MISSION VALLEY CENTER OPENED IN 1961

Opening day 60 years ago brought tens of thousands of shoppers to the new “modern-as-tomorrow,” Mission Valley shopping center.

Now called Westfield Mission Valley, the mall originally was developed by the May Company after the City Council voted to rezone the property in 1958 for commercial use. From The San Diego Union, Tuesday, Feb., 21, 1961:

THRONGS WELCOME MISSION VALLEY CENTER

HUGE CROWDS ATTEND OPENING

By Joe Brooks

Tens of thousands of San Diegans yesterday accorded an enthusiastic welcome to the city’s newest institution, the spacious and modern-as-tomorrow Mission Valley Center, on its opening day.

A huge crowd was on hand at the 80acre development in Mission Valley for the formal opening ceremony at 11:45 a.m., and more thousands kept pouring in through the remainder of the day and evening.

They were treated to a sight to gladden any shopper’s heart: A huge May Co. department store and 41 other shops, carrying virtually every conceivable item of merchandise from the smallest pin or button to the largest home appliance — displayed in a new and modernistic setting.

Mayor Dail explained the importance of the opening in a talk before the ribbon-cutting

at the entrance to the May Co. store.

He said the center “is as important to the economic development of the community as the coming of the old consolidated aircraft factory, (now Convair) and more recently, Convair-astronautics.”

Richard Schneider, general manager of the $25-million center, said the opening day crowds “greatly exceeded” the 100,000 persons who had been expected.

“What’s more, they were buying,” he said. Schneider said sales on the opening day greatly exceeded expectations.

By 12:30 p.m. less than an hour after the center opened, all of the 7,000 parking spaces were filled.

BUSES USED

In the early evening hours the center pressed into service a 1,000-capacity temporary lot east of the May Co. store. Visitors were shuttled from the temporary lot to the center in buses. The weather man joined in the holiday spirit of the occasion. He provided warm sunshine and a sparkling clear day for the festivities. All available police motorcycle officers were on duty at the offramps leading from U.S. 80 to the center to keep traffic moving. Twenty private patrolmen handled parking in the various lots around and under the center, directed by walkie talkie radio from a control center on the roof of the May Co.

ESCALATORS WATCHED

The crush of shoppers was so great inside the department store that fire marshals were stationed at each end of the escalators to keep them from becoming so clogged they could be hazardous in event of fire. These were good-natured crowds, though, enjoying their exhilarating introduction to the new regional merchandise mart.

The day’s activities opened shortly before noon in the Fountain Court on the parking level beneath the center’s central mall. Speaking from a microphone in front of a 40-foot tower of cascading water, Dail’s wife welcomed the center to San Diego on behalf of the area’s women shoppers.

PIGEONS RELEASED

Then 35 children from the Nazareth House simultaneously pulled ribbons releasing a flock of pigeons which winged off into the distance. The formal opening then shifted to the west entrance to the May Co. store. where dignitaries took their places on a speakers’ platform. Norman Foster, Chamber of Commerce president, acted as master of ceremonies. He praised the center’s developers for “transforming an unpredictable river bed into a great commercial institution.”

Morton D. May, president of the board of the May Co., was the chief speaker. He said San Diego is a “dynamic community” and the center is “an expression of our faith in San Diego.”