Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D163162-21
Date(s)
- 1973-04-02 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Closer look at the Tacoma Mall Shopping Center as seen by air on April 2, 1973. 25 more stores would open on July 25th bringing the total number of stores found within the Mall to 110. Construction would begin soon on the two-story Rhodes Bros. department store at the far west end. Prominent buildings easily noted in this photograph are the Bon Marche, which was the first occupant of the Mall; the luxurious Tacoma Mall Theatre (bottom center); Pacific National Bank of Washington's circular building; the Bon Marche Tire Center, directly across from the Bon and the six-story Tacoma Mall Office Building. What the Tacoma Mall enjoyed, and downtown shopping lacked, was an abundance of free parking and a climate controlled atmosphere. Access to the Mall was easy with several entrances and quick freeway travel time. The wooded area across the Mall on South 48th St. would eventually become Best Buy, a Pierce County Transit Center, and closer to Pine St., the Social Security office. Ordered by Puget Sound National Bank.
Aerial views; Tacoma Mall Shopping Center (Tacoma); Shopping centers--Tacoma--1970-1980; Parking lots--Tacoma--1970-1980; Bon Marche (Tacoma); Tacoma Mall Theater (Tacoma); Pacific National Bank of Washington (Tacoma); Tacoma Mall Office Building (Tacoma)