I just ran across some black & white prints I shot in 2002 of two retail plazas on New Halls Ferry Road in Florissant, MO. Above is a detail of one of the two signs that represented Cross Keys Shopping Center, which went up in 1969 as a combination mall/open air retail giant at New Halls Ferry and North Lindbergh Blvd. The signs were ungodly tall and shiny, and always reminded me of a cross between Johnny Sokko’s robot and Batman. The signs were demolished in 2003 along with the rest of the original Cross Keys. The site was born again.
Still standing in its original state, about a mile south of Cross Keys, at New Halls Ferry and Parker Road, is Plaza Madrid. This plaza went up in 1970, and as you can make out on the photo above (click to enlarge), this part of Madrid was originally the National grocery store. Spent a lot of time at the magazine stand inside this building, but even as a kid, I knew this place looked cheesy. During its boom years, this part of town had a deep fascination with anything Spanish, and Madrid Plaza really went over the top with the theme.
Back at the original Cross Keys, this is a detail of what was originally a Krogers grocery store, which disappeared around the time Cross Keys also got a Schnucks. The center of this retail oasis was an indoor mall, but I can’t remember a time when it was as lively and thriving as the open-air stores along the perimeters. Actually, I remember the mall being a bit creepy.
In 2003, they cleared all the buildings and started from scratch, even giving it a new name: The Shoppes at Cross Keys. When you use pretentious, Olde English spelling for 21st century suburban shopping parks, you know there’s no place for a stainless steel Batman sign. The new concern is all Big Box open air, and though it lacks personality (which is the point, really) it is doing quite well, if cars on the parking lot are a fair indicator.
Plaza Madrid is also open-air, has loads of personality and its parking lots are sad and lifeless. They’ve been that way for about the last 15 years. Some other businesses have moved in and out of National building over the years, and it sits empty yet again. The beloved Dairy Queen (that occupied the Knockouts space, below) disappeared by the start of the 1990s, and you knew the jig was up when even the Radio Shack closed.
Plaza Madrid is in a good location, the buildings are holding up very nicely (especially those clay tile roofs, which are not budging) and the layout is perfect for exposure of individual shops, yet owners just can’t seem to make it happen.
I know retail is an unsympathetic creature of New, Newer, Newest and Madrid has the stench of old about it. Retail also requires either a complete lack of personality or the EIFS-fake personality of “lifestyle centers,” while Madrid just has played out kitsch from a different century, so it’s the wrong kind of personality. I’m not claiming this place is worthy of preservation, just saying that remodeling the buildings we already have is a smart idea. I will always hold on hope that retail can learn to think differently, maybe learn to save some money by recycling buildings, and that Plaza Madrid would be a good test lab for such a radical idea… scrub it up, patch it up, market the kitsch. Let’s learn to think outside the Big Box of retail Shoppes.
Which dept store had an overhead train kids could ride in? Iived in Florissant for a couple of years, but I was very young! I do remember the Mynah bird at Golde’s.
What was the department store in the upper side of Cross Keys? It was small and it stood near New Halls Ferry but on the same lot in Crosskey . I think there was a schnucks
Thanks for the fine work Toby:-). I grew up up in Florissant and the Cross Keys McDonalds was one of the primary cruising stops in once we started driving (HCH ‘86). I took guitar lessons at Wise Music (on top of the bowling alley?) and did bowl there a few times (although I would not have remembered the name). Remember when Marshall’s came to town? I liked finding unique clothes and sneakers there. Later I worked at Long John Silvers (84-87) and would cash my paychecks at National. My neighbor Dave Greer (HCH ‘85) bought both of the local Dairy Queens. Isn’t the Lindbergh location still open? I haven’t checked in for years:-(. My cousin Mike co-owned Clark’s Mobil on Parker Spur. Sweet memories…
Great piece on two retailers in Florissant Mo. Florissant is the closest thing to a hometown for me and your post is about two different plazas that were once near and dear to my heart. I shared you fine piece on my Facebook page.
Some of my earliest memories are of walking across Plaza Madrid and through Cross Keys’ creepy mall interior. I grew up just a couple of blocks down Parker Road from there, just past Iggy’s, and we used to walk everywhere. My dad planted the trees and bushes in the median behind Plaza Madrid, as well as in the lots across Parker Road from it (at Derhake Road and at Parker Spur). And we went to the National, Radio Shack, and Dairy Queen there all the time. I would pick up chunks of glass in the parking lot and keep them in my dresser drawer (until I got in trouble for it); as I recall, the medians around the parking-lot lights also had some great quartz rocks. (Important things as a little kid!) A friend of mine lived up the hill across New Halls Ferry Road from there, in an old house in the woods… And yes, we used to go bowling at Olympic Lanes! And I still miss the dollar show at Cross Keys. Memories!
Thom, the bowling alley is still in the basement of that same strip mall on New Halls Ferry. It amazes me that this is so, every time I drive by it.
It goes to show that when you grow up around a location such as the Plaza Madrid, you don’t even realize how out-of-place the architecture is. I may have driven by the location everyday in my youth and never thought twice about the uniqueness of the building. Now it stands out like a glorious sore thumb with all the uninspiring “shoppes” and “centres” built around the area. It has been years since I have been in the area. I also remember a small strip mall on New Halls Ferry with a bowling alley in the basement. I wonder if that is still around. That was a genius design…
Talk about memory lane! Toby, I worked at Plaza Madrid in the 1980’s, when the mall was still very much alive. I worked at a ladies only gym, which was in the corner behind the DQ. All of us would eat ice cream huddled in the back area out of sight of the customers! I also had a part time job at a unfinished furniture store in there- can’t remember it’s name. I loved the wide covered sidewalks- I think they had piped in music out there, too. I also remember the roof leaked like crazy. National was still there at that time.
Of course there’s malls all over SoCal that look like the Plaza Madrid so it would probably be disconcerting to see one in StL. Right now the trend is to remodel malls like this in the Craftsman style. The stucco and curved tile at both the centers where our local grocery stores, here in the lovely LaCrescenta Valley, were redone in “faux”(I hate to use fake) cedar siding and river rocks.