Beatrice Contreras's Commentary

The Promenade is located in Woodland Hills, an affluent neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, CA. It opened in the 1970s with high-end retail stores like JW Robinson\\'s, Bullocks, and Saks Fifth Avenue. My partner grew up in the San Fernando Valley and described this mall as being the life of the neighborhood when he was a child: his middle school would take trips here as a reward, and it was always filled with both stores and people.

The property has changed hands a few times. As of 1998, it has been owned by Westfield, who tried to renew interest in the mall. Attempts to reinvigorate the mall have failed, so much so that the mall does not even bear the Westfield name and is not listed as a Westfield property on any of their sites. Proprietors in the mall have sued Westfield for failing to make good on a promise to bring in more revenue and revitalize the space.

The mall itself is a sad sight for many people in the area. It has no anchor stores--its last one, Macys, closed its doors in 2015. The mall houses an AMC theater, a few restaurants in the food court and throughout the large space, and small stores. One of the empty storefronts served as an office for the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. The empty storefronts feature liquidation signs, abandoned mannequins, and dirty floors/windows.

Westfield has unveiled a plan to create a new development, called Promenade 2035, in the space currently housing The Promenade. It is expected to include mixed-use spaces with housing, office spaces, and commercial space.