A Visit to Horton Plaza
Dateline: 01/20/98 (Rev. 03/11/98)I just returned from a trip to San Diego and while I was there, I made a pilgrimage to a place I had wanted to see for several years. A place immortalized in Larry Ford's Cities and Buildings. That place was a mall - Horton Plaza, located in the heart of San Diego's Central Business District.
Surrounded by downtown and its diversity, Horton Plaza's neighbors include San Diego's popular bar and club area known as the Gaslamp Quarter as well as some adult theaters a mere block away.
Horton Plaza was created to change the CBD and bring it back to life. It was designed by Ernest Hahn, the famous mall developer. The 900,000 square foot plaza opened in 1985. It's a shopping mall with an open center court and four levels of stores anchored by Nordstrom, Macy's, and Mervyns. Horton Plaza also includes a 14-screen United Artists movie theater.
Several original buildings were utilized for their facades and new ones were built for the seven-square-block plaza. This makes the mall appear to have been built over time, instead of the few years it took to create a mall composed of "49 colors, unique architecture, and an amusement park atmosphere" (Horton Plaza's web site).
The front of the plaza is covered with huge brilliant signs in neon and lights, advertising Planet Hollywood, Sam Goody and several other stores. It looks like a cross between Disneyland and the carnival rides at a state fair. It's somewhat like a fortress in the CDB, with primary access for vehicles, and even a special entrance for emergency personnel.
The Horton Plaza-as-tourist-destination phenomena is complete with an adjacent Westin Hotel and ice rink. There's even an "International Visitors Center" to help weary foreign travelers navigate among the more than 100 stores. Their brochure is printed in three languages and most of the mall's eateries are agglomerated in the "International Food Court".
A person can even live at the Plaza, in the Fourth Street Apartments, which have their own fenced portion of the ground level parking garage. As I was there on Sunday night, I was impressed that the mall was open until 7 p.m. but surprised that it was only open until 7 on Saturday night as well. The early closing time on Saturday night seems like a hindrance to keeping the downtown alive on the weekends.
To me, the colors, signs, and architecture of Horton Plaza was almost overwhelming. I get the same kind of feeling when I walk into a large bookstore - the feeling of too much data! For any fan of Central Business Districts, Horton Plaza is a place to visit.
The Horton Plaza web site, http://www.hortonplaza.com is quite slow due to many graphics and difficult to navigate but it includes photos, a complete listing of stores, and more.
