Cinnabon is proof that God loves us and so do cardiologists.
I was pleasantly surprised to come home last evening and find that someone had been to a mall and procured a “cinnamon roll” (don’t call them buns at Cinnabon) for me.
A few minutes ago, along with coffee, it constituted breakfast.
I remember the very first time I had Cinnabon. The Montgomery Mall and King of Prussia Mall were two spots where you could get it. You’d get within, say, 25 feet of the place and the smells would waft. It was like spare change to a bum or pudgy interns to Bill Clinton. You could not resist.
The Plymouth Meeting Mall, closest to my home, had no Cinnabon. At the old, original mall (as pictured above before multiple renovations) they had a quasi-food court w/ the obligatory merry-go-round in the center (which was added in the mid 80′s).
Cinnabon? No. We had TJ Cinnamons. A chain that still operates, but not much in this area. The product was inferior to Cinnabon. First sin (pun intended) – no cream cheese icing. It was a standard white sugar icing. I hated it so much. I also ended up working there for a brief time. I think it was my first job, but I’m not certain. It was brief and mostly unmemorable except for the homosexual manager and me listening to Beatles tapes in the kitchen while I cleaned pans and such.
Anyway, the rest of the food court: McDonalds. I remember one of the guys I worked with used to get a Filet-o-Fish and Chicken McNuggets every day for lunch. He called it surf and turf. He rode the SEPTA bus from North Philly every day to work there. I hope he’s at least graduated to the McChicken sandwich now that it’s on the dollar menu.
The Food Court had Bassett’s Original Turkey. Some day I’ll do my own blog entry about this lost franchise which was sold in the 90′s and promptly run into the ground. I miss it (though it lives on at the Reading Terminal Market under the name “The Original Turkey”).
Bain’s Deli and the Mandarin Garden chinese restaurant rounded out the food court. The Mandarin Garden had a big restaurant behind the counter out front – I miss that place too. There was an independent Pizza joint too.
Chick-Fil-A eschewed the food court and stood mid-mall on its own. Back then the mall also had two other delicious standalones: By the entrance to Strawbridge & Clothier was a bakery. A full-fledged bakery in the mall. And the Bavarian Pretzel stand on the 2nd floor. Those pretzels were awesome.
Centering the mall was the Harvest House restaurant outside Woolworth’s. Owned by Woolworth’s, it was an old-style lunch counter. The food was insanely good – like going to grandmas. Tuna salad, grilled cheese, awesome burgers. It went the way of the dodo along with Woolworth’s itself.
There was a Friendly’s in the mall too. No longer. It is worth noting there was a Friendly’s about 2000 feet away along Germantown Pike as well. They all closed with the great Friendly’s purge of the late 90′s, when management closed anything that wasn’t producing huge profits (they closed scores of profitable stores – just not profitable enough). There is a Commerce Bank now where Friendly’s once stood.
Today it’s all been replaced by the chain restaurants and bland food. No independent pizza, it’s Sbarro now. No bakery. Now it’s Auntie Ann’s pretzels.
I miss the old mall.
The North Coventry Mall on Rt 100 & 422 still has a Bavarian Pretzel.
It’s still the same recipe I remember from back in the day at Neshaminy Mall. But don’t look for it in the Food Court, it’s “far” away from the Auntie Annes and the Orange Julius.
It’s by the TGI Fridays.
I too miss the old mall, but time goes on. While it’s too early to comment on the current expansion, the post-1998 version of the PMM is an aesthetic and commercial disaster. But this situation really isn’t all that new. Recall that Ikea came to the mall complex in 1985 to help resuscitate what was a deeply troubled institution. While Ikea thrived, it’s prosperity didn’t always seem to spill over to the rest of the mall, which was the original plan. PMM had been hurt badly by Montgomery Mall, The Court at King of Prussia, and Willow Grove Park, built in 1978-82.
The second picture posted I don’t think is from the PMM, but rather the Echelon Mall, if Wikipedia is to be believed.
I also remember the bakery on the 1st floor, just outside of the entrance to S&C. Sold powdered sugar donuts… what was it’s name?
For the record, there also was Sal’s Pizza, 2nd level I think, outside Hess’/ Boscov’s? There was also an ice cream store next to the Cinema, again, who’s name I can’t remember. (Did it even have a name?) Also recall the Plymouth Grill, the lunch counter outside Woolworth’s in the center of the mall (not the Harvest House). All date from the 1970-80s.
The food court you describe existed outside the Cinema if I recall and was built in the very early 90s, after a very bleak late 80s period.
Back in the late 70′s. on the upper level about mid mall there was a really cool restaurant that served salads in clear glass flowerpots, the place had a garden theme and I believe the name might have even been “Garden…something… Used to stop on the way to Philly from upstate, great mall back then. Any clue what the restaurant might have been called???
I think there was a similar restaurant in the Exton Mall back in the late 70′s and 80′s. It had a garden theme and I think served salads in the fashion you described. They also had huge wicker type chairs at the tables. Very light and airy type of place. I wish I remembered the name.
Does anyone remember the haunted house that they had when Hess’s closed down, around 1994 or so?
Good blog. I got a lot of good data. I’ve been following this technology for awhile. It’s interesting how it keeps changing, yet some of the core components stay the same. Have you seen much change since Google made their most recent acquisition in the arena?
I remember my parents taking me to the mall on Sat. afternoons,that was also my first “salesgirl” job….2nd floor Woolworths…can anybody tell me what year the fire was that destroyed most of that end?I remember Woolworths having a hugh fire sale…..eveything smelled like smoke!
Does anyone remember Olga’s Kithchen that used to be at the KOP mall-loved it! Sure miss it.
I see some really great posts here and this really took me down through memory lane. I grew up in the 80′s and often frequented the mall. I did see a few posts here about a bakery in the mall. I was fortunate enough to work there throughout my high school years. It was simply called “The bake shop”. In fact the same owners that had this, Now operate a bakery in north wales called Zenas bakery and sandwich shop. May i also note that this family was absolutely one of the kindest, and caring bunch i have ever had the pleasure of knowing and working for. Now to really jog your memory, let’s see how many people can remember the store to the right of the bakery as you were leaving strawbridge and clothier. Try and remember, if you give up, just respond to this post. Thanks again.
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Back in the 1960s, when I was just in pre-school, I have a vivid memory of my parents taking me to the Plymouth Meeting Mall to see the damage left behind by the big fire. About halfway through the mall, there was a large plywood wall that separated the fire damage from the rest of the mall. There were little windows that you could peer through to see the damage. Thank you for the photo above of the mall with the iconic clock that’s no longer there, and of course, the fountain. There was one like it at the other end prior to the big fire. Below, I posted an account of the fire as reported by the Reading Eagle.
“Smoke pours from the Plymouth meeting shopping mall as fire destroys a portion of the mall on Saturday. The blaze, which started with an explosion in the show window of King’s Mens Shop when the owner turned on the lights, forced the evacuation of shoppers and employees throughout the mall. Approximatley one third of the 100 stores in the suburban Philadelphia mall were damaged by smoke, water or the fire. The Lit Brothers department store next door t the lower level shop where the blaze began, was damaged by water. Flames spread lower level of the mall to the second level shops as the blaze raged out of control for 5 ½ hours. Damage to the $38million dollar complex was estimated at $2 million.”