Jeff Arellano's Commentary

Built to revive the city of Hawthorne, it opened in [1977] as a renessiance to the city, one to lure people from shopping in Torrance and stay in the community. Three department stores were located here. A Montgomery Wards on the North End, a JCPenney on the south end, and in the middle was the large 3 story Broadway store.

The mall suffered from a bad clientelle and low income in the area and started to die out in the early 90's. It was in the mid 90's that Montgomery Wards was the first to pull out of the plaza. This caused a mass exodus of shops leaving the mall on the north end.

In 1995, Federated Department Stores bought out the Broadway Stores and this store was on their hit list to close. But it didnt at first. It stayed open for a few more years as The Broadway - A Macy's Outlet.

It was in the late 90's that JCPenney closed it doors (around 97) and that left the mall to house several mom and pop stores, and the outlet. The mall finally completely closed in 1999.

This wasn't the end of the mall though. Just like Dixie Square, film crews used it as a mall for filming, first seen in 2001's Evolution (this was filmed right after the mall closed) and later in 2002's Minority Report. These two movies saved the mall from demolition.

Today the mall still sits, as it is slowly getting remodeled. The Broadway's logo is still on the building, but recently, the Montgomery Wards was transformed into an office. Sooner or later, the entire mall will be an office building.

Herbert M Hunter's Commentary

Hawthorne Mall's site was acquired and developed around 1975. Construction of the mall began in either late 1975 or early 1976 on the three-story shopping center, its adjecent parking garage and what was then a six screen movie theatre (which was considered big back in the days before the megaplex cinemas).

Hawthorne Mall (sometimes called by locals in Lennox, Hawthorne, and Inglewood as "Hawthorne Plaza Mall") was opened sometime between September 1976 and February 1977 with much fanfare. The mall was a popular attraction for families due to the wide variety of shopping venues, the location, the large parking ramp and nearby expansive parking lot, and its proximity from other (older) shops along Hawthorne Boulevard.

Unfortunately, the mall was built next to the proposed area of where Interstate Highway 105 (the Glenn Anderson Frwy.) was to be built. Most freeways helped bring in traffic to shopping centers in many areas in the Los Angeles area. I-105, on the other hand, was one of the negative factors to the neighborhood nearest to the mall. According to someone I once spoke to on a customer service call while I was at work in Minnesota in 1990, the freeway's construction depressed property values in the area and the crime that once stayed out of the mall area was now all around the mall.

Photos:

Photobucket Link - pics of this mall