Palm Beach Mall
West Palm Beach, Florida - circa 1968
Another stunning shot of the incredible "Wonderfall" water fountain and retro interior of the Palm Beach Mall! It just doesn't get much better than this, if you ask me.
Photo caption:
"A Florida landmark, the new Palm Beach Mall houses 87 stores including three department stores and nine restaurants. The beautiful illuminated Wonderfall is the centerpiece of a completely enclosed and air conditioned plaza. Such luxurious shopping facilities combined with the fabulous Florida climate guarantees a holiday that will never be forgotten by the millions annually that come here."History: 1967 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
posted by Keith @ 8/14/2006
12 Comments:
Fancy...
It's an excellent shot, especially because it includes more of the mall.
Scott
This is the coolest mall ever, love it!
Wowsers!!!
That's one wild center court! I love it.
I remember at one point the muzak in the mall was playing Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me). You know, The Breakfast Club song. Now to this day when I hear it, it's as if the fountain is trying to tell me something.
LOL, Anonymous #2! :D
As for another memory, I remember all the news about when Burdines opened here (now Macy's). Since the original store was in downtown West Palm Beach with all the other stores that left around it, people got really mad. Now downtown WPB is a very upscale place and the Palm Beach Mall has normal mall tenents like Victoria's Secret, Express, Gamestop, etc. I don't think any mom n' pop stores are left.
Anyways, also when the Burdines was built at this mall, it was very cutting-edge. While my mom was taking hours in the fitting room, I used to "explore."
Now why can't they keep them like this anymore for all us mall architecture fixated weirdos to visit?
This fountain reminds me of either a giant bird feeder or some sort of Star Trek-ish transporter unit. Unlike most malls of the era, it looks like this place was too bright and flourescent-soaked. I think I'd get a migraine going down that concourse to the left. I went back and looked at the old posts and I think the second photo of the fountain that you posted is great -- it looks like the pond is neverending... it makes me want to get a little row boat and drift along.
As for Anonymous "exploring" while in the fitting rooms... if he explored them like some little boys do, I know now why he chooses to remain nameless!!! :-O
This is funny. I wish the Palm Beach Mall looked like this still. I live 15 min away from this mall, and although they are doing a lot to restore it (I think they might even be done)We have 3 other malls in Palm Beach County, this is the one that no one really goes too. At all! It's very run down and lots of crimes were committed here. But as for what it used to look like, it looks so different and I like it. As an architect student, I love the fountain area especially. And that kind of landscaping should come back around in Palm Beach Mall... we have landscaping like that all over the county so it would def fit in again, maybe bring more of a population to the mall too.
I didn't say that I explored in the fitting rooms. When my mom was in them, I walked all over the store.
Oh and Anonymous, there are alot more than three malls in PBC... But it is true that they took alot of traffic away from the Palm Beach Mall, but it's not that run down. If you've ever been to the Coral Square Mall in Coral Springs or the Orange Blossom Mall in Fort Pierce, you'd think this was like the Galleria of Houston.
Palm Beach Mall was great...very original in design. Does anyone have a complete list of the original stores?
Post a Comment
<< Home