If you’ve lived in Chula Vista for any length of time, you have a Chula Vista Center story. Maybe it’s a first job, a first date at the movies, or getting dragged through a department store as a kid while your mom shopped for school clothes. On November 12, 1962, the center at Broadway and H Street officially opened its doors. Sixty-four years later, it’s still here, and it’s still where a lot of us end up on a Saturday.
I’ve got more memories at this mall than I can count, from hanging out with friends as a kid to bringing my own daughters there when they were little. So for its 64th birthday, I went digging through the shopping history collection on sunnycv.com. Some of what I found surprised even me.
Opening Day, November 12, 1962
The center was a big deal for the city before a single store opened. In July 1962, Broadway-Hale paid the city $1,115,478.50 for the land, the largest check the City of Chula Vista had ever received at the time.
Sav-On Drug was actually the first store to open, that same July. The official grand opening came in November, with 15 stores ready for business.
The original layout was a single open-air mall, 640 feet long and 40 feet wide. In the middle sat a fountain inspired by the Alhambra, the famous palace in Granada, Spain. The big anchor was a three-story department store that most of us remember as The Broadway, complete with a coffee shop and a restaurant called the Orange Tree Dining Room. This one says a lot about the times: the store’s basement was built to double as a civil defense shelter for up to 4,500 people. That was the Cold War in 1962.
Charles Luckman & Associates designed Chula Vista Center, and the Del E. Webb Corporation built it; it’s been called one of the earliest regional malls in the country. That’s something to brag about.
The Early Years and a Few Famous Faces
The mall grew fast. Kresge opened in early 1963. That November, Penney’s opened with Chula Vista’s first escalator. Picture people riding it just to try it out. The store rang up about 5,000 sales on its first day, and roughly 2,000 people applied for 172 jobs.
A few weeks later, the center celebrated its first anniversary, and a young Regis Philbin was the emcee. Yes, that Regis. How cool would it be to see photos of Regis at the Chula Vista Center? Someone has to have one.
By the second anniversary in 1964, there were 26 stores, up from 15. The Penney’s Auto Center opened that year as the first in Southern California. In February 1965, James Cash Penney himself, the man behind the name, stopped by to visit the Chula Vista store. Sears was the last of the original anchors to open, in February 1966, across Fifth Avenue between H and I Streets.
Over the decades, the anchor lineup read like a who’s who of department stores: The Broadway, JCPenney, Sears, and Mervyn’s. In 1971, The Broadway honored 66 employees who had worked at the Chula Vista store since day one. That tells you a lot about what kind of place it was to work.
Crossing Fifth Avenue to Get to Sears
The center has always pulled in shoppers from both sides of the border. In 1979, shoppers from Mexico made up about 23% of the business. That same year the mall got a refresh with new landscaping, oak benches, and tile.
Then in 1982, Plaza Bonita opened up the road and started pulling customers away. By 1987, sales had been flat for years, and The Broadway and J.C. Penney were talking about leaving. Homart Development, a Sears company, stepped in with a renovation of around $40 million and hired the Jerde Partnership, the same firm that designed Horton Plaza.
The plan meant closing Fifth Avenue between H and I to connect the two halves of the center. I remember when Fifth Avenue still ran right through the middle of the mall. If you wanted to go to Sears, you had to cross the street to get to the other side. Not everyone loved the idea of closing it, either. More than 100 residents showed up at a Planning Commission hearing to oppose the street closure, and some suggested building a tunnel instead. Chula Vista has never been shy about speaking up.
Here’s the funny part. There’s been talk about bringing Fifth Avenue back through the center. I don’t know exactly where that stands or when it will happen, but I do believe it’s coming at some point. What goes around comes around.
The Food Court, the Carousel, and The Tilt
When I think about growing up at Chula Vista Center, I think about the food court. It sat right next to the movie theater, which is the AMC now but was the Nickelodeon theaters back then. There were so many food options, and there was an outdoor carousel right there too.
And then there was The Tilt. If you were a kid in Chula Vista, you know. That arcade was one of my favorite hangouts, and I spent more time (and more quarters) in there than I’d like to admit. I even remember when they moved it downstairs across from the AT&T store.
Years later, I got to see the mall through my daughters’ eyes when I brought them there as little girls. It’s a special thing when a place you grew up with becomes part of your kids’ childhood too. We didn’t just shop here for school clothes or toys from KB Toys; we also had fun walking the mall and just being there.
If there is one store I missed the most, it was the Mervyn’s. If you’re a Chula Vista OG then you remember that. It was located where the Burlington is now. That was our go-to spot besides the Sears. I still remember standing in line for Black Friday deals with my mom. Not sure when they closed it, but I can still remember the good times there.
Saying Goodbye to Sears
The biggest memory for me is the Sears. It was two levels, and my family bought so much there. Not just clothes, but refrigerators, bicycles, toys, you name it. For a lot of Chula Vista families, Sears was where you went for just about everything. My family bought clothes, tires, bicycles, and appliances here. We even got family photos taken here. It was the go-to spot for so many families.
When it was announced that Sears was closing, it hit the center hard. Not long after it closed, I went back inside to get my COVID shot when the building was used as a vaccine site. It was sad to walk through that empty space. It felt like a skeleton of what it used to be.
A New Chapter for Chula Vista Center
The Broadway became Macy’s in 1995, and today Macy’s and JCPenney are still here, along with Burlington, Curacao, and the AMC theater. In early 2025, Los Angeles-based Primestor bought the center for about $86 million, and honestly, I love the vision they have for it.
What I appreciate most is the effort they’re putting into community events. They just held the second annual El After Life celebration, and even with a little rain, it drew a crowd and was a lot of fun. Next up is the Christmas tree lighting on December 2 and a Christmas Posada on December 12, two more great reasons for families to come out.
There’s a lot more on the way. A Sharp Rees-Stealy medical building is going up on the east side, and Luna Grill is set to open in the old Jamba Juice spot. And here’s the one a lot of us are crossing our fingers for: the former CVS space under the AMC theaters. Nothing is official as far as I know, but so many people in this community would love to see a Trader Joe’s open there. Count me in.
With the Gaylord Pacific open on the Bayfront and Third Avenue continuing to grow, the timing feels right for Chula Vista Center to reinvent itself again. I hope a lot of these plans become reality and bring even more life back to the center.
Happy 64th, Chula Vista Center
From a fountain modeled after a Spanish palace to a Cold War bomb shelter, a Regis Philbin cameo, and a two-level Sears that furnished half the homes in town, Chula Vista Center has been part of this city’s story for more than six decades. It’s where generations of us shopped, worked, hung out, and grew up.
Do you remember The Tilt, the carousel, or crossing Fifth Avenue to get to Sears? I’d love to hear your favorite Chula Vista Center memory. Drop it in the comments or tag us on Instagram and Facebook at @livingchulavista. And check the CVL event calendar for the tree lighting, the Posada, and everything else happening around town this holiday season.
