Then and Now: East Towne Mall and Interstate/151 interchange

Then.  1981 aerial view, with cloverleaf intersection at top center and mall at lower left. 

Now.  Mall still in business, though not the draw it used to be, and surrounded by satellite stores.

Madison malls change with the times.  (Channel3000, 4/16/2018)

Madison’s West Towne Mall opened in what had been a cow pasture in 1970, and its sister mall East Towne opened a year later. On the city’s near west side, the Hilldale Shopping Center opened in the early 1960s. The traditional model for successful shopping centers really didn’t change for the next 30 years. 

It generally consisted of anchor stores, kiosks, long corridors of smaller retail stores, and a food court.“That's the format that was around in 1970, 1985, and 1998 and it's still around today,” says University of Wisconsin marketing lecturer and business consultant Moses Altsech, “but it's no surprise that it's not cutting it anymore.”

Actually, for those of us who were there at the creation -- the late 60s/early 70s heyday of shopping mall construction -- the food court was not yet part of the general plan. 

Good food is bringing people to the mall. And they’re spending more money when they get there.  (CNBC, 5/20/2019)

“We’ve done a 180-degree turn from this philosophy in place 10 years ago, where [mall owners] put in a food court, but shoppers were there primarily to shop, and the food court was just an amenity for refueling,” said Garrick Brown, a retail real estate analyst for Cushman. “Now, I will go to the mall because there is really good food there. It’s a reversal from the idea that the food is an amenity. Now, the food can drive traffic.” 

Then.  The quadrant north of the one above.

Now.  My, how we've filled out, with the American Center Business Park making the biggest contribution.

Then.  The quadrant just west of the one that leads off this post.  (East Towne Mall is at lower left.  At the same level on the other side of the aerial view is the Badger Four-Plex Drive-in on North Stoughton Road, which closed in September 1989 to make way for a business park development.

Now.  The open space just east of where the drive-in theater used to be is Reindahl Park.  (Just in case you're wondering why it remains undeveloped.)

Other Madison Then and Now posts:
2019
900 Ann Street (TravelLodge motel).  (6/14/2019)
Madison General Hospital.  (6/11/2019)
State and Francis streets.  (6/10/2019)
UW-Madison Agriculture Hall.  (6/3/2019)
The Edgewater Hotel   You don't mess with a classic art moderne building.  (6/2/2019)
North and south of the Beltline and east of West Towne Mall.  (4/30/2019)
North and south of the Beltline in the West Towne Mall area.  (4/2/2019)
Beltline, Whitney Way, Odana Road, and University Research Park.  (3/5/2019)
652 State Street.  (3/5/2019)

2015
City-County Building.  (9/1/2015)
Veterans Administration Hospital. (8/27/2015)
The Red Gym:  When will the unobstructed view return?  ()7/22/2015)
UW-Madison College of Agriculture.  (7/22/2015)
Wisconsin State Historical Society.  (7/21/2015)
UW-Madison Memorial Union.  (7/21/2015)

2013
240 West Gilman.  (9/6/2013)
North Carroll Street between West Johnson and West Gorham.  (9/5/2013)
East Mifflin & North Pinckney.  (8/30/2013)