South Coast Plaza
In March 1967, members of the Segerstrom family opened the South Coast Plaza shopping center in one of the family’s lima bean fields in Costa Mesa. The initial phase, designed by Victor Gruen, was anchored by a May Company that had opened in late 1966 and a Sears. The Bullock’s wing, added in 1973, was designed by Welton Becket. The I. Magnin wing, added in 1977, was designed by Frank Gehry. In 1986, the center opened its largest expansion, the free-standing Crystal Court wing. The Crystal Court name was dropped in 2000 and the wing was joined to the original center by a 600-foot pedestrian bridge across Bear Street. With over 270 stores occupying 2.8 million square feet, South Coast Plaza is the largest shopping center on the U.S. West Coast.
Costa Mesa, Orange County
Images by John Bare