May 1, 1957: The 1st Shopping Mall Opens

May 1, 1957: Garden State Plaza opens, at the intersection of State Routes 17 and 4, in Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, 17 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan. It was the first "shopping mall" as we now understand that term.

Its original 3 "anchor stores" were Bamberger's, Gimbel's and JCPenney. In 1987, Gimbel's went out of business, and Macy's, owners of the Bamberger's chain, phased them all out, rebannering them as Macy's stores. Today, there are still 3 anchor stores: Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.

It had a significant remodeling in 1981, and this was followed by new malls being built in the same style. Some were considered "upscale malls," like Bridgewater Commons in Somerset County. The other malls, in New Jersey and elsewhere, had to remodel to keep up with this, as well, with additional and more upscale anchor stores, expanded movie theaters and "food courts." Some of them closed their arcades, to discourage misbehaving teenagers. (This didn't work as well as they'd hoped.)

Despite Bergen County's "blue laws" prohibiting shopping on Sunday, and competitors following all over the New York Tri-State Area and all over the world, Garden State Plaza remains the definitive "Jersey mall." According to New Jersey Transit's schedules, it is about an hour's ride from Port Authority Bus Terminal on Bus 163.

Roosevelt Field opened before Garden State Plaza, on December 14, 1956, in Garden City, Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, on the site of the airport of the same name, where Charles Lindbergh took off on his transatlantic flight on May 20, 1927. But it wasn't enclosed until 1968, so it doesn't get the credit for being "the first mall."

Some of the other suburban malls in the New York Tri-State Area, and their dates of opening (if I could find them):

* Bergen Town Center, also in Paramus, opening on November 14, 1957, 6 months after Garden State Plaza.

* Menlo Park Mall, Edison, Middlesex County, New Jersey, September 1959. In order to properly compete with newer malls, this one was demolished in 1990, and completely rebuilt, opening on September 27, 1991.

* Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, March 1, 1960.

* The Mall at Short Hills, Millburn, Essex County, New Jersey, 1961.

* Walt Whitman Shops, Huntington, Suffolk County, New Jersey, November 23, 1962.

* Willowbrook Mall, Wayne, Passaic County, New Jersey, September 24, 1969.

* Brunswick Square, East Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1970. Growing up just down the hill from this mall, I spent too much time in it while growing up, and especially spent too many quarters in Fun-n-Games, its video arcade.

* Woodbridge Center, Woodbridge, Essex County, New Jersey, 1971.

* Livingston Mall, Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey, 1972.

* Sunrise Mall, Massapequa, Nassau County, New York, August 30, 1972.

* Staten Island Mall, in the New Springville neighborhood of Staten Island, Richmond County, New York (the only real "suburban mall" in New York City), August 9, 1973.

* Paramus Park, Paramus, March 14, 1974.

* Quaker Bridge Mall, Lawrence, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1975. "Quaker Bridge" has always been officially two words.

* Ocean County Mall, Toms River, Ocean County, New Jersey, July 20, 1976.

* Hudson Valley Mall, Ulster, Ulster County, New York, 1981.

* Danbury Fair, Danbury, Fairfield County, Connecticut, October 28, 1986. That's the day after the Mets won the World Series. In other words, the Mets haven't won the World Series since the place opened, on the site of the former Danbury Fair, an annual county fair.

* MarketFair Mall, West Windsor, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1987. It used to be known as Princeton MarketFair, but Princeton is a couple of miles away.

* Newport Centre, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, November 12, 1987.

* Bridgewater Commons, Bridgewater, Somerset County, New Jersey, February 26, 1988.

* Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Township (not to be confused with Freehold Borough, which it surrounds), Monmouth County, New Jersey, August 1, 1990.

* Palisades Center, West Nyack, Rockland County, New York, March 28, 1998.

* The Mills at Jersey Gardens, Elizabeth, Union County, October 21, 1999.

Various real estate companies tried to copy the suburban shopping experience in New York City. Examples include:

* Manhattan: The South Street Seaport, Manhattan Mall (across from Macy's headquarters store on Herald Square), East River Plaza, The Shops at Columbus Circle, and, most recently, The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards.

* Bronx: Bronx Terminal Market.

* Brooklyn: Atlantic Terminal, Kings Plaza.

* Queens: Queens Center Mall, Queens Place, Rego Center.

The mall in the 1991 Seinfeld episode "The Parking Garage" was not identified in the script, but was inferred to be in North Jersey. It could have been Garden State Plaza.

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May 1, 1957 was a Wednesday. Baseball was the only sport in season at the time, and these major league games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Art Ditmar couldn't finish the 5th inning, and Tommy Byrne ended up as the winning pitcher. Tony Kubek hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 in a losing cause.

* The New York Giants lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 5-1 at the Polo Grounds. The Jints' bullpen melted down in the top of the 10th inning, including giving up an RBI single to Hank Aaron, and home runs to Frank Torre (Joe's brother) and old friend Bobby Thomson. Willie Mays went 1-for-4, and it was hardly enough, as Warren Spahn went all 10 innings for the Milwaukee win.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Ebbets Field. Duke Snider, Charlie Neal and Gino Cimoli each got 2 hits in support of rookie Don Drysdale. The only home run of the game was hit by the Cubs' Ernie Banks.

* The Cincinnati Redlegs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. (From 1954 to 1958, the Reds bowed to anti-Communist pressure and used the name "Redlegs," until finally accepting that the Red-baiters were idiots.)

This game went 16 innings. Don Hoak hit a home run for Cincy, and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones hit one for the Phils, both of them all the way back in the 2nd inning, and those were the only homers of the game. Hall-of-Famer Richie Ashburn went 0-for-7.

You're probably expecting me to say that both starting pitchers went all 16, but they didn't: Hal Jeffcoat of the Redlegs left in the 8th, and Curt Simmons of the Phillies left after 8. The Redlegs led 2-0 in the 2nd inning, 3-2 in the 3rd, 5-3 in the 8th, and 6-5 in the 13th, and blew them all. The Phils never led. 

Finally, in the top of the 16th, the Redlegs got a leadoff single from Roy McMillan, a pinch-hit single from Smoky Burgess, a sacrifice bunt from Johnny Temple, and a 2-RBI single from Wally Post. The winning pitcher was Warren Hacker.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Walker Cooper hit a home run for the Cards. Stan Musial went 2-for-5 with an RBI for them. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4 for the Pirates.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 7-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the Kansas City Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-5 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Ted Williams hit a home run, but it wasn't enough to help the BoSox beat the A's.