country Fanny Farmer Candy Fintex Clothes Fruit-A-Rama Gugala Camera Shop Hartfield's Hot 'N' Kold Shops The J.L. Hudson Company The J.L. Hudson Pantry Shop Hughes & Hatcher Joli Beauty Salon Juliet Wearing Apparel Kay Corsetiere Kinney's Shoes Kitty Kelly Shops S.S. Kresge Company Kroger Company Macauley's Stationers Marianne Shops Marwil Book Store Maxwell's Toys McDevitt's Morley's Candies National Bank of Detroit Phillips Shoes Queen Cleaners Raimi's Curtains Robinson Furniture Company Russell Kelly Office Service Sallan Jewelers Schiller's Millinery Suzy Hats Thom McAn Shoe Store The Tie Rak United Shirt Distributors U.S. Post Office Van Horn's Men's Wear Winkelman's (Message edited by ed golick on October 28, 2007) | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5582 Registered: 11-2003 |
Eastland and Northland for us Westsiders was all the rage back then. Nothland went up with the John C. Lodge Expy. in 1954. jjaba doesn't see the gloom and doom results. Sure, the stores have to change, and infact, open air malls are coming back. Vacancies are a sign of poor management and mix, not the property nor concept. That's how Americans like to shop. As Harper Woods reinvents itself, the Eastland Center also has to adjust. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 382 Registered: 09-2007 |
I only see 2 (or 3 stores) on that list that are still in Eastland (Corey's Jewel Box and Baker's and the Post Office). Unless, many of the stores have changed their names or went out of business. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5584 Registered: 11-2003 |
This is also a function of American family life. The idea of next generation in retailing doesn't work. The kids go to college and bust their ass not to work as hard at retail as parents. They'd rather work in corporate or the professions. Some stores can continue if an employee buys it out. jjaba has seen a Japanese baker running a German Bakery, a Mexican shoe salesman, buying out some old Jew, etc. But this seems rare. jjaba. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 843 Registered: 10-2003 |
Looks like only Bakers Shoes and the U.S. Post Office have been there from the beginning. The current online listing doesn't list Corey's Jewel Box. (Message edited by ed golick on October 28, 2007) | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1917 Registered: 04-2005 |
A couple of past threads with some photos and recollections of Eastland. https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/62684/66966.html https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/89914/103180.html | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2547 Registered: 10-2003 |
My son works for a retailer who opened a store at the new Mall at Partridge Creek. He had been out there to help set up the new store and was describing how the Mall is an open air village, no cars (unlike the Village Shops in Rochester Hills, where he works). That gave me an opportunity to tell him about how Eastland and Northland were both open air malls when they opened back in 1957. Just another case of what goes around comes around!! | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 35 Registered: 08-2006 |
There was always debate in Seattle-many argue Northgate Mall-near my grandmother's house, with some great sales on flannel to be had-was the 1st Mall. I see by this thread they're probably right-but then Seattle also fights with Portland over who had the first "Skid Row" so go figure... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N orthgate_Mall_(Seattle) http://history.sandiego.edu/ge n/soc/shoppingcenter.htm | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 74 Registered: 09-2005 |
Eastland and Northland were very big deals when they opened. The Hudson's stores were full line stores and they were beautiful. They weren't as big obviously as downtown, but they had everything. My Grandma worked at the Northland Hudson's , and she used to take me to the employees cafeteria for lunch. They had the best food and you didn't have to leave the store. The malls themselves had all of that beautiful artwork, mosaics and fountains. We always had to be on our best behavior, and not run around like we did when we went shopping at Westborn, Wonderland, or Cherry Hill Plaza. Northland and Eastland, in the 50's-60's, were considered upscale. | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 709 Registered: 07-2004 |
Where most of the stores when these malls opened, chains, or more local Detroit only places? Just wondering. Are they going to be holding a huge party though? You would think the mall would play up 50 years pretty big. | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 75 Registered: 09-2005 |
It seems like the cast of stores are the "Detroit Regulars". Hudson's really had the monopoly on designer and high end items. Stores like Winkelman's and Van Horn Men's Wear were nice, but moderate in price, and were all around the city. | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 210 Registered: 05-2006 |
Speaking of open air malls, I always liked going to Wonderland when I was a kid. I still have vivid memories. Then along came Westland and that was all the rage. Speaking of Westland, is it the city named after a mall or a mall named after a city? Just kidding. My ex is from Wasteland. | ||
Catman_dude Member Username: Catman_dude Post Number: 248 Registered: 03-2006 |
I was the one who put the story of how Westland, the city, was named after the mall in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W estland%2C_Michigan Seattle's Northgate may be the first mall but Northland is the first *enclosed* mall. Eastland followed three years later. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6731 Registered: 02-2004 |
It's a pitty that Wards 2 floor store in Eastland went out of businesses just 7 years ago and so did the Eastland theater. Eastland Mall still survive with a new food court, Sears, Smith and Barney's K and G Clothier and it lured a lot of shoppers. Once a hot spot for folks from the 5 snobbyvilles is now a hot spot for mostly African Americans. | ||
Imhere Member Username: Imhere Post Number: 35 Registered: 02-2007 |
I worked in the Food court when it 1st opened. I was there for 4 years till I left for a better job. I hadn't been in the mall for almost 6 years when I decided to stop there a couple months ago just to look around. Seemed like most of the stores I knew were gone. There were a few that are still there, but most were different. I saw some of the pictures displayed from the mall's past and brought back some memories. | ||
Sharms Member Username: Sharms Post Number: 28 Registered: 07-2007 |
I was looking at the list of original tenants at Eastland and I LOVED Brothers Restaurant. There was one at Northland as well. My dad was the General Manager of Hudsons Eastland store when it opened. He worked a lot of nights so my mom and I would meet him once a week at Brothers for dinner. My first taste of NY style deli. | ||
Kville Member Username: Kville Post Number: 85 Registered: 04-2007 |
Am I missing something or am I mistaken, but Sanders had a store in Eastland that I thought was part of the original lineup. It's not included in the list above. Did it perhaps open shortly after the shopping center did? That store with cafeteria in the basement was always a regular stop for us. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2023 Registered: 01-2004 |
"Any photos of the old open mall anyone?" Thats what Im saying - how they can show old photos as part of an anniversary and not show the original configuration is beyond me. Am I wrong that Eastland was essentially the first mall the in the USA ? I know construction stalled and Northland was finished first, but it was Eastland that originally broke ground. They do have a few of those nail shops with the hmong employees - the kind where the toxic fumes take the wind out of you three stores before you pass the nail shop. Heres my grandfathers photos from right after the mall opened, including the Sanders store: http://www.detroitfunk.com/200 7/06/malls_and_missile_launche rs.html | ||
Catman_dude Member Username: Catman_dude Post Number: 250 Registered: 03-2006 |
Mauser, I had thought that Northgate Mall in Seattle was the first mall in USA and Northland was the first *enclosed* mall. But this is what Wikipedia has to say: "In North America, the term shopping mall is usually applied to enclosed retail structures (and may be abbreviated to simply mall) while shopping centre usually refers to open-air retail complexes......However, the concept of the fully-enclosed shopping mall did not appear until the 1950s....This new generation, that were eventually called malls, included Northgate Mall, built in north Seattle, Washington, USA in 1950, Victor Gruen's Northland Shopping Center built near Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1954, and Gulfgate in Houston were all originally open-air pedestrian shopping centers that later were enclosed as malls. The first enclosed, postwar shopping center (or mall) was the Gruen-designed Southdale Center, which opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota, USA in 1956. As equally important as the enclosed aspect of these new malls was that for the first time in the development of American cities, these malls moved retailing away from the dense, commercial downtown into the new sprawling and largely residential suburbs. This formula--enclosed space with stores attached, away from downtown, and accessible only by automobile--became a popular way to build retail across the world at different moments." | ||
Catman_dude Member Username: Catman_dude Post Number: 251 Registered: 03-2006 |
DeadMalls.com has several articles on Detroit area malls that are/were dying (or dead in the case of Wonderland Mall): Livonia Mall: Livonia (Detroit), MI Northland Center Mall: Southfield (Detroit), MI Summit Place Mall / Pontiac Mall: Waterford, MI Universal Mall / Universal City: Warren, MI Wonderland Mall: Livonia (Detroit), MI To read the Northland Mall account, you'll have to copy the shortcut, paste in the address bar, add ".html" without the quotes to the end of the shortcut, hit enter. | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2007 |
As a kid, I spent countless hours at Eastland. I could fill this whole web page with memories, as I had a fascination with retailing/marketing from a young age. I can still recall retailers off the top of my head that are not listed on the 10/28 Ed_golick posting from the initial opening in 1957. As is the case with most shopping centers, I'm sure the stores opened gradually over the course of a few years. There was a substantial real estate (& overall) recession in the late 50's, and that may have also slowed the leasing process a bit, although the mass exodus to the suburbs was already well underway. A few stores that were definitely tenants by the early 1960s: B. SIEGEL (large 2-story building) STOUFFER'S restaurant (years before the frozen food spinoff!) SANDERS (as previously mentioned) ROBINSON'S FURNITURE EASTLAND FRUIT & NUT HOUSE (dried fruits & nuts) Also, a trivial footnote: back in the 50s/60s HUGHES & HATCHER was known as HUGHES, HATCHER, SUFFRIN | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 23 Registered: 09-2007 |
I did post a version of this on an earlier thread... In the 70's, my friend's mom worked at the watch repair shop in the Concourse below Hudson's. We spent whole Saturdays exploring the shopping center. We liked to try on the fashions at Zodeen's and, strangely enough, we also went to Englander Triangle furniture store to imagine what we would furnish our homes with once we were grown. One day we found the giant storage closet where Hudson's kept their mannequins, and it was dark and spooky. We used to like to go to Mary Jane Shoes because they had a FREE jukebox in what was sort of a "teen alcove" in the back. When we got snacks it was either a hot pretzel w/mustard or a frozen banana (from...??? What was THAT little shop called? Was it the Fruit & Nut House? It was more or less by itself facing the 8 mile parking lot.) Because of my friend's mom being an employee, one year the two of us were recruited to help with an Easter promotion. We were teens and we were given the job to hand out Easter coloring books & crayons. We wore SATIN BUNNY SUITS. Don't even picture anything like a Playboy Bunny; these were not at all revealing, more like jumpsuits. The funniest part was they did have giant papier-mache rabbits heads to go with the ensembles and my friend tried hers out...man, the little toddlers screamed when they saw that head! She took it off right away and we wore some satin hats with ears instead. I still like to tell people that I worked as a bunny, and just leave it at that. | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 3 Registered: 11-2007 |
Stouffer's Eastland dining room circa early 1960s  | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1920 Registered: 04-2005 |
 wsu/culma Eastland 1961 | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 845 Registered: 10-2003 |
Article from March 1958 THE EASTLAND CENTER NEWS www.detroitkidshow.com/stouffe rs.jpg | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 4 Registered: 11-2007 |
As a child, I recall my mother allowing me to kneel on the slate edge of this fountain pool in order to play with the lilypads and watch the goldfish. I remember at as being burnished copper. This image may have been when it was still brand new before the weather tarnished it. The former JL Hudson store to the right still looks pretty much the same today. What I could never figure out is why Eastland proprieters sold off (or trashed?) everything but the "lion & mouse" artwork when they enclosed it. Why couldn't they have incorporated it into the revised design?  | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 726 Registered: 07-2004 |
So what all these originial malls like now? We know about Eastland and Northland. But what about Westland and Southland? Are they still as populat as ever, or have they also fallen into a decline? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 406 Registered: 09-2007 |
Like Eastland and Northland, Westland and Southland are still chugging along. Every single one of them have seen better days though. However, I do think the SW malls are fairing a bit better though because they didn't see a big shift in the shoppers like Eastland and Northland. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 407 Registered: 09-2007 |
"So what all these originial malls like now?" Oh, and just to point out, that's a major pun (and an oxymoron depending on who you ask). | ||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 127 Registered: 04-2007 |
from virtual city wsu http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/ i/image/image-idx?sid=1969cef6 4f78a1add48e57a0bafc0b90&q1=ea stland&rgn1=vmc_ti&op2=And&q2= &rgn2=vmc_ti&type=boolean&med= 1&view=thumbnail&c=vmc | ||
Eastside_man Member Username: Eastside_man Post Number: 24 Registered: 09-2007 |
How many times has the mouse been stolen off the lion, And have any of them ever surfaced after being stolen. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5590 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks Ed Golick for the great news clipping about Eastland the attached graveyard joke. That was an amazing connection with Cadillac and the Mayor of the town in which he was buried. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 857 Registered: 10-2003 |
Jjaba saying nice things about the east side??? Here's a photo, circa 1957, of Eastland's Grand Court. On stage in the center of the photo is WJBK's Sagebrush Shorty and Skinny Dugan, promoting Back-to-School Week. www.detroitkidshow.com/eland.j pg | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 227 Registered: 03-2005 |
Used to go to Eastland with my mother as a small child. When the mall was an outdoor space. On the SEARS Monday specials she would push me to the front of the crowd to grab what ever was on sale. Then I would climb the brass lion out side and be rewarded with a 'Hot Fudge Cream Puff' at the lunch counter at Sander's Ice Cream. Ahhh....pleasant memories. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 633 Registered: 07-2007 |
Chris Rock: The thing that makes me most happy is doing stand up. Being on the road, on tour, checking out America. There's no more America. Remember when we were kids it was America? You go see your grandma, go to her little town? There's no more little towns, it's all malls. All malls and they're all the same. The same mall St. Louis is the same mall in Detroit. Got the same Gap, Banana Republic, Chest King, Sunglasses Hut, all the same crap. And every town's got two malls: they got the white mall, and the mall white people used to go to. 'Cause there ain't nothing in the black mall. Nothing in the black mall but sneakers and baby clothes. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt02 55574/quotes | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6427 Registered: 10-2003 |
Here's how it was supposed to be... http://internationalmetropolis .com/?p=88 | ||
Onthe405 Member Username: Onthe405 Post Number: 5 Registered: 11-2007 |
Thanks Aiw for the link to the original Gruen/Krummeck design. The idealized vision of 50's "modernity" is straight out of "The Jetsons". Great stuff. Just look at Eastland today or Hall Rd in Clinton/Sterling/Shelby and you'll see a perfect example of how "Everything old is new again". The original proposed design is much closer to the suburban "big box" retail configuration we see today. The focus is on the automobile, and how close the patron can park it to the destination store. The final Eastland plan was drastically different than the original in that it was much more pedestrian-friendly. Although parking was plentiful, the focus was an attempt to create a "substitute" for a real downtown, where all the retail is within a stroll after parking. Hudson's was visionary in choosing the final design, as their full-line department store was the focal point in the shopping center. The peripheral stores provided a vital service as specialty shops that complemented & supplemented Hudson's merchandise selection. The smaller stores were guaranteed foot traffic & potential patrons when the shoppers were on their way to Hudson's. This isn't as true today. People parking & shopping at Home Depot are much less likely to browse at Circuit City if it's at the other end of the shopping center, than they would if they had to walk by Circuit City in order to get to Home Depot. The death of many downtowns, the birth of the shopping center, the advent & demise of the enclosed mall, and the transition to "big box" and online shopping: it's amazing how retail has cycled from one trend to another in just a few generations. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 506 Registered: 09-2007 |
"This isn't as true today. People parking & shopping at Home Depot are much less likely to browse at Circuit City if it's at the other end of the shopping center, than they would if they had to walk by Circuit City in order to get to Home Depot." Now I know you're not talking about Eastland. There's not a Circuit City anywhere within that area. | ||
Carm Member Username: Carm Post Number: 67 Registered: 01-2007 |
There was a Circuit City on the property. It closed in the last year or so. It was over by the Home Depot. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5597 Registered: 11-2003 |
Ed golick #857 shows that jjaba can say nice things about the Eastside. Maybe it helps that jjaba's Italian girlfriend on Fleetwood St. in Harper Woods was a real jewel. She loved Eastland. jjaba, Proudly Westside. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 571 Registered: 09-2007 |
"There was a Circuit City on the property. It closed in the last year or so. It was over by the Home Depot." Yeah, I know that. I used to shop at that location. It was shuttered over the summer. I typed that comment with irony. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2566 Registered: 10-2003 |
Eastside_man: The original Mouse has surfaced, under a promise of anonymity, and given to the Detroit Historical Museum earlier this summer. After being exhibited there, it will be given to the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University. From the Detroit News: Prodigal mouse returns: Pilfered icon back at mall after 50-year trip http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/OPINION03/707060395/1038/LIFESTYLE01 Here's a photo I took of the mouse on display at the Historical Museum in September:  | ||
Pgn421 Member Username: Pgn421 Post Number: 196 Registered: 02-2005 |
The first strip mall in the United States, was located at E.Warren and Conner. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 672 Registered: 07-2007 |
first strip mall on connor/warren, no shit, any pictures, this is interesting. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 643 Registered: 09-2007 |
^^^And still is there and vibrant. Possibly oe of the largest hot spots for retail within the city (beisdes 7 Mile/Gratiot and 7 Mile/Livernois. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 675 Registered: 07-2007 |
i'll have to take a second look i didn't know it is was still there, wow. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 863 Registered: 10-2003 |
Lefty2, How old is it? Where did you get your information? | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 134 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, With the boat load of memories from Eastland, One in particular stands out. Joe Dimaggio was signing autographs that summer day in 1984, So I went and got a Mrs. Robinson 45, by Simon and Garfunkel, For Him to sign. When I got up there , He took a long look at and finally signed it, So I pushed my luck, and asked if He would sign the Jacket too, Joe said " Sayyy, what are you trying to pull kid?", And then one of His bodyguards came over to see what was up, and took one look at the record, and then at Joe, and in unison said " yeah, its the hippie guys song." Anyway He signed it. Later after his death, I learned in Time magazine, that He thought that Simon and Garfunkel were making fun of Him. And that explained it all. |
