Westfield Century City

Westfield Century City, formerly Century City Shopping Center & Marketplace, is a shopping mall in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is owned by Westfield Group. Its anchor stores are Bloomingdale's and Macy's. It also contains an AMC Theatres multiplex.

History

Originally called Century Square Shopping Center, the mall opened in 1964 with The Broadway as its sole anchor. Early retail operations included Silverwood's, Clifton's Cafeteria, Joseph Magnin, Judy's, Harris & Frank, See's Candies, Contempo Casuals, and the Century House restaurant. An expansion in 1976 brought in a second anchor, Bullock's, as well as more shops. These buildings, having brown brick exteriors, were built on top of a formerly open air parking lot. The mall's next major renovation came in 1987 when the old tent like structure at the northwest corner of the mall was taken down and in its place came a food court built in the form of an updated urban market and appropriately named the Marketplace. That renovation also brought in a 14-screen AMC movie theater that, in the era before multiplexes came of age, was one of the largest movie theater complexes in the U.S. Both the Marketplace and movie theaters immediately became hits. In 1996 both The Broadway and Bullock's closed when The Broadway's struggling parent Carter Hawley Hale was acquired by Federated Department Stores. Federated converted The Broadway store into Bloomingdale's and the Bullock's into a Macy's. The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2002 and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Century City", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In 2004, Westfield initiated a $127 million renovation which had largely been completed as of mid-2007. The old Marketplace and movie theaters have been converted to new retail shops catering to the more upscale, trendy customer.

Built on what had been 20th Century Fox's back-lot, the mall was the site of location shooting early in its existence. It can be seen extensively in 1967's A Guide for the Married Man and Caprice as well as 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, all produced by 20th Century Fox.

Parking

The mall has subterranean parking. The first three hours are no longer free as of 02/01/2013. Valet parking is available on Santa Monica Boulevard and Constellation Boulevard. Until November 22, 2006, street parking was available directly adjacent to the mall on Santa Monica Boulevard. On that date, Los Angeles Department of Transportation workers painted the curb on this part of Santa Monica red. As of August 2008 Westfield has installed a Park Assist guidance system which includes electronic signage and coloured bay status indicators.

Anchors

• Bloomingdale's (222,000 sq. ft.) - opened 1964 as The Broadway, converted to Bloomingdale's in 1996
• Gelson's (37,140 sq. ft.)
• Macy's (135,000 sq. ft.) - opened 1976 as Bullock's, converted to Macy's in 1996

See also

• Westfield Group

References

v t e Westfield Shopping Centers in the United States Florida Brandon Citrus Park Clearwater Hialeah Sarasota (Square) Sarasota (Southgate) Plantation Los Angeles Arcadia Culver City Canoga Park (Topanga) Century City Palm Desert Santa Ana Sherman Oaks Woodland Hills Valencia Maryland Annapolis Bethesda Wheaton Midwest Aurora North Canton North Olmsted Skokie Vernon Hills New England Meriden Milford Trumbull New York City area Bayshore Massapequa Manhattan Paramus Northern California Roseville San Francisco Metreon San Francisco San Jose-Oakridge San Jose-Valley Fair San Diego Carlsbad El Cajon Escondido National City San Diego (Downtown) San Diego (University City) San Diego (Mission Valley) Washington Olympia Tukwila Vancouver Westfield Group