Renovated Mall Opens With Celebration

Long Beach on Tuesday unveiled a flashy new retail center where just a year ago stood one of the area’s most dismal malls.

Mariachis and a high school marching band were on hand to celebrate the grand reopening of the Marina Pacifica shopping center, a 20-year-old waterside retail complex near Pacific Coast Highway and 2nd Street.

Before television cameras and excited neighbors, project engineers and city officials congratulated themselves on a yearlong, $10-million revitalization that transformed an inward-looking mall into an eye-catching strip anchored by three major retail chains.

Mayor Beverly O’Neill said the center represents a major step toward reviving Long Beach’s economy, which has been dependent upon the city’s now-defunct naval base. From now on, she said, retail sales combined with tourism and international trade will be the city’s main revenue generators.

“This [shopping center] is a key component of our revitalization,” O’Neill said. She also called attention to Los Altos Center, another recently renovated shopping center that opened for business last week on Bellflower Boulevard.

Marina Pacifica had been written off in recent years as an example of how not to build a mall because of a closed-in design that all but shunned passersby, said Randy Gordon, president of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. But now, he said, the storefronts present an attractive view to commuters.

Probably the highest profile retailer at the center is the Wow! Multimedia Superstore, a joint venture between Tower Records and the Good Guys. The warehouse-like store offers music CDs, audio and video equipment and even a coffee bar. Flanking the store are a new Ralphs supermarket and Barnes & Noble Booksellers, as well as several restaurants and cafes. A 12-screen movie theater is still in the works.