What great memories! I remember when that high-rise was being built in 1968-69. They would always state what floor they were building and finally when it was topped out. My mother worked at that Hallmark store from 1970-1974. I used to ride my bike there as a kid. Thanks for sharing!
This mall started off as an open-air mall. Business started to decline so they decided to make it an indoor mall by enclosing all the open-air walkways. Business picked up, but then started to decline again and so they made it an open-air mall (again), now know as The Block. Kinda of funny how that worked.
Many people forget, or don't realize, that when Star Wars opened in 1977 only two Orange County theaters were showing it. TWO! One was in Newport Beach, the other was the Plitt at the City Shopping Center. The Plitt was the theater outside the mall with two 700 seat screens. The lines to see Star Wars went around the entire theater... every day... for months. Moviegoers may also remember that the City UA Cinemas were the local place to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Midnight Screenings on the weekends, which lasted for years. Fun video! Enjoyed it.
I once left $50 in a booth at the Carl's Jr by K-B Toys. If anyone finds it, hit me up. This video is exactly what I was looking for in my current nostalgia, thank you🤘
Thank you SO much for this! What a trip down memory lane!.. I used to ride my bike to the City Mall with my mom, it was practically a dead mall by then but still a couple shops and the movie theater was still there.. Then I remember The Block.. What a big deal that was when it opened, with the Van's skate park and Virgin Megastore being the highlights.. Spent many teenage summer days and nights there.. But I couldn't help but always feel a lil nostalgia for the mall that was before the Block, or the Outlets now, my bad ha.. Once again, thank you!
mee too i was devastated when they tore down the mall for the block. do you by any chance remember this weird tree with alot of low branches on it by the bus stop there. i was always climbing it when my mom and i left the mall. i remember she woud always be worried i woud fall down lol. man for some reason i miss that specific tree, weird huh?
Sadly Hilo Hatties is now just a web shop -- no more retail stores. The main store in Honolulu at Ward's Center is long gone now. My mom's from Hilo and remembered when the chain started there in the 1960s
All I remember from The City was the tall office building would shimmer in the summer heat due to the spacing of the vertical vanes in the facade. The only destination I would ever go to (because it wasn't my local mall) was TGI Friday's. We'd go there sometimes after a work shift at Disneyland (parades). I would always order a "Gold Medalist" in a collin's glass instead of the hurricane glass it usually came in because a guy drinking a pink frozen drink has standards. Ha! I just learned that my cousin from TN worked at one when he was younger and could remember how to make them 30 years later!
What a great time at disneyland and orange County those days were ... now it's like an entirely different place .. i worked attractions at disneyland from 1990 until 1998
I was the visual merchandise manager at that JCPenney store in the mid 80s for 3 or 4 years (memory's getting a little foggy). Didn't go out into the mall that much but remember the JCPenney store as the largest one I ever worked in (I worked in 6). Also. there was a huge underground tunnel system for trucks to make their deliveries to the various stores.
I don’t remember shopping there, but I went there at least once when it was a dying mall. I probably went to the movie theater. It was cheap and kinda creepy.
I used to live not far from The City. My friends and I would frequent there, riding our bikes over to The Electric Carousel and seeing a movie, either at the inside theater or at the outside UA theater. I also remember that my parents would take my sister and I over to the JC Penney for our school clothes every year. When The City closed, my friends and I would hang out at the Anaheim Plaza as well as the Buena Park Mall. When we started driving, nothing was better to us than going out to the Brea Mall. Good times and great memories. Thanks for the video.
In 1977, My family went to watch "Star Wars" movie at UA theatres. I rode public bus to The City for change at Bus stop station near TGI Fridays restaurant for go to Santa Ana College in 1990's. In about early 2000's, I went starbucks at The Block on second friday night in every months for Deaf coffee chat as lot of crowd deaf people and enjoy times. Then last time in 2004, I moved to washington state.
I tried to go to The Block when it first opened one Friday night and literally couldn’t find a parking spot. I drove around the parking lot for twenty minutes and finally gave up left. It was the hot spot for cruising too.
Damn I haven’t been there since 2008! I would go there all the time as a kid. I actually remember going to the opening of “The Block” back in 1998 because I lived really close by to the mall. I left the city of Orange and moved to San Francisco after high school in 2008 which why I haven’t been there since! It will always be “The Block” to me.
@@tednguyen7258 full of homeless now...telll me ur an idiot without telling me ur an idiot............ its always been full of homeless. just like EVERY major city in the US.
I was only at The City once before it closed, due to my family mostly going to the Buena Park mall.. it was probably October 1994, and it was super deserted. It was the first time i had ever been in a mall that dead. Ive been to the Block and the Outlets of Orange probably 100s of times, though. If i went into all my memories of it, it would be a massive comment, lol. Really miss the Virgin Megastore, there also used to be a Mars Music where the bowling alley is now, and this cool little flag shop on the back side by the theater where you could buy all kinds of flags.
My 2nd wife and I moved into the Terrace apartments in 1991 and lived there until 1996. The City was a virtual ghost town though there was a bookstore and a freaky shop that I cannot recall the name. Very different place. You would walk in and they would drop fake scorpions on unsuspecting shoppers. Think it was called unga bunga . It was an empty shell but still walked a ver.
i remember the book store it had like a wooden yellow wall or frame to it and a couple wooden steps to go in. i specificallly remember going there for a nintendo or sega magazine when the battle toads video game came out my best friends grandma took us there and got us each the same magazine. even tho she wasnt my grandma but my friends she treated me as her own. LiLa Jagears is her name. Great woman.
I grew up going to that mall ... same age 1970 .. my mom was a paper route carrier for some company on the second from the top floor of that tall what used to be bank of America building.. she would pick up boxes of paperwork that she would deliver to work at home typist that would type and process the foams then send them back the with my mom when they were done .. i was 5 and in kindergarten but in summer had to go with her on her route, after going to all the houses the car would be full of boxes including one on my lap .. my mom was always going to that mall with me along i remember when they started closing in all the malls in the late 70's early 80's only to tear them down to rebuild open malls again they could have just opened the old mall back up and give it a make over but what do i know about the idiot world of real-estate development
![เปิดบ้าน พี่ตูน Bodyslam หลังใหม่คนแรก ที่ภูเก็ต l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/flFwcmyDQSk/mqdefault.jpg)
What great memories!
I remember when that high-rise was being built in 1968-69. They would always state what floor they were building and finally when it was topped out.
My mother worked at that Hallmark store from 1970-1974. I used to ride my bike there as a kid.
Thanks for sharing!
This mall started off as an open-air mall. Business started to decline so they decided to make it an indoor mall by enclosing all the open-air walkways. Business picked up, but then started to decline again and so they made it an open-air mall (again), now know as The Block. Kinda of funny how that worked.
now known as the Outlets of Orange
Many people forget, or don't realize, that when Star Wars opened in 1977 only two Orange County theaters were showing it. TWO! One was in Newport Beach, the other was the Plitt at the City Shopping Center. The Plitt was the theater outside the mall with two 700 seat screens. The lines to see Star Wars went around the entire theater... every day... for months. Moviegoers may also remember that the City UA Cinemas were the local place to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Midnight Screenings on the weekends, which lasted for years. Fun video! Enjoyed it.
awesome, thanks for sharing
I once left $50 in a booth at the Carl's Jr by K-B Toys. If anyone finds it, hit me up.
This video is exactly what I was looking for in my current nostalgia, thank you🤘
thanks for watching and sorry to hear that you lost $50.
too bad
I remember The City. It has been AGES since I thought about it
I remember going to the $1.50 theater at the city
Thank you SO much for this! What a trip down memory lane!.. I used to ride my bike to the City Mall with my mom, it was practically a dead mall by then but still a couple shops and the movie theater was still there.. Then I remember The Block.. What a big deal that was when it opened, with the Van's skate park and Virgin Megastore being the highlights.. Spent many teenage summer days and nights there.. But I couldn't help but always feel a lil nostalgia for the mall that was before the Block, or the Outlets now, my bad ha.. Once again, thank you!
thank you for sharing your memories and for watching
mee too i was devastated when they tore down the mall for the block. do you by any chance remember this weird tree with alot of low branches on it by the bus stop there. i was always climbing it when my mom and i left the mall. i remember she woud always be worried i woud fall down lol. man for some reason i miss that specific tree, weird huh?
I loved Hilo Hatties at The Block
Sadly Hilo Hatties is now just a web shop -- no more retail stores. The main store in Honolulu at Ward's Center is long gone now.
My mom's from Hilo and remembered when the chain started there in the 1960s
My Dad was a DJ at Kik. He used to play the Dukes Of Hazard theme for me😆
All I remember from The City was the tall office building would shimmer in the summer heat due to the spacing of the vertical vanes in the facade.
The only destination I would ever go to (because it wasn't my local mall) was TGI Friday's. We'd go there sometimes after a work shift at Disneyland (parades). I would always order a "Gold Medalist" in a collin's glass instead of the hurricane glass it usually came in because a guy drinking a pink frozen drink has standards. Ha!
I just learned that my cousin from TN worked at one when he was younger and could remember how to make them 30 years later!
What a great time at disneyland and orange County those days were ... now it's like an entirely different place .. i worked attractions at disneyland from 1990 until 1998
I was the visual merchandise manager at that JCPenney store in the mid 80s for 3 or 4 years (memory's getting a little foggy). Didn't go out into the mall that much but remember the JCPenney store as the largest one I ever worked in (I worked in 6). Also. there was a huge underground tunnel system for trucks to make their deliveries to the various stores.
passing the whole game of tmnt at the pizza arcade at the city
Loved that game. Passed it a few times....probably spent enough to go out and buy that game.
A lot of those stores have outlets here on the east coast.Great video!.😎
that's awesome, thanks for watching
Great job! However you forgot to mention the powerhouse arcade that used to be where the Nike store sits today
My grandma used to take me there in her ‘68 Ford Galaxy when I was a kid back in the 80s. I like the way it sits today. Always a fun place.
thank for sharing your memories
I don’t remember shopping there, but I went there at least once when it was a dying mall. I probably went to the movie theater. It was cheap and kinda creepy.
good video man, so many memories here so its nice to learn the history
One of my favorite spots growing up was the Pizza parlor and the Arcade playing Star wars in the sit down cockpit arcade machine.
I used to live not far from The City. My friends and I would frequent there, riding our bikes over to The Electric Carousel and seeing a movie, either at the inside theater or at the outside UA theater. I also remember that my parents would take my sister and I over to the JC Penney for our school clothes every year. When The City closed, my friends and I would hang out at the Anaheim Plaza as well as the Buena Park Mall. When we started driving, nothing was better to us than going out to the Brea Mall. Good times and great memories. Thanks for the video.
thanks for watching
In 1977, My family went to watch "Star Wars" movie at UA theatres. I rode public bus to The City for change at Bus stop station near TGI Fridays restaurant for go to Santa Ana College in 1990's. In about early 2000's, I went starbucks at The Block on second friday night in every months for Deaf coffee chat as lot of crowd deaf people and enjoy times. Then last time in 2004, I moved to washington state.
thanks for sharing your memories
I believe they still have the chats for those who are deaf and I sometimes pass by there see the groups there.
I saw Bill and Ted's excellent adventure at the AE theater in this mall. They had a shoe repair shop in there
I tried to go to The Block when it first opened one Friday night and literally couldn’t find a parking spot. I drove around the parking lot for twenty minutes and finally gave up left. It was the hot spot for cruising too.
Damn I haven’t been there since 2008! I would go there all the time as a kid. I actually remember going to the opening of “The Block” back in 1998 because I lived really close by to the mall. I left the city of Orange and moved to San Francisco after high school in 2008 which why I haven’t been there since! It will always be “The Block” to me.
same here.
i hear san francisco full of homeless now?
@@tednguyen7258 full of homeless now...telll me ur an idiot without telling me ur an idiot............ its always been full of homeless. just like EVERY major city in the US.
I was only at The City once before it closed, due to my family mostly going to the Buena Park mall.. it was probably October 1994, and it was super deserted. It was the first time i had ever been in a mall that dead. Ive been to the Block and the Outlets of Orange probably 100s of times, though. If i went into all my memories of it, it would be a massive comment, lol. Really miss the Virgin Megastore, there also used to be a Mars Music where the bowling alley is now, and this cool little flag shop on the back side by the theater where you could buy all kinds of flags.
2:16 Also going up on the right was Theo Lacy - the County’s finest no-cost extended stay resort.
Theo Lacy, Santa Ana Main jail.....Lots of stories about those two places
They used to have a vans indoor skate park with a vert ramp
I saw the original "Halloween" there in 1978.
By 1990 the U.A. became a $1 theater, spent alot of time there.
thanks for sharing your memories
My 2nd wife and I moved into the Terrace apartments in 1991 and lived there until 1996. The City was a virtual ghost town though there was a bookstore and a freaky shop that I cannot recall the name. Very different place. You would walk in and they would drop fake scorpions on unsuspecting shoppers. Think it was called unga bunga . It was an empty shell but still walked a ver.
i remember the book store it had like a wooden yellow wall or frame to it and a couple wooden steps to go in. i specificallly remember going there for a nintendo or sega magazine when the battle toads video game came out my best friends grandma took us there and got us each the same magazine. even tho she wasnt my grandma but my friends she treated me as her own. LiLa Jagears is her name. Great woman.
A dying mall, like Westminster mall, is a really sad destination.
I hope they make a video on The mall of Orange or (The Village At Orange) it officially closed on January 31 2024
Here you go: th-cam.com/video/ZwQYPJzQgpo/w-d-xo.html
I grew up going to that mall ... same age 1970 .. my mom was a paper route carrier for some company on the second from the top floor of that tall what used to be bank of America building.. she would pick up boxes of paperwork that she would deliver to work at home typist that would type and process the foams then send them back the with my mom when they were done .. i was 5 and in kindergarten but in summer had to go with her on her route, after going to all the houses the car would be full of boxes including one on my lap .. my mom was always going to that mall with me along i remember when they started closing in all the malls in the late 70's early 80's only to tear them down to rebuild open malls again they could have just opened the old mall back up and give it a make over but what do i know about the idiot world of real-estate development
Nah but the block is still really active
Too many shops closed.