Paradise valley mall free#

They were the locus of the now-inexplicable (indoor smoking lounges, rattails, Wicks вЂ™nвЂ™ Sticks) and the then-cutting edge (indoor ice rinks, Arizona State University-accredited MBA classes, do-it-yourself MTV-style music videos). Although I donвЂ™t know how many of them made it back to Uncle Sam and the IRS, to be honest.вЂќД«ack then, Valley shopping malls were the coolest вЂ“ nay, the only вЂ“ place to see and be seen, save perhaps your neighborhood roller-skating rink. вЂњIt drove traffic, but also made good rent. вЂњGame rooms used to be huge for us, says Wally Chester, a retired executive with Westcor, the landmark local developers behind such shopping palaces as Los Arcos, Paradise Valley Mall and Arrowhead Towne Center.

Paradise valley mall free#

For years, students at nearby Cortez High School would brag about that infamous lunch break, when the filmmakers offered endless free quarters at the video game arcade in exchange for being background extras. The year was 1987, and the movieвЂ™s producers had taken over much of Metrocenter Mall in Northwest Phoenix to film a scene in which Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln and Billy the Kid, among other time-traveling luminaries, sample such futuristic delights as skateboards, Jazzercise and Hot Dog on a Stick. вЂњAnd weвЂ™d all take that first bite for the camera, and try not to gag on the cold potatoes.вЂќ вЂњThey kept bringing out these giant stacks of mashed potatoes blended with different food coloring and covered in chocolate sauce,вЂќ Bain, now a television producer in Los Angeles, says. But for then-12-year-old actor Frazier Bain, who was about to be immortalized as the bratty younger brother in the cult classic Bill & TedвЂ™s Excellent Adventure, it was sheer torture. It was the fashionable way to spend a Saturday afternoon for Valley kids back in the 1980s вЂ“ eating bottomless bowls of whipped-cream-topped, chocolate syrup-drizzled sundaes at FarrellвЂ™s Ice Cream Parlour. We go nostalgia-shopping at Chris-Town, Metro Center and other titans of вЂ™80s retail. Nothing screams вЂњthe 1980sвЂќ like the ValleyвЂ™s bygone shopping mall heyday.