Love Seats, Lamps May Cure That Stuck-in-the-Mud Look

Curvy, nouveau-inspired sofas in rich, textured upholstery, brushed metal lamps, boxy consoles topped with retro vases--the latest trendy furniture offerings at the mall?

Not quite. This is the mall.

The Beverly Center, the 19-year-old shopping complex at 3rd Street and La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation. Gone are the cold, hard benches, predictable potted plants and ugly trash cans that make up a typical mall’s landscape. In their place are striking, colorful living room vignettes spread out throughout the center, complete with comfy upholstered couches, love seats and chairs, tables, lamps and carpeting.

From the inside, it’s definitely not the mall it was some two decades ago. Considering L.A. is a town where appearances count, it was high time the Beverly Center had a major face lift. This new direction not only signals an advanced appreciation of interior design, but also a reaction to hefty retail competition. Next year, the Grove, a 640,000-square-foot outdoor mall next-door to the Farmers Market, at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, will give the nearby Beverly Center a run for its money.

The Beverly Center is just one update of a Southern California mall. The Westside Pavilion completed its indoor remodel late last year, also adding upholstered furniture and removing many of the architectural details that created a cluttered look. The Sherman Oaks Galleria comes back to life this summer as an outdoor shopping center after shutting down two years ago. Part of the old Plaza Pasadena has been leveled to make way for Paseo Colorado, a $201-million shopping district with public spaces and rental housing. Also scheduled for remodeling are the Santa Monica Place Shopping Center, Century City Shopping Center and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. The timing isn’t surprising, considering most were built roughly around the same time--the early to mid-1980s--and seems dated compared with the popular, redeveloped shopping districts such as Pasadena’s Old Town and the Promenade in Santa Monica.

More focus on design may be a reaction to the cookie-cutter glass-and-chrome approach many malls took with their interiors decades ago. That’s fine when you’re the only game in town, but when another mall two miles away offers the same stores and similar dining experiences, why bother going?

“We walked into this renovation [begun last April and completed last November] determined to create a center that complemented the direction we were taking with the tenant mixture,” says Laurel Crary, the Beverly Center’s general manager, who declined to put a specific price on the redo. Recent additions have included higher-end retailers such as DKNY, Louis Vuitton and Mont Blanc. “We didn’t want just another shopping center remodel. We wanted to do something special, something that said that this is a hip, trendy environment. We wanted it to feel more like a trendy hotel lobby.”

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The Beverly Center’s arrival in L.A. in 1982 signaled something of a retail coming of age for the city, even though its blocky architecture by Welton Becket Associates, formerly of Santa Monica, was described by The Times at its birth as a “too-massive structure” that loomed “like a gray-brown cloud.” The structure’s elements considered edgy then--outside escalators, neon lights, shopping levels beginning on the sixth floor above five levels of parking eventually became ordinary. Crary admits that in ensuing years tenants at the center “went a little mainstream, although business remained strong.” Now with new, upscale stores, that “gave us the nudge that said, ‘Don’t get comfortable, stay on your toes.’ ”

Carl Hagelman, senior vice president of planning and design for Taubman Centers Inc., the mall’s Michigan-based parent company, agrees that the Beverly Center had lost some of its edge: “Hollywood is here, and this is a fashion-oriented shopping center. We wanted to add back some of the lifestyle and atmosphere. The purpose behind the vignettes was to provide more places to sit down and relax. We wanted to create a little more of a luxurious feeling in the furniture we chose.”

After interviewing various architecture and design firms, Taubman settled on the Seattle-based architecture firm Callison, responsible for the renovation of South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court to accommodate new tenants.

The firm’s use of color was what sold Hagelman, who describes the Beverly Center’s vignettes as “L.A. whimsy,” those being the more curved, bold, mixed-pattern pieces in magenta and gold; and ones not quite so forward, in more muted earth tones and neutrals. Some of the center’s floor cutouts, which gave views to other levels, were filled in to add more seating areas. Streamlined silver-colored metal chandeliers add light and echo the modern design.

Hagelman concedes that it was risky to use upholstered furniture in an area that draws thousands of people. Technologically advanced, durable textiles were chosen, and there is the hope that shoppers will take pride in their mall and not destroy the good stuff. Accent pieces are firmly bolted down.

Inviting people to rest and relax is the antithesis of the get-’em-in-and-keep-’em-shopping approach that made those uncomfortable benches so popular. Now malls are places where people spend the day eating, shopping and seeing movies.

Says Hagelman, “This gives people an opportunity to take a break, sit down, and that actually extends their length of stay.”

Vickie Sherman, marketing director for the Westside Pavilion, echoes that sentiment: “Having a place where people can come and rest and have a cup of coffee serves a purpose because it makes the mall more of a destination. Anything that caters to the convenience and comfort of a customer is what a shopping center is striving for.”

And what of those who feel so relaxed they nod off?

“I guess there’s a fine line between making them feel so comfortable they feel like taking a nap,” he adds, laughing.

“I love it. It’s very California Art Deco,” says Alana Foster, an actress and costume stylist who was taking a break on a sofa and sending messages on her two-way pager. “Before, I could never sit here and organize receipts and things. It’s more user-friendly. Now I can honestly say to a client, ‘Meet me at the Beverly Center,’ and they’re really impressed when they come here.”

Nathan Nifco, visiting from Vancouver, was happily ensconced in a chair reading a magazine. “It’s cool,” he says. “It’s like having a living room. I love the look and the feel of it.”

Besides the vignettes, there were other make-overs. The Grand Court, the central seating area on level six by the main elevators, was redone. Sunken seating was replaced by tall, light-wood and metal tables and chairs, oval banquettes and upholstered chairs and tables. That see-through bank of elevators has been covered by a paneled Shoji screen in calming shades of blues, grays and golds.

The upper-level food court has been lightened up with pale wood tables and chairs, and there’s even a rooftop terrace with a stunning view of the city. Valet parking has been upgraded with better access and an express elevator, and the old exterior brown paint was replaced with shades of mustard.

Although Crary and Hagelman insist that the Beverly Center and the Grove, a project of Caruso Affiliated Holdings, can peacefully co-exist, having an edge can’t hurt, especially if the economy continues its ups and downs. Already committed to the Grove are Nordstrom, FAO Schwarz and flagship stores for Banana Republic, Gap and Crate & Barrel.

Crary adds that malls may not look to the Beverly Center’s new design for ideas: “I’m not sure this will work for everyone. This is not your typical suburban shopping center. But I think we have raised the bar a little bit.”