From the Rubble : 18 Months After the Quake, Shoppers Crowd Aisles to Mark Reopening of Northridge Mall

Shoppers Monday began crowding entrances to the Northridge Fashion Center a half-hour before the mall’s 10 a.m. reopening--and 18 months after construction crews began repairing the damage left by the Northridge earthquake.

And while only one-third of the mall’s stores were ready for business, the final 30 minutes seemed like an eternity to hard-core shoppers anxious for this day to arrive.

“I’ve been waiting long enough,” said Pat Cronkrite, 52, of Van Nuys. “When the mall was destroyed, I told my husband that the first day this place reopens, I’m taking the day off work.”

And so Cronkrite joined hundreds of others who strolled excitedly along mall corridors refurbished with skylights, fountains and two-story palm trees. An estimated 55,000 shoppers had passed through the mall by 5:30 p.m.

For every bright and newly stocked shop, one or two spaces remained under construction. But that didn’t seem to matter to the early arrivals. For them, the Northridge mall was more than just a place to shop. It serves as a town square and Monday’s return marked a significant step toward resuming life as usual in this community.

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Some people snapped photographs or recorded the moment on videotape cameras. Others filed into a cinnamon bun stand that for years had been a morning gathering place.

“I just called in three more workers. Got them out of bed,,” said Gary Reed, the stand’s manager, as he smeared icing across a pan of hot buns. “We expected it to be a little busy, but nothing like this.”

Mall officials have grand opening ceremonies planned for Aug. 2, when most of the mall’s 180 stores will be open.

But by 10:30 a.m. Monday, drivers were backed up in the parking garages searching for an empty space.

These were the same garages that had provided one of the earthquake’s most searing images, as television cameras broadcast the rescue of a maintenance worker trapped beneath rubble of one of the collapsed structures.

For many, the will to shop overcame any fears.

Mall officials boasted of safety precautions used to rebuild the center. And not only were the structures built to be safe, officials said, they were also built to look safe.

Parking garages were designed to allow more sunlight and columns were poured in conical shapes that give the impression of strength.

Inside the mall, cross members and supports--structural elements usually hidden--were left exposed. The mall advertises that its new skylights are made of safety glass mounted in rubber gaskets.

The strategy seemed to work.

“The pillars on the parking structure look technical,” said Eileen Schiller, 35, of Granada Hills, who brought her 12-year-old daughter Megan to shop for school clothes. “They may not be any safer, but they look that way.”

Nearly every inch of ceiling overlooking the mall corridors has been converted to skylights--some arched and others with conical or peaked designs. Carpeting was replaced by imported granite. Fluorescent lighting was replaced by sunlight and the thrum of echoed footsteps was muted by the burbling of water from mall fountains.

“It’s nice and airy and open,” said Scott Allen, 43, of Van Nuys. “A hell of an improvement over what it was.”

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Even with these changes, the mall retains some of its old look. Many previous merchants remain, including department stores such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., J.C. Penney and The Broadway. Bullock’s is scheduled to be ready for the mall’s reopening ceremony, followed soon after by Robinsons-May.

“I think it’s very healing getting back open, both for the customers and for us,” said Shari Mendez, who became manager of the mall’s candy store just two months before the earthquake. “I was working in a lot of different shops in the meantime, but this is my shop, so I felt like an orphan.”

In the cinnamon bun stand, longtime customers stopped by to say hello. Amid the chatter and the bustle, Allen said he was reminded of the mall’s opening in 1971.

“Look at all these people,” he said. “It’s a shot in the arm for everybody who lives in this area.”