The Tired History of the Hawthorne Mall

The Hawthorne Mall as it was known to locals or the Hawthorne Plaza began construction 1975. What was once the location of the Hawthorne Plaza Theater. The building included several anchor tenants like the Broadway in the Middle, JC Penny on the South, and Montgomery Wards to the North or 120th Street. The building itself runs parallel with Hawthorne Blvd. And is somewhat of a blight as it is a dead mall.

The Southern end has been renovated with shops. It was once the location for the AMC Movie theaters.

The original location was originally met with fanfare in the late 1977 with 130 stores. It lasted only until 1999 with 70.Many discount operators.

Recessions and competing malls in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance along the Hawthorne Blvd corridor became a more attractive destination for local shopping. Today the 40 acre property that once housed over 100 stores now sits deserted and boarded up, with security personnel patrolling the area to keep vandals and explorers at bay.

The building has served to host a police training center as well as movie location like The abandoned mall has also been used to film a number of movies, such as Minority Report (2002), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), The Green Hornet (2006) and Gone Girl (2014).