Lloyd D. Jackson Square history
I flipped through the clipping scrapbook about Jackson Square at the library's Local History & Archives department the other day...
Here are some interesting excerpts from the Hamilton Spectator concerning the opening of Phase I in 1972:
"It’s no ordinary mall - ‘It’s the most beautiful thing of its type in the country’" Aug 22, 1972
“Crazee Legs, Eye Patch, Very Very Terry Jerry, Suzy Shier, Thistletown and Iroqrafts – they’ll all be appearing in Hamilton this week. Avant-garde rock groups? Football teams? Belly Dancers? Not likely.”
“20,000 join in the big stompin’ Square dance” Aug 23, 1972
"The new Hamilton soared into life last night amid fanfare, feasting, dancing and midnight fireworks.
Lloyd D. Jackson Square, described by Health Minister John Munro as the “new psychological heart” of the awakening steel city, was born --- and about 20,000 citizens played the corporate role of midwife.
It was a girl watcher’s delight. The beautiful people appeared in see-through blouses, bare-backed gowns, deep-cut dresses and meticulous hairstyles, and were escorted through the mall by their attentive men. The women might have stepped from the boutique windows, the men from Playboy.
Fifty cases of liquor were taken care of --- and they had sent for more.
A spokesman for Yale Properties, the Montreal-based developer who threw last night's party, indicated today that about $20,000 was spent on the festivities"
The shopping concourse retail area covered 110,000 square feet and had 54 retail service outlets where “Shoppers can buy anything from fresh bread and bratwurst to eyeglasses and greeting cards. And there are several speciality shops dealing in a multitude of things from English China to Eskimo carvings.”
The list of stores included:
Birks
Dalmy’s
Disney’s Mens Clothes
Suzi Shier
Royal Trust
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Hill’s Foundations
M.U. Photography
Lucas & King
Pet Fair
Wright’s Laundry
Cole’s
Grand & Toy
Music World
Winemaster
National (Baker)
Denninger’s
Super Save Drug Mart
Peppermill Dining Lounge
Big Boy Restaurant
Ostrander’s Jewellers
Very Very Terry Jerry
Iroqrafts
Crazee Legs
Flagg Shoes
Hetherington’s
Young Sophisticate
Lindor
Shirley K. Maternity
Town & Country Shoppe
Tip Top Tailors
Mayfair Shoes
Bank of Montreal
Japan Camera Centre
D’Allaird’s
Agnew-Surpass Shoes
The Eye Patch Shop
Coutt’s Card & Candle
Florsheim Shoes
Laura Secord
Benson & Hedges
Bowrings
Wig Mart
Hy-Way Boutique
Belinda & Brother
Thistletown House of Spectacles
Thrifty’s Just Pants
Reitman’s Smart Set
Bata Shoes
Fairweather - Big Steel
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