New Horton Plaza attracted crowds 35 years ago

Thirty-five years ago thousands jammed Horton Plaza, downtown’s new shopping center, for a charity New Year’s Eve masked ball. The mall closed in 2020 and is being converted into a mixed-use office park.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1986:

More than 2,000 tuxedo-attired and sequined-gowned San Diegans quaffed champagne to the new year last night within the confines of Horton Plaza, downtown’s new shopping center, while outside, observers clad in T-shirts and baseball caps scrambled up stairs and over dirt piles for a peek at the fireworks, confetti, balloons and elegant partygoers.

“It’s a giant bar scene,” said Jane Mitchell approvingly, a vacationing college student who attended last night’s revel.

“There are lots of attractive men and they’re all dressed (well),” Mitchell said. “There’s something about a tuxedo ...”

The black-tie, masked party was sponsored by the San Diego League, a civic organization that hoped to raise about $25,000 to divide among four charities: the San Diego Rescue Mission, the Bridge Storefront, the Mirror Group, and Voices for Children.

The event was the second party for the four-story, downtown shopping center which opened Aug. 8 with a preview, fund-raising bash attended by nearly 7,000 people.

It was San Diego’s answer to Times Square’s new year celebration even though last night’s Horton Plaza party — at $30 per person in advance or $35 at the door — lacked the distinctive street flavor of New York’s gathering.

A ring of walkie-talkie-equipped security guards made sure those wandering into Horton Plaza to catch a movie and a hot dog on a stick upstairs didn’t wander into the shrimp quiche and smoked salmon canapes downstairs.

Still, the upper levels of the center had a good share of observers, including Emmie Rangel, wife of a security supervisor, who brought her two sons for a peek at what she called the “beautiful people.”

Gold lame, sequined, lace, and low-backed dresses of all colors predominated. Elaborate feathered, sequined and pearl-embellished masks were worn by both men and women. In corners, couples kissed, apparently impatient for midnight while unpaired men and women in groups of twos and threes strolled.

“It looks like a younger group,” Rangel observed. “I don’t see people here over 50.”

The crowd, which danced exuberantly to rock songs by Page 1, a Los Angeles band, and shunned the mellow sound of Techno Pop, a jazzsynthesizer group, was definitely representative of San Diego’s up-and-coming population.

Those attending included store operators from the plaza, a group of which had commissioned Mike Mitchell to videotape their evening.

“It’s a historic, annual event and those people who didn’t (come) are going to be sorry,” Mitchell said during a break in his taping.

Others, like Carl Ducket, are old hands at celebrating in San Diego’s revitalized downtown.

Ducket, sporting a gray camel hair coat and a diamond earring, listed the plaza’s opening and the opening of the plaza’s Third Avenue Restaurants as downtown social events he had attended.

As the night progressed more revelers filed into the shopping center. Party-goers shouted greetings and exchanged hugs after spotting friends in the crowd.

At midnight, a cannon shooting fireworks counted down the last 10 seconds to midnight after which streamers, balloons, smoke and confetti filled the air and a fireworks sign reading “Happy New Year” lighted the top floor.