From the Archives: Parkway Plaza opened in 1972

Parkway Plaza opened in October 1972 as the primary air-conditioned, enclosed shopping center in San Diego County.

It was a $30 million retail growth on 80 acres in El Cajon. Its “anchors” have been a two-story, 285,000-square-foot Sears retailer and a 110,000-square-foot Could Co. retailer. 100 small retailers and a big Woolworth’s retailer separated the 2 anchors.

In keeping with the middle’s directors in 1972, the standard buyer anticipated on the Parkway Plaza buying middle was “a 27-year-old housewife with one baby and a husband who earned about $11,000 a 12 months.”

From the Night Tribune, Monday, Oct. 2, 1972:

CHAMPAGNE TOUR SET

Three flags to fly at Plaza opening

Tomorrow three flags shall be hoisted — the American flag, California flag and the Parkway Plaza flag at opening day ceremonies for the brand new buying middle.

From 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. a VIP champagne tour shall be given for elected officers from El Cajon; different buying middle administration groups, and the information media.

Ed Backlund, vice chairman of the event division for E.W. Hahn Inc., will ship a gap day tackle at 9:30 a.m.

At 10 a.m. , the flags shall be raised by members of the El Cajon council, Boy Scouts of America. The El Cajon Excessive Faculty marching band will play the nationwide anthem and a medley of tunes.

As a substitute of the normal ribbon reducing, a giant-padlock which is able to lock chains positioned throughout the buying middle entrance, shall be unlocked with an equally giant-sized key held by the middle’s supervisor, developer, Retailers Assn. consultant, Chamber of Commerce consultant and Mayor James Snapp of El Cajon.

The general public will then be invited to view the brand new shops.

Listed here are a few of the unique buying middle tenants, in alphabetical order.

Alroe ladies’s put on, Anita Store, Vince Bartolone Realty, Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors Ice Cream Retailer, Bel Aire Uniforms, The Brick Shirt Home, California Bicycle Store, and the Casons Inn seafood restaurant.

Central Federal Financial savings & Mortgage, Chess King modern sports clothing, Cohen’s Kosher Model Deli, Loopy Shirts, Daisy’s restaurant, Edie Adams Lower & Curl and Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor restaurant.

Vogue Conspiracy, Florsheim Sneakers, Meals Basket Market, Foxmoor ladies’s fashions, The Hole, Gallenkamps footwear, Completely happy Steak, Hardy Sneakers, Hartfields (ladies’s put on), and Hatfield Jewelers.

Family Finance Corp. of El Cajon, Worldwide Well being Meals Ltd., Jacobson’s division retailer, Denims West, Karl’s Sneakers, Kinderfoto, optometrist Dr. David L. Land, dentist Dr. Terry L. Lawrence , Lawson Jewelers and Leed’s ladies’s footwear.

Leonard’s males’s put on, Marina Carpets & Draperies, Masters Unique Candies, Could Firm, Mission Music Co., Morrow’s Nuts, Mom To Be Maternity outlets, Mr. E males’s put on, Nature Meals Facilities, Night time & Day Formal Put on, Parkway Barbers and Parkway Plaza Laundry.

Pup “N” Juice, Radio Shack, Rafferty’s Candies, Insurgent Store males’s put on, Regal Sneakers, Richman Brothers footwear, Riviera Chairs and Couch Beds and the Sears, Roebuck & Co. anchor tenant that first opened on the positioning in 1969.

Singer stitching machines, Straw Hat Pizza Palace Eating places, Streicher Sneakers, Swiss Colony, Thom McAn footwear, Thompson Jewelers, Thrifty Drug Shops Inc., Tie Shak, The Tinder field smoking provides and Triple R shoe restore

United California Financial institution, United Artists film theaters, United Sporting Items, Common Boot Outlets, Walden Guide Shops, Weisfield Jewelers, Wherehouse data, Wicks “N” Sticks craft retailer, Woolworths and Yardage Metropolis.