Lakewood city feature
About this landmark
Lakewood Center opened in 1952 as a retail anchor for the postwar planned community.
Lakewood Center is located at 500 Lakewood Center Mall in Lakewood, at the northeast corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Del Amo Boulevard. The mall spans approximately 2 million square feet of gross leasable area and attracts over 22 million visitors annually. It is the second-largest single-level enclosed mall in Los Angeles County and generates over $1 billion in annual sales.
Opening and Mid-Century Design
The center's Mid-Century Modern design was created by A.C. Martin & Associates and opened in 1952 with May Company as the anchor store to the south and Butler Bros. to the north. The original May Company-Lakewood store was 346,700 square feet and was the largest suburban department store in the world when it opened. Developers Mark Taper, Ben Weingart, and Louis Boyar created the shopping center as part of their larger postwar real estate venture. A second anchor, J.C. Penney, was added in 1967.
The center was originally an open-air shopping center but was converted to an enclosed mall in 1978. The Lakewood Park Company purchased the land in 1949 and completed the surrounding planned community on roughly 3,500 acres, with more than 17,000 houses finished by 1953. This postwar development—built to Veterans Administration specifications—created a retail destination that served the rapidly expanding residential community.
Recent Ownership and Current Tenants
The mall's current anchor stores include Macy's, JCPenney, Target, Home Depot, Costco, H&M, and Best Buy, alongside Starlight Cinemas' 16-screen theatre and Round 1 Bowling & Arcade. The mall includes over 225 retailers across its single-level layout with 8,345 parking spaces. As of August 2025, the property was acquired by a joint venture of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, Lyon Living, and Silverpeak, which previously owned the mall through Macerich. The new ownership team plans to redevelop it into a mixed-use community hub incorporating residential, retail, dining, and wellness components in coordination with city officials.
The location's strategic proximity to three major freeways—the 91, 605, and 405—makes Lakewood Center a significant traffic destination in Los Angeles County's retail landscape. The mall continues to serve as a vital anchor for the broader Lakewood community, which developed around the shopping destination during the postwar residential boom of the 1950s.
Insurance connection: Auto coverage for retail destinations
Lakewood Center's high-traffic retail environment makes auto insurance essential for shoppers and employees driving to and from the property. California's minimum auto liability coverage requirements include $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $15,000 for property damage. Insurers must offer uninsured motorist coverage, though drivers may decline it by signing a waiver. Once issued, an auto policy can only be canceled for fraud, material misrepresentation, non-payment of premium, or a substantial increase in the insured hazard. Eligibility and limits depend on the individual policy. The issued policy controls.
Primary sources: Los Angeles Conservancy historic-places page, Wikipedia article on the mall, and City of Lakewood development-services page.
Insurance context is general information only. The issued policy and its endorsements settle coverage.