Irvine Spectrum Center
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The Irvine Spectrum Center is an outdoor mall on the south-east edge of Irvine, California, centered on a large Edwards 21 Cinemas movie theater. Built over a 10-year period, the first phase of the mall opened in 1995, with the second phase following soon after in 1998. The third phase was completed in 2002. The fourth and fifth phases were built and completed through 2005 and 2006. It also boasts the gamut of normal mall shop chains including Spencer Gifts, Barnes and Noble, Macy's, Nordstrom and Hot Topic. Some restaurants include P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Fox Sports Grill, Red Robin, Champps, and more. The Irvine Spectrum Center also hosts The Improv, Dave and Buster's and the Yard House.
The 21-screen movie theater, was at the time of its completion, the largest movie theater in the western United States. During development the Edwards company code-named it "The Big One", which remained the movie theater's nickname for a while thereafter until numerous other theaters eclipsed its screen count, particularly AMC's 30-screen complex at The Block in Orange. It was built for the expressed purpose of showing every movie currently in wide release, and features four large auditorium-style theaters for the currently popular films, surrounded by 16 smaller stadium-seating screens and an IMAX theater. The theater's opening attractions were "Toy Story" and the IMAX 3D feature "Into the Deep". Originally it featured four concession stands as well as a candy stand in the main lobby, but the IMAX concession stand and candy stand soon shut down, leaving only the main concession counter in the center of the megaplex and two of the satellite concession stands [one on the north side near two of the large auditorium-style theaters, the other on the south side by the other two auditorium-style theaters] used during the heavy seasons. When Edwards Cinemas was bought by Regal Cinemas in 2000, the cineplex was heavily altered, much to the confusion of moviegoers. Entrances to theaters were relocated to less-visible locations, and many of them were converted to stadium seating which eliminated up to a third of their seating capacity. The theater was highly visible at night, bearing over two miles of pink and purple neon lights. This night-time visibility has since been reduced drastically by the addition of parking structures and the mall's second phase. Searchlights were added around the perimeter of the mall to compensate for this loss of long-distance visibility.
A solid-white obelisk, located on the northern corner near the 5 freeway, makes it a landmark of the area. The obelisk, prior to November, 2005, was a multi-color computer generated display of blues, greens, and purples. During the holiday seasons, various season-appropriate symbols were also displayed. However, beginning in November, 2005, the obelisk now shines in a bright white color that still makes it a landmark. The obelisk conceals a cell phone and television tower inside of it.
The Irvine Spectrum Center also features a large ferris wheel and a carousel. The unusual architecture of the mall is based on the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, figuring most prominently in the mall's second phase. Though it is a popular site it is also well known for its chronic parking problems. To remedy the situation, the Irvine Company, owners of the Irvine Spectrum Center, have built two separate parking structures (one on each side): one by Edwards, the other by Nordstrom and Sharper Image. As a result, more space was open to build more retail stores such as Nordstrom (now open), The Saleen Store, and Target (open as of July 23, 2006). Many Irvine residents can easily spot the location of "the Spectrum" at night because of the moving searchlight-esque lights it projects in the night sky. It can also be seen on both the I-5 and I-405 as it is located right at the I-405/I-5 split (also known as the El Toro Y)
