Then and Now: Encino's Original Mini Mall

Built in the late 1950s, the original corner mall at Ventura and Balboa boulevards had a Thriftimart supermarket, a Rexall pharmacy, a laundromat and the Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors ice cream shop. The recently renovated mall still stands today, with the and a store as anchor tenants.

At the time the shopping center opened, the concept of the mini mall was well under way in many suburban enclaves. The Norge Shopping Centers, identified by a white ball in the sky with colored balloons on it, were among the first to feature dry cleaners and other convenience stores in one corner location with common parking.

At the time of the black-and-white photo shown here, which was taken in 1961, the Balboa and Ventura Mini Mall boasted a Laundramatic "fluff and fold"-style laundromat, a shoe store, a flower shop and the venerable Cornet 5 and 10 Cent Store, where I purchased many Halloween costumes and plastic six-inch figures (sold in a bin) of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the Mummy.

Former Encino resident Alan Rifkin fondly remembers the Cornet Dime Store.

"For a handful of nickels, you could buy wooden envelope holders for Mother's Day, a kite or a squirt gun," he said. "It was a child's paradise in there."

By the late 1960s, the Cornet store had moved out and the hugely popular Rexall drugstore, known as Lipson pharmacy, moved from the west side of the mall to the east end, in the Cornet space. 

In the space where the Rexall had been, the wife of actor Dennis Weaver opened Encino's first '70s-era health food store, The Good Life. It was a beautiful store with a snack bar and all sorts of gourmet health food items. It eventually became Natureville Health Foods and remained in business for many years. (See the attached photo.)

When the Lipson pharmacy moved out of its space in the mall, the , which for many years had operated in its Genesta Avenue location across the street from , moved in, where it still stands today. The same block sign that was used for Cornet and Lipson Rexall Pharmacy is still on top of the building used for the Post Office.

I remember the Thriftimart competing with a few blocks away and with Fazio’s market in the early 1970s. I bought football cards from a vending machine outside the Thriftimart from the 1969 season.

The Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors shop was a hugely popular Encino meeting place after dinner. Flavors like Beatle Nut (in 1965) Pink Bubble Gum and Mandarin Chocolate spur delectable '60s memories for many Encino kids. And let’s not forget the wooden barrel full of root beer on top of the refrigerator in the back corner!

There was a Richfield gas station on the northeast corner of Balboa and Ventura, right in front of the mini mall. It's now an office building.

Amazingly, with all of the mini malls that line Ventura Boulevard on both sides of the street, this original Encino shopping center is still up and running, with in the Natureville space.

I remember making many trips to this mall in my dad's powder-blue Chevy Caprice to have ice cream on summer nights. My dad always finished his ice cream cone by the time he started the car so he could put both hands on the wheel, at Mom's insistence. I think of this whenever I visit the mall now to mail a package or to buy a case of water at .

Things have changed and yet stayed the same in good ole Encino.