| The Beverly Center opened in 1982 to tough reviews. |
| "The Big Brown Blob." "The Incredible Bulk." "An ugly heavy mass." The eight-story shopping monolith stretched for several blocks without courtyards, architectural setbacks or landscaping and barely a tree in sight. And forget trying to blend in with the surrounding community. The first five stories of the mall consist of a mammoth parking structure topped by three floors of shopping. |
| The man behind the much-debated design, Louis Naidorf, died this month. His mall was just a footnote in an obituary that celebrated his master work, the Capitol Records tower. |
| But Mr. Naidorf, I will always be grateful for what you created. |
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| Inside the Beverly Center mall. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) |
1980s mall life |
| The Beverly Center was the playground of my youth, a battleground for my body and a challenging landmark whose grace took 30 years to truly appreciate. |
| In my youth, it was all fun, spending hours with my friends running around the mall, discovering the food court, strolling into every shop, people watching. My mother gave me $20 one Saturday and sent me to the Broadway to buy a polo shirt. I picked white and managed to ruin it with smears of chocolate raspberry ice cream before I even left the mall. It was my quirky brand back then and everyone laughed. |
| But I kept getting fatter, and by high school, my trips to the Beverly Center were losing their innocence. By 16, I was too big to fit into any of the clothes for sale there, leading me to burst into tears and my mother and grandmother to whisk me out of the mall and to a gloomy Big & Tall store. By graduation, the place that once made me feel so much a part of the world was leaving me alienated and alone. That time two mean girls gossiped about the mound of BBQ ribs I ordered from the food court. The snickers that erupted in the line to the register at B. Dalton Booksellers when I got to the front to buy a thick calorie counting book. |
| Things hit rock-bottom a few years later. I was in my early 20s, pushing 420 pounds and reluctantly hit up Beverly Center for a lonely matinee. Things had gotten so bad I came up with some mall rules: Take the escalator, not the elevator (nothing like the innocent commentary of a young kid when those doors part and he lays eyes on you). Walk on the far right side of the mall promenade, preferably behind a big crowd or a group of older people, ready to dart into a store if you catch a glimpse of a familiar face you don't want to see. Try parking as close to your destination as possible to limit exposure to judging eyes. Take note of benches, because you will probably need a rest break. |
| I navigated the gantlet and squeezed myself into the theater seat. "Before Sunrise," with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, was great, but I knew I'd never be back there. |
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| The view from the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles. (Shelby Grad / Los Angeles Times) |
| The shopping mall disappeared from my life for 22 years. |
A room with a view |
| Then, I had weight loss surgery and at my dietitian's urging started mall-walking as a form of exercise. The place that once terrified me became my obsession. Over a year, I hit most of the malls in Southern California. But one conspicuously evaded my list: the Beverly Center. I drove by the Incredible Bulk often but never turned into that notorious parking garage. |
| Eventually, I ran out of alternatives, so I and a friend headed to La Cienega and Beverly to relive our youth. A $1-billion renovation softened its edges a bit — palm trees, skylights, camouflaging vines, something the designers called "curvilinear air wells." |
| But as we marched through each floor, I realized I'd changed a lot more than the Beverly Center had. |
| We passed a little kid walking with his mom and I winced at the anxiety this encounter would have once brought. Toward the end of our tour, I looked out a sprawling picture window and noticed a stunning view of the Hollywood Hills. It took my breath away. Was this view always here? Was the smog so bad back when I was young that it was obscured? |
| Or maybe I was just so anxious about the way people saw me that I failed to look around at what made the Big Brown Blob beautiful. |
Today's top stories |
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| Escorted by deputies, the father of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro accompanies search crews near the 60 Freeway and Gilman Springs Road in Moreno Valley. (RMG News) |
The search for baby Emmanuel Haro leads to a dusty field |
- The search for baby Emmanuel Haro expanded to a dusty field in Moreno Valley over the weekend, where San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators were joined by the boy's father, Jake Haro, wearing a jail jumpsuit.
- Sheriff's investigators declined to say what led them to the area or why Jake Haro was with them.
- Jake and his wife, Rebecca, have been in sheriff's custody since they were arrested Friday on suspicion of killing their 7-month-old son, Emmanuel.
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COVID is rising fast in California |
- COVID-19 is once again climbing to troubling levels in California.
- Public health departments in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties have reported jumps in the coronavirus concentrations detected in wastewater in recent weeks.
- L.A. County also has reported a small increase in patients hospitalized with COVID.
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California voters are undecided in the 2026 governor's race |
- Nearly 4 in 10 registered voters are undecided in next year's governor's race, but among those that have a preference, former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine has a narrow lead, according to a new UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll.
- The poll also found that Gov. Gavin Newsom has an edge over former Vice President Kamala Harris as preferred candidate in the 2028 presidential race, with 51% of the state's Democratic voters saying Harris should not make another bid for the White House.
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What else is going on |
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Commentary and opinions |
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This morning's must reads |
| | | Getting students to come to school regularly often means tackling family mental health and the practical matters of transportation and work schedules. | | | |
Other must reads |
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| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
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| Matzo ball soup, hot brisket plate and black reuben pastrami at Brent's Deli in Northridge. (Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times) |
Going out |
- Dining: Where to eat (and drink!) right now in the San Fernando Valley.
- Film screening: El Cine — a nonprofit organization dedicated to screening films in Spanish and/or made by Latinos — is working to boost Latino film culture in L.A.
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Staying in |
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And finally ... your photo of the day |
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Chris Staples, a former Harlem Globetrotter, leaps over a limousine to win the Venice Basketball League's 20th Annual Legends Weekend slam dunk contest at Venice Beach on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) |
| Today's great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at Venice Basketball League's 20th Annual Legends Weekend slam dunk contest. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
