Plaza Progress

Something more recent for a change!

The regional indoor shopping mall known today as Plaza West Covina is a half-century old this year. Originally called West Covina Fashion Plaza, its grand opening took place September 25, 1975.¹

A couple weeks ago, I discovered a newly-available series of aerial photos on the UCSB Geospatial Collection website which appears to have been taken to document the yearly progress of the BKK landfill in the San Jose Hills. Far up near the top edges of these photos, however, were glimpses of the main West Covina shopping center which is the subject of this article, and they visually document in detail how the Plaza under its various names has evolved over time.

All photos courtesy of UCSB Geospatial Collection; captions and credits below. Click on the image above to view an enlargement.

1973: The last year of the original West Covina Plaza shopping center, which first opened in October, 1956.²

1974: Construction of the new indoor mall.³

1975: The completed West Covina Fashion Plaza.⁴ The west wing of the old Plaza was demolished, temporarily sparing the building formerly occupied by J. C. Penney.

1977-1992: The east wing of the old Plaza was kept open for business until its demolition commenced in Fall, 1991.^5,6

1995: This configuration has remained relatively unchanged to the present day,⁷ except that the building formerly occupied by Tower Records and Desmond's before that was demolished in 2009.

More dates, photos and factoids below!

West Covina Plaza during its Grand Opening month of November, 1956.
Photo by Julius Shulman, ©J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

The main businesses in the original West Covina Plaza were Thrifty Drug, F. W. Woolworth, Bank of America, J. C. Penney, J. J. Newberry and Shopping Bag.

The northeast wing of West Covina Plaza was dedicated as the "Eugene L. Wood Building," and it opened the week of November 18, 1957.⁸ The main businesses in this section were Coffee Dan's, Western Auto, and (United) California Bank.

The next addition to West Covina's shopping district was Fashion Center, which opened in 1962. It comprised The Broadway and Desmond's on Batelaan Avenue (now vacated), and Barker Bros. on nearby Service Avenue (today's West Covina Parkway).

In late 1973, much of the original West Covina Plaza was demolished to construct a new regional indoor mall. It would be built such that the existing Broadway department store would serve as an anchor for one end of the new mall. The east wing of the old Plaza was retained as a strip mall and would continue to house businesses and serve customers for an additional 18 years.

West Covina Fashion Plaza in its original Seventies incarnation. Photos by Sylvan Shulman, 1977. ©J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).

Main north entrance to West Covina Fashion Plaza, 1977.

View from The Broadway anchor store looking east.

View from the Bullock's side of the mall looking west.

Select opening dates of the main businesses and anchor stores in the Plaza in the 20th century.

West Covina Plaza (1956):

F. W. Woolworth & J. C. Penney: October 25, 1956.^9,10
Thrifty: November 1, 1956.¹¹
Bank of America: November 16, 1956.¹²
Shopping Bag: December 20, 1956.¹³
J. J. Newberry: End of February, 1957.¹⁴

West Covina Fashion Center (1962):

Desmond's: April 30, 1962.¹⁵
The Broadway: August 6, 1962.¹⁶
Barker Bros.: October 24, 1962.¹⁷

West Covina Fashion Plaza (1975):

Bullock's: September 25, 1975.¹
J. C. Penney: October 22, 1975.¹⁸

And my two favorite stores:

Licorice Pizza: July, 1975.¹⁹
Tower Records: June, 1978.²⁰

References:

¹ Los Angeles Times, September 21, 1975, p.79.
² ©Aerial Map Industries, Flight: AMI-LA-73, Frame: 6653, Date: 22 Jan 1973.
³ ©Aerial Map Industries, Flight: AMI-LA-74, Frame: 7237, Date: 18 Jun 1974.
⁴ ©Aerial Map Industries, Flight: AMI-LA-75, Frame: 7352, Date: 5 May 1975.
⁵ ©Aerial Map Industries, Flight: AMI-LA-77, Frame: 8738, Date: 27 Jul 1977.
⁶ ©Eagle Aerial Imaging, Flight: EAG-LA-92, Frame: 598, Date: 13 Jan 1992.
⁷ ©USGS, Flight: NAPP-2C, Frame: 6875, Date: 3 Oct 1995.
⁸ West Covina Daily Tribune, November 8, 1956, p.11.
⁹ Covina Argus-Citizen, October 25, 1956, p.5.
¹⁰ Covina Argus-Citizen, October 25, 1956, p.39.
¹¹ Covina Argus-Citizen, November 1, 1956, pp.26-27.
¹² Covina Argus-Citizen, November 15, 1956, p.18.
¹³ Covina Argus-Citizen, December 19, 1956, p.33.
¹⁴ Covina Argus-Citizen, February 28, 1957, p.24.
¹⁵ Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1962, p.7.
¹⁶ Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1962, p.69.
¹⁷ Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1962, p.584.
¹⁸ Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1975, p.148.
¹⁹ Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1975, p.487.
²⁰ Los Angeles Times, June 18, 1978, p.543.