Long before Gadsden got her own shopping mall - people would drive down to Birmingham to the Eastwood Mall. Click on the link to go to a website with lots of images. Gadsden residents (67 miles north of B'ham) began regular trips down to Birmingham to shop. Built in 1960 adjacent to the Starlite Drive-In was touted as the South's largest mall. It was larger than any mall that was in Atlanta, GA. Newman H. Waters, who owned a chain of drive-ins including the Starlite, was the developer and owner of the Eastwood Mall venture.One of my earliest ventures to Eastwood Mall was with my parents back in 1969. It was an odd coincidence that the Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin's movie Paint Your Wagon opened that week I went there. My 10 year old mind was wondering if it were Clint Eastwood's mall. As part of the theater's campaign, they had a wagon with Paint Your Wagon painted on the covering of the wagon. We didn't go to the movie, but I remember a lot of people there. In the mid-seventies - the theater premiered STAY HUNGRY which was filmed in Birmingham and co-starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold was present for the show's opening but he went pretty much unrecognized by the movie goers.
The mall brought all kinds of businesses along that long strip of US 78. If you were going to spend the day down in Birmingham, chance were you'd be heading down toward Eastgate. Malls are everywhere now - but Eastwood Mall was my first mall experience. It was pretty mega for it's day. The mega-malls that came along later dwarf the old Eastwood, but Eastwood was THE PLACE to shop for many years Any time I passed the place over the past few decades, I would think of it's former glory. It had seen it's better day and was leveled a few years ago. I ran across the site I linked to and brought back some old memories.
4 comments:
My mom and I went to Eastwood mall right after it opened. We were shopping for school clothers. J.J. Newberry was the store and BENNY CARL Blue jeans were the prize. Benny Carl was a local kid show host who (heavens knows why) had his own line of kid's jeans. SO naturally every kid had to have a pair. I remember thinkin how cool it was to have all the stores under one roof.....Wow! We were in the future.....
mb
I read where the Eastwood Mall originally opened with mostly local business's and not major franchises. The franchises came later.
Eastwood Mall owners shot themselves in the foot when they renovated the mall and saddled the stores with an overwhelming rent increase. The store owners moved out because they couldn't afford the overhead. This sounds strangely familiar. Perhaps Eastwood Mall was run by Democrats.
I would like to talk to mb about the Benny Carl show.
billym
I grew up in a small town outside of Birmingham and when my mom wanted to do serious shopping, we would drive to and spend the day at the Eastwood Mall (mid 70s). I couldn't wait to get my lips on a treat that was sold there, from an independent vendor in the food court. It was, best I recall, called a Grecian Ice and was a cross between ice cream and an icee, served with a spoon in a white paper cup. Banana was my fav flavor. The only other place I ever saw these Grecian Ices was at Pete's Hot Dogs. Years later, when visiting Alabama, I searched for this childhood treat but it was nowhere to be found. I've since searched the internet, blog sites, restaurant reviews and still, no mention anywhere of this fruit flavored treat. Does anyone else remember this yummilicious stuff?
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