Eastwood Mall

Eastwood Mall was one of the earliest American shopping malls and the first enclosed mall in the Southeast. Located on Crestwood Boulevard (U.S. Highway 78) near I-20 and the suburb of Irondale, the mall opened in 1960 with tenants such as J.J. Newberry's (a five and dime chain), a Kroger supermarket, a Colonial Stores grocery, and local chain Hill's Food Stores (which evolved into Winn-Dixie). The mall had no major department store anchors until the mid-1960s and 1970s. Anchors that have been connected to the center over time include Parisian, Pizitz (later known as McRae's), Yielding's and Service Merchandise.

Eastwood Mall was the creation of Newman H. Waters, who owned a chain of drive-in theaters in the Birmingham area, including one adjacent to where Eastwood was built. Early advertisements for the mall boasted of its "Air Conditioned Sidewalks" and that it was "The Merchandise City of the Future".

For quite some time, the mall was unique in that it had two cafeterias under the same name and management, one at each end of the mall; Barber Dairies was the original owner, who later sold out to Britling Cafeterias, who themselves sold one location to Pioneer Cafeteria and closed the other. Above the west end of the mall was office space, rented out for several years to a division of Rust Engineering.

The 48-lane Eastwood Lanes bowling center, the Aeromarine boat dealership, and a small amusement park with miniature golf called Funtown were located across the parking lot from the west end of the mall.

A movie theater opened on Christmas Day 1964 and was equipped to show Cinerama movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ice Station Zebra. The Mall Theater was the site of the premiere of the 1976 film Stay Hungry, which was set and filmed in Birmingham. Then unknown actor Arnold Schwarznegger attended the premiere.

Eastwood Mall in 1981. Courtesy Birmingham Public Library

At the time of its 1966 expansion to 70 stores, Eastwood Mall was believed to be the largest enclosed mall in the Deep South. Parisian built a new 35,000 square-foot anchor store at the mall in 1969, it's fourth branch to open in six years. Architect Brandon Crawford designed the store with a low-slung modern appearance.

In 1967, Newman Waters sold the property to the Alabama Farm Bureau (today known as ALFA), which owned the property until the mid 1980s. In 1989, Eastwood Mall recieved a facelift, adding a food court with a large glass skylight and a wall of video screens. Books-A-Million came to the mall and the Parisian store was enlarged. The cinema, however, closed.

Eastwood Mall was once one of the leading malls in Birmingham, remaining enormously successful for 30 years and continuing to hold its own in the 1990s. No longer able to compete with larger malls, and facing decline in the Irondale area plus the bankuptcy of Service Merchandise, the mall began to fade after 2000 and was finally closed in 2004, with the remaining anchor, Parisian closing a year later.

Demolition

Wal-Mart bought the property from Lehman Brothers (the last owner of Eastwood Mall), and built a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the site as part of the Eastwood Village shopping center constructed by MAP Development.

Demolition of empty outbuildings began in May 2006. On June 29, 2006 Mayor Bernard Kincaid swung a hammer into the plate glass doors at the main atrium entrance to symbolically begin demolition of the main building. The new Wal-Mart opened in October 2007.

References

• "Parisian has eyes on Eastwood Mall" (August 1969) Birmingham News
• "Eastwood Mall." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 May 2006, 19:40 UTC. 17 May 2006, 19:41 [1].

External links

Locate with
Google Maps

• Story of Birmingham's Eastwood Mall at Birmingham Rewound
• Birmingham Public Library: Eastwood Mall
• Eastwood Mall at deadmalls.com