Beverly Center

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Beverly Center


caption = View from the intersection of La Cienega Blvd. and 3rd St.
location = Los Angeles, California
opening_date = March 1982
developer = A. Alfred Taubman, Sheldon Gordon & E. Phillip Lyon
manager = Taubman Centers
owner = Taubman Centers
floor_area = convert|883000|sqft|m2|abbr=on
number_of_stores = 160+
number_of_anchors = 2
floors = 8
website = [http://www.beverlycenter.com/ Beverlycenter.com] The Beverly Center is a shopping center in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Description

The Beverly Center is a monolithic eight-story structure located at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, California, between La Cienega and San Vicente boulevards. Anchor tenants include Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and a 13-screen movie theater (originally a 14-screen multiplex). While the mall features staples of American retail—such as Banana Republic, Victoria's Secret and Forever 21—it is also home to several high-end designer boutiques, including Armani Exchange, Just Cavalli, D&G Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Ben Sherman, Diesel, Gucci, Dior, and Hugo Boss. The mall's Rooftop Terrace offers sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills, Downtown Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Westside.

The Center's externally-visible escalators previously resembled similar escalators at the Pompidou Center in Paris, France; however, the escalators underwent renovation in 2007 and now have a significantly different appearance.

History

The Beverly Center was originally opened in 1982 by developers A. Alfred Taubman, Sheldon Gordon & E. Phillip Lyon. (The site's former occupant was a small amusement park featuring a ferris wheel and pony rides known as Kiddyland.)

The opening of the mall featured the debut of the Cineplex movie theater - a multiplex movie theater initially boasting 14 screens, at that time the largest number of movie screens in any US multiplex. [http://www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4898032-1.html] The multiplex was launched on July 16, 1982, with the West Coast premiere of Miramax's The Secret Policeman's Other Ball which played on three of its fourteen screens. Even though the movie theater was located in Los Angeles, the opening was newsworthy enough to warrant a full article in the New York Times. [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7220/] . The theater was subsequently sold to a different movie theater chain and reduced to a 13-screen theater.

The mall contained the USA's first Hard Rock Cafe, being the third one after the London original and the initial North American one in Toronto. The Beverly Center was originally anchored by Bullock's and The Broadway department stores, in 1993 Bullock's opened a separate Bullock's Men's store, before both stores were renamed Macy's in 1996. The Broadway closed its location in 1996 when it was absorbed into Macy's and its former store was reopened by as a Bloomingdale's in 1997.

In 2004, Taubman Centers, the public Real Estate Investment Trust and successor to A. Alfred Taubman's shopping center interests, purchased its partners minority investments stake in the property.

Local competitors

Located just a mile away is The Grove at Farmers Market. Opened in 2002, The Grove provides heavy competition to the Beverly Center as much of the business the Beverly Center once saw has been diverted to The Grove. The Beverly Center takes in 13 million people per year, compared to The Grove's 21 million.

In popular culture

*The Beverly Center appears in the Brian De Palma film "Body Double".

*The centre appears in a Season 1 episode of the popular television series "The Colbys" where it was shown to be called Bullock's Beverly Centre.

*Scenes from the movie "Chopping Mall" were shot at the Beverly Center in 1985.

*A chapter in the 1985 Bret Easton Ellis novel "Less Than Zero" is set in The Beverly Center.

*The Beverly Center was the setting of the 1991 film "Scenes from a Mall" starring Bette Midler and Woody Allen.

*While under construction, the Beverly Center was used as the backdrop for the 1976 film "Lipstick"

*The Beverly Center played a part of the plot near the end of the 1997 disaster thriller ""Volcano" (film)" starring Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche. A triage and childcare center for neighboring Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was set up in the mall's Hard Rock Cafe. This was evacuated when a geyser of lava erupted out of San Vicente Boulevard, threatening the structure and its occupants.

*Crispin Hellion Glover briefly references the Beverly Center in his song, "Auto-Manipulator": "the fine clean girl at the Beverly Center..."

*Usher The R&B singer alludes to the paparazi spotting him having an affair with a woman at the Beverly Center in his song, Confessions: "I was hand in hand in the Beverly Center like man not giving a damn who sees me."

* The Beverly Center appears numerous times in the animated carton Totally Spies!.

Tenant Directory

Anchors

*Bed, Bath & Beyond
*Bloomingdale's (163,000 sq ft.)
*Macy's (157,000 sq ft.)
*Macy's Men's Store (68,000 sq ft.)
*Mann Beverly 13 Theatres

Food Specialty & Restaurants

*Auntie Anne's Pretzels *Bon Gelato * [http://www.californiacrisp.com California Crisp] *California Pizza Kitchen *Chipotle Mexican Grill *The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

*De Euro Café *Grand Lux Café * [http://www.greatkhans.com Great Khan's Mongolian Festival] * [http://www.thegreatsteak.com The Great Steak & Potato Co.] *Häagen-Dazs *Hibachi-San

*Kentucky Fried Chicken Express *Mrs. Fields' Cookies *Panda Express * [http://www.pastagina.com Pastagina] *P.F. Chang's China Bistro *Quizno's *Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill

*Sbarro's Pizzeria * [http://www.silkysmoothicecream.com Silky Smooth Ultra Premium Ice Cream] *Starbucks * [http://www.todai.com Todai] *Tommie's Hamburgers *The Wave Restaurant

External links

* [http://www.beverlycenter.com Official Beverly Center Web site]
* [http://www.taubman.com Taubman Company] (owner)
* [http://www.beverlycenter.com/infodesk/media/177.html| fact sheet]