How cool is this? A reader sent in this vintage photo of everyone’s favorite mall — back in the ’60s, Brookdale looked like one GROOVY, FAR OUT place:
Brookdale Center, 1962
From Dave:
“This store opened on May 17, 1962. You’ll notice the little kangaroo
(or whatever it is) sign on the parking lot light pole. The architect
who designed this mall, Victor Gruen, was big on cartoon-style signs
as a reminder for shoppers to remember where they parked their cars.”
Thanks Dave!
Dave has a blog – Pleasant Family Shopping — that has lots of old skool pictures of shopping centers and stores — check it out!
I should have new entries coming up soon, hopefully a new post tomorrow.
#1 by Tim G on August 6, 2009 - 3:31 pm
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We used to giggle everytime we parked the shiny new ’63 Pontiac in the Camel Lot… get it, camelot?
#2 by TheOldScowl on August 8, 2009 - 4:40 pm
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Sweet pic! I think I see my Dad’s old VW Bug there in the center (was there a Brook’s Brothers in Brookdale then?). He rolled it a couple years later and got a decent insurance settlement because his friend (a good photographer with nice gear) made his head injury look ghastly. He bought another bug with it, I think, because he had one that he drove away in with my Mom on their wedding about six years later.
#3 by jayson on August 10, 2009 - 9:34 am
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what a shame… brookdale is located in a great area. i think they should raze the whole area the old kmart etc. rebuild around the mall and make it nice again get the trast outtat there.
#4 by Josh on August 10, 2009 - 3:42 pm
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Loves it!!
#5 by briguy on August 18, 2009 - 11:19 am
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I was just at Sears Brookdale last night, its pretty much the only thing left in the mall. I wish they’d put a Vikings stadium there, I think it would be a boost to BC revenue and help out that area. Would be alot easier to get to for the expanding northern suburbs as well. Realistically, though… I bet when Sears moves, Super Walmart comes in. They would do well in BC, and give Cub and Target some competetition.
#6 by Paul Duca on August 28, 2009 - 8:59 am
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I came across your site and found it interesting (like Pleasant Family Shopping).
Another website I visit regularly is one with airchecks of classic Top 40 radio stations. One offering is of KDWB from October 1967, when the AM side was the place for the latest hits–and it features a spot for the opening of the Donaldson’s store at Brookdale. I’d post a link but you have to be a paid subscriber to the site to hear it. But here is a transcript (imagine lots of echo and “space-y” sound effects)
“The Innovator…Donaldson’s Brookdale. It’s here, now…a new concept in shopping magnificence–the most beautiful store you’ve ever seen”
“The Innovator…Donaldson’s Brookdale. Futuristic lighting…invisible, subtle –yet it explodes like the dawn”
“The Innovator…Donaldson’s Brookdale. Triple adjacency with parking on three sides, fronting on a plural promenade–joining four major department stores…a fusion new in the shopping world
Plus…scintillating satellites–dozens of shops, presenting wares and services of every imaginable kind”
“But the Innovator is unimaginable….Donaldson’s Brookdale. Where you arrive with amazing ease on superbly conceived highways”
“Donaldson’s Brookdale…the Innovator”
I like the jingle that can found on another KDWB aircheck from the year before…
Exciting things are happening at Donaldson’s
At Donaldson’s, a most exciting store
The friendly people there
Will show you that they care
With values that will always save you more
At Donaldson’s, a most exciting
Donaldson’s, a real inviting
Donaldson’s, a most exciting store!
#7 by Drew on September 16, 2009 - 10:25 am
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We lived near Apache Plaza in the 60s — a nice functional shopping center that got most of my family’s mall business. But when my Mom wanted to go “upscale,” it was Brookdale all the way!
Didn’t take much to impress us nord-easters, I guess.
#8 by Rev. Dave on December 2, 2009 - 12:23 pm
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Cool shot, that’s the year we or rather my parents moved to Brooklyn Center
#9 by Jake on May 20, 2010 - 10:24 pm
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It’s all over people! This mall doesn’t have a prayer!
RIP 4.26.10…:(
#10 by Chris on July 5, 2010 - 11:28 pm
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Went to sears today, it is offically the last store in brookdale now. You can’t access the rest of the mall through the store anymore because they have the security shutter closed in the entrance that leads to the rest of brookdale. According to an employee, sears will remain open since they own the particular building their in but the rest of the mall has been shuttered and it’s fate is unknown. Unfortunate.
#11 by Chad on July 11, 2010 - 8:24 am
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Interesting. I went in and visited Brookdale Center in the beginning of May, and you could still get into the mall via Sears. A few friends and I went into there on a Saturday afternoon, and while the mall was empty aside from a few stores, we could wander around the entire mall and not be bothered by anyone at all.
#12 by Aiden on July 26, 2010 - 10:40 pm
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The mall will likely be razed. It’s unfortunate, as the location is prime and the building’s bones are good. The mall also received a facelift a few years back. The perceived danger of the Brookdale area (some of which was deserved) drove customers and residents away. With new retail magnets opening in Maple Grove, Coon Rapids, and redevelopment of part of Rosedale Center, Brookdale just couldn’t handle the competition. What a shame. A classic regional mall of optimistic, mid-century America has died.
#13 by Steve on August 27, 2010 - 7:50 pm
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I can sadly say I’ve seen the demise of Brookdale in my lifetime…it wasn’t the upscale place it once was by the time I went there in the 1980s, but it wasn’t horrible. Kids from North Mpls still went there in the 90s and believe it or not, it still wasn’t horrible
Then the the 2000s rolled around…Brookdale is now synonymous with either A) a very, very bad bus transit center B) The County Service Center/Court/Library that is actually a few blocks away or C) yes, the Sears that people have been mentioning.