Belle View Shopping Center

[WB4KFO]

Belle View Shopping Center is the place the Mount Vernon Radio Club eats breakfast at Primos Restaurant.  A Facebook group is devoted to the history of the shopping center and perhaps would be of interest.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/887408228004258/?multi_permalinks=2567668033311594&notif_id=1574834934513754&notif_t=group_activity

I visited Belle View often in my childhood and am better at telling the name of the old stores than the new ones.  I went to Belle View Elementary just down the road.

 

 

[K3MRI]

I love the history of malls. Likely sounds bizarre but it takes me back to the decades of my youth. I have many memories of going to the mall as a youth. I also remember my very first journey to an indoor mall. We drove 200 miles to go there.

[WB4KFO]

16 hours ago, K3MRI said:

I love the history of malls. Likely sounds bizarre but it takes me back to the decades of my youth. I have many memories of going to the mall as a youth. I also remember my very first journey to an indoor mall. We drove 200 miles to go there.

Belle View was an important commerce spot at around the time of this photo for residents of Fort Hunt, Huntington etc.  The important malls in Northern Virginia were Seven Corners and Parkington.  "Parkington was not enclosed originally nor was Landmark.  They were open air and were nice to stroll in the evenings.  Shirlington was another open air mall on Shirly Highway with Landsbergs as the "anchor" department store.

People's Drug had a lunch counter and Belle View was serviced by Grand Union Grocery which had a strong foothold in the DC area until the '80's recession.  There was a great hardware there which doubled as a hobby shop and the post office.   A big draw was "Brenner's Bakery", I am sure a lot of us would wander over there after breakfast  if it were still there.

A lot of people feel the same way about malls as you do, Jim.

[K3MRI]

That's one thing I like in the D.C. area, there are still some neat, old-school hardware stores. They're more expensive, but there's a certain good feeling about talking to a clerk about your project and having him/her care. I say him/her because in my youth, there was a young lady who could out hardware the most professionals of professionals. Her dad was in construction, like mine. My favorite memory of her is sharpening my chain saw one memorable Saturday afternoon. Admittedly, I had a mini crush on her!