Sherman Oaks Galleria - History

History

The three-level mall was built on the site of Moses Sherman's original 1911 thousand-acre investment in the area, at the present-day intersection of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards. It opened in 1980 with two department stores (Robinsons anchored the south, May Company anchored the north). Pacific Theatres' Pacific 4 occupied the uppermost level of the mall. The mall became famous in the early 1980s as being the center of the teenage mall culture and a well-known teenage hangout. The Galleria and nearby malls formed the basis of the Frank Zappa/Moon Unit Zappa 1982 satirical single "Valley Girl" from Zappa's album Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch. Following on the popularity of the song, the TV show Real People hosted an Ultimate Valley Girl competition (referred to as "a nightmare" by contest judge Moon Zappa), at the Galleria. In 1993, Robinsons and May Company merged, forming Robinsons-May - both stores in the mall were converted to Robinsons-May, the north store becoming a Men's and Home store, and the south store becoming a Women's and Children's store.

The next decade saw business at the Galleria decline. In January 1994, the mall closed for 11 days for repairs following the Northridge earthquake. Although the mall reopened quickly, Robinson-May re-opened its south wing store four years following the earthquake, and many smaller stores on that floor closed. During that closure, the mall suffered due to having only one main anchor store. Mall management sued to evict Robinson-May in 1998, alleging that the delay was a lease violation and caused the store closures, but R-M countersued, claiming that poor mall promotion and management were the cause. Closures continued through the 1990s until a gift and jewelry shop was one of the few remaining stores in 1999.

The mall closed in April 1999 for a major renovation and reopened in 2002 as an open-air center which was quite different from its previous incarnation. The new layout was termed "mixed-use". The only remnant of the original mall is the court where the Pacific 16 Theatres is located, which are on the uppermost of what was previously the southern Robinsons-May store. The majority of the remaining mall was turned into offices. Warner Brothers set up offices in what was once one of the mall entrances. Several mortgage companies and financial services providers are headquartered within the mall. Additional tenants include several major restaurant chains. The remodeling and new construction was done by Peck/Jones Construction, which in 2005 filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

On Monday, June 4, 2007 the Pacific Galleria 16 Theaters changed into an ArcLight Cinema, as the Pacific Theaters own the ArcLight brand. The transformation began gradually, with re-branding at the start, and renovation throughout the summer of 2007. The theater was closed for three months to complete the process.