Santa Monica Place is an outdoor

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. The mall is located at the south end of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade shopping district, two blocks from the beach and Santa Monica Pier. The mall spans 3 levels. The anchor store is Nordstrom. A second vacant anchor space was formerly

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a divi ...

The mall's tenant mix is predominantly upscale, featuring Tiffany & Co.,

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and lea ...

, Burberry, Emporio Armani, and Diane von Fürstenberg. It underwent a massive, three-year reconstruction process beginning in January 2008 and was re-opened as a modern outdoor shopping mall on August 6, 2010.

History

Santa Monica Place originally opened as an indoor mall in 1980 at the apex of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, developed jointly by The Rouse Company and The Hahn Company. Originally anchored by

J. W. Robinson's J. W. Robinson Co., ''Robinson's'', was a chain of department stores operating in the Southern California and Arizona area, previously with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. History Joseph Winchester Robinson was a merchant from Waltham, ...

and The Broadway, it featured 120 shops, restaurants and a food court, spanning three levels. Notably, Santa Monica Place was one of the first works of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considere ...

and his first shopping mall, after being rejected from designing The Mall in Columbia in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages ...

, early in his professional career with Gruen Associates. In the 1990s, both anchor stores changed names. In 1993, the Robinson's store rebranded as Robinsons-May while The Broadway store rebranded as

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

in 1996.

Macerich Macerich ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 properties compri ...

purchased Santa Monica Place from Rouse in 1999, and rumors of major changes to the then-flailing shopping center were reported. In 2004, the company proposed tearing down the mall and replacing it with a complex of high-rise condos, shops and offices. The plan met with strong opposition from local residents who felt the project did not meet the low-rise character of the neighborhood and would worsen traffic. In 2006, Robinsons-May closed as a result of Federated buying out May Department Stores in 2005. The store was replaced by Steve & Barry's in 2007. In a second 2007 proposal, Macerich significantly scaled back its plans, which was received as positive by the public, and was passed. The $265 million project removed the mall's roof and gutted the interior, replacing it with two levels of retail shops and a third-level food court. At the same time,

Kevin Kennon Architects Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

converted the original Macy's into a

while the Steve & Barry's was replaced with a Nordstrom. Dallas-based Omniplan served as the executive architects in association with The Jerde Partnership who served as the design architects. The grand reopening occurred on August 6, 2010. The architect for the redesign was Jon Jerde. It was his last major work before he died. The mall was officially reopened on August 6, 2010. On November 15, 2015 an Arclight Cinemas multiples opened in a new structure atop the Bloomingdale's anchor store. The theater closed on March 17, 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. On April 12, 2021 it was announced that the closure was permanent. On January 6, 2021, it was announced that the

anchor store would close. The store closed on March 28, 2021.

Public Transit Access

The

LACMTA The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

E Line terminus station is located across the street from the former Bloomingdale's. In addition, many Santa Monica Big Blue Bus routes serve the mall. 052607-009-SMP

References

External links

* {{Shopping malls in California Commercial buildings completed in 1980 Buildings and structures in Santa Monica, California Landmarks in Los Angeles Frank Gehry buildings Shopping malls established in 1980 Macerich Shopping malls on the Westside, Los Angeles Tourist attractions in Santa Monica, California 1980 establishments in California