This major Los Angeles shopping mall includes Macy’s Bloomingdale’s and Bed Bath and Beyond, plus many fine restaurants and 100+ specialty stores, many of them upscale.
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,and Bloomingdale’s. 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, Prada, The Ferrari Store, Burberry, Fendi and Hugo Boss. Along with the retail and designers’ boutiques, Beverly Center offers guest service desk, valet parking, and taxi services. The mall also has several restaurants including Pinkberry and The Grand Lux Cafe. 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 which affords visitors a significantly expanded view of the surrounding area and the hills to the north.
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 known as Beverly Park and Kiddyland, featuring a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and mini roller-coaster, and a pony ride known as Ponyland.)
The mall’s unusual shape and lack of street frontage along San Vicente Blvd are due to its location on top of the Salt Lake Oil Field. The western portion of the mall property contains a cluster of oil wells, all operated by Plains Exploration & Production, in a drilling enclosure that is active to this date.