Multi-story strip malls - does your city have them? Or is this uniquely Los Angeles

[destroycreate]

There's something I see that's relatively unique to LA, that I can't say I've encountered in most US cities. Our strip malls in core LA are often 2-4 stories, and contain a multitude of life and interesting stores--often also some of the best eats. From gritty dry cleaner businesses to nail salons or cheap pho, they are the essence of LA. Here are some examples:

La Cienega & Whitworth

Third & Western

Olympic & Harvard

Vermont Ave

I know there are some more 3-4 story examples (which are much more interesting) that I'll try to find later!

[Steely Dan]

are there interior elevators somewhere that we can't see? i ask because these upper levels are all open to the exterior and appear to be exclusively accessed by open staircases. i'm wondering how they get around ADA reqs.

[SFBruin]

I think that those are unique to LA.

I don't recall ever seeing one in Daly City when I lived there, and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen one like that in West Seattle.

[pizzaguysrevenge]

Originally Posted by SFBruin

I think that those are unique to LA.

I don't recall ever seeing one in Daly City when I lived there, and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen one like that in West Seattle.

There's one in Lakeshore Plaza in SF, less than a mile from Daly City.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7329...7i16384!8i8192

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

are there interior elevators somewhere that we can't see? i ask because these upper levels are all open to the exterior and appear to be exclusively accessed by open staircases. i'm wondering how they get around ADA reqs.

Yes, there are elevators. Or just one elevator.

I live near a 2-story strip mall that has all the quintessential SoCal strip mall businesses: a flower shop, an El Pollo Loco, a Thai restaurant, a locksmith, a discount shoe store, a Hawaiian bbq place, a flower shop, a Subway, a sushi place, a fast-food Chinese place... it used to have a tanning salon but I think it might've gone out of business. I don't think people go to those anymore. Oh, and it used to have a dry cleaners but it moved to another location. And it also had a now-closed staffing agency (it also moved).

[SFBruin]

Originally Posted by pizzaguysrevenge

There's one in Lakeshore Plaza in SF, less than a mile from Daly City.

You're right. That one is a little different in that it is connected to a larger shopping center. But some of the concepts are the same.

[SFBruin]

Delete.

[dave8721]

Pretty common in Miami. The 2nd level is usually more office type uses or Karate studios, or Dentist offices or something like that. Mostly suburban, a few will be in the core in places like Little Havana

These are pretty common in the suburbs: https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7329...7i16384!8i8192

Not many in the true core but more on the periphery of the core before the true burbs begin. In more working class inner ring burbs:
https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7787...7i16384!8i8192

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Pretty common in Miami. The 2nd level is usually more office type uses or Karate studios, or Dentist offices or something like that. Mostly suburban, a few will be in the core in places like Little Havana

These are pretty common in the suburbs: https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7329...7i16384!8i8192

That looks like it takes up a lot of land, though, and is almost a bona fide shopping center.

A lot of 2+story strip malls in the city of LA occupy smaller street corners; in fact, many LA strip malls were built on former gas station sites. I thought for a while in the early 1990s, there was a moratorium on them because they seemed to have really proliferated in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Here's an example of one: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0440...7i16384!8i8192

In fact, there are strip malls on 3 of those 4 corners, the other corner being occupied by a gas station. I don't doubt that there were probably even gas stations at all 4 corners at one time.

[C.]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

There's something I see that's relatively unique to LA, that I can't say I've encountered in most US cities. Our strip malls in core LA are often 2-4 stories, and contain a multitude of life and interesting stores--often also some of the best eats. From gritty dry cleaner businesses to nail salons or cheap pho, they are the essence of LA. Here are some examples:

La Cienega & Whitworth

Third & Western

Olympic & Harvard

Vermont Ave

I know there are some more 3-4 story examples (which are much more interesting) that I'll try to find later!

I love the 3+ story ones. It really brings kind of an energy to the area.

[C.]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

are there interior elevators somewhere that we can't see? i ask because these upper levels are all open to the exterior and appear to be exclusively accessed by open staircases. i'm wondering how they get around ADA reqs.

Good question. I've seen some two story ones without elevators.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

That looks like it takes up a lot of land, though, and is almost a bona fide shopping center.

A lot of 2+story strip malls in the city of LA occupy smaller street corners; in fact, many LA strip malls were built on former gas station sites. I thought for a while in the early 1990s, there was a moratorium on them because they seemed to have really proliferated in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Here's an example of one: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0440...7i16384!8i8192

In fact, there are strip malls on 3 of those 4 corners, the other corner being occupied by a gas station. I don't doubt that there were probably even gas stations at all 4 corners at one time.

Yeah it's the really tight urban multistory strip malls with minimal parking that are unique to LA. The suburban ones can be seen throughout the sunbelt.

[badrunner]

I have to admit though, these places are glorious.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0616...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0570...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0953...7i16384!8i8192

[MonkeyRonin]

Strip malls in Toronto are almost always 2 stories, sometimes 3. The upper floors are usually apartments, though some have businesses. It's a product of the transitionary 1950s-60s era where we were still building traditional urban formats but in more suburban forms.

Pretty quintessential inner-suburban Toronto:

https://goo.gl/maps/vqBqZhcjx29TmYFE6
https://goo.gl/maps/FHkXYfeqZV9WCNoU9
https://goo.gl/maps/MHEWuBHWBN2hSXJx9

[homebucket]

Very common in the sprawly parts of the Bay Area but usually only 2 stories.

https://goo.gl/maps/5FSbiThU3YBArYn76
https://goo.gl/maps/MXcs5ZtmKpVWgue5A
https://goo.gl/maps/cm29DcLFC5hfysEN9
https://goo.gl/maps/MxQQ8V4rM6xueCPA6
https://goo.gl/maps/RcHPP9tLRbEYj6Vt7
https://goo.gl/maps/FFXUwRTQv9riM3As9

[C.]

Originally Posted by badrunner

I have to admit though, these places are glorious.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0616...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0570...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0953...7i16384!8i8192

What's the deal with the second one.

[mhays]

Somewhat common in Seattle.

Little Saigon has a few. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5993...7i16384!8i8192

These two come to mind on MLK. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5389...7i16384!8i8192

We have some examples where a small slope allows a strip mall on top, a supermarket at grade on the downhill side, then parking below-ground for the supermarket. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6259.../data=!3m1!1e3

None of these would be built today. Land is too valuable.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by C.

What's the deal with the second one.

Oh, that's a now closed property that is being redeveloped. And it wasn't always a strip mall. It used to be an Art Deco parking structure, built in 1931. I'm old enough to remember when it was still a parking structure. Back in the 1970s-80s, of course.



Here's a link:
https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...retail-complex

[bilbao58]

Houston has some too:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7309...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7407...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7044...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7050...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7036...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7201...7i16384!8i8192

[sopas ej]

Slightly off-topic but how common is it in your part of the US or Canada to refer to these as a shopping plaza? Or even just a plaza? One of my friends is more apt to say that than I am, for example, like when giving directions, she'll say "Yeah, it's in that plaza where the boba time is..."