“There’s nothing to do here”

Oak Park’s depressing shopping plazas 

1.5 miles west of Oak Park High School’s campus—at the intersection of Kanan and Lindero Canyon—lays the trifecta of Oak Park shopping: Oak Park Plaza, Oak Park Shopping Center and North Ranch Center. These three plazas were built in the 1990s, and while some shops have held their own over the decades, there has been a general inability for stores to stay open. 

Almost 300 different stores have rotated their way in and out of these plazas, and currently there are 29 vacant storefronts across the three. The deteriorating and often empty parking lots are post-apocalypse-esque and amidst the recent closing of beloved stores like Lamppost, the plazas’ general lacklusterness has not gone unnoticed by OPHS students.   

“Restaurants keep opening one year and closing the next.” a student said. “In the end, people with cars opt to go to places in Westlake or Agoura because they’re just a higher quality.”

“They [the plazas] are extremely dry and bland,” another student commented. “There are a couple places that are useful like Pavilions, but often you will see everyone in Oak Park going to other cities or towns to shop.”

When asked to compare Oak Park’s plazas to those in Westlake, Thousand Oaks and Agoura, 90.3% of students ranked Oak Park underneath the surrounding communities and 95.8% preferred dining outside Oak Park. These numbers, while shockingly high, are in line with students’ ratings and commentary of plaza quality in Oak Park:

• Dining Options: 3.5/10
• Boutiques/Clothing Options: 2.4/10
• Commercial Activities: 2.7/10

Several students noted that while they enjoyed the convenience, proximity and friendliness of some of the shops in Oak Park, the plazas themselves were outdated, lacked variety and weren’t as pleasant or aesthetic as surrounding shopping centers.  

“I like the friendliness of the local plazas near OPHS, but dislike the lack of variety,” one student said. “I would like to have more culturally diverse restaurants, particularly for Asian foods. Other plazas have more diversity in product and culture.”

“Other plazas have a more modern look, are overall more aesthetic and have more options,” another student commented. 

The Oak Park trifecta has the potential to be an innovative hub for students and residents to enjoy in an otherwise small and quiet city. But as of now, it lacks multitudes and interest. The dreary worn-down look, vacant storefronts and unexciting shops make it a very unappealing place to go.

What makes a plaza successful?

How neighboring shopping centers can inspire our own

When people hang out in “Oak Park”, you’ll likely find them in one of the plazas just a couple miles outside the city’s border. These plazas are extremely popular, and as we look to improve our own, we should turn to them for inspiration. 

Promenade:

The Promenade is a perfect example of how good design makes a plaza. Decorated with colored lamps and fairy lights, stone fountains and statues, vibrant foliage and beautiful storefronts, this plaza embodies the word “aesthetic”. The upkeep and maintenance reflect the quality of the stores and encourage people not only to visit, but to stay and walk around. 

Giving Oak Park’s plazas a facelift would go a long way. Cleaning the buildings, repainting cracked areas, and in general, fixing up the damaged features would massively improve their visual appeal, and adding simple features like lights could bring charm to the centers. 

Shoppes at Westlake:

Well known for Target, In-n-Out and now Crumbl, the Shoppes has always been a popular option for students. This plaza thrives on its simple and elegant design. Its best characteristic, however, is the sheer variety of options they provide. Their dining options cover several different cuisines, from simple club sandwiches to sushi. In addition to food, the plaza does a great job of selecting high-quality fashion, beauty and wellness stores. 

Oak Park’s variety pales in comparison. Our empty storefronts are a perfect opportunity to increase the diversity of shopping experience we provide.

Agoura Plaza:

Small businesses and services are what make Agoura Plaza great. Though the space isn’t particularly eye-catching, the cozy shops bring great appeal to the center. Eateries like Uncle Af’s, Sushi and Wasabi, and Itali Deli truly highlight this feel. The plaza also does a great job of providing relevant services. Dry cleaning, beauty salons, banks, and other service stores bring people to the plaza, and the high-quality dining options keep them around.

Though we do have stores like Tony’s, Breakfast Cafe, and Sapientia, adding more small businesses would allow Oak Park to tap into this same feeling. 

Our Vision:

How could Oak Park’s shopping plazas do better? What design elements, and urban planning, make it conducive to community gatherings and shopping sprees? Based on input from a school-wide survey, and research into recently renovated plazas near us, the Talon has several suggestions for improving the Oak Park Plaza, Oak Park Shopping Center and North Ranch Center. 

These changes range from coordinating a diverse mix of dining, retail, entertainment and activity venues to giving the plazas a facelift and incorporating free hangout spaces. Small businesses are key. So is gauging community interest in a venue before investing in it, preventing the frequent turnover of businesses that Oak Park plazas see.

What sets our community’s shopping centers apart from others in the area is the empty retail spaces for lease and the outdated, run-down façades of its primary buildings. In plazas like the Westlake Promenade and Main Street Ventura, people come for the content of the businesses and linger for its aesthetically pleasing surroundings. While our proposed renovations and additions to Oak Park’s three closest centers are just that—proposals—and range in cost and feasibility, implementing just a couple of them would bring the plazas closer to thriving.

Open Community Space:

The plaza that includes CVS, and spans from Starbucks to Breakfast Cafe to Tony’s, would benefit from a new approach to its open space. Despite the size of the Oak Park Shopping Center, the parking lot is too large to ever be at capacity. The asphalt is pothole-riddled, crumbling to gravel and takes up more space than the plaza needs.

This presents the opportunity to not only re-pave the parking lot but expand the patio between Breakfast Cafe and Yunnan Restaurant. Demolishing the dried-up fountain and creating a larger space where the shopping center could hold farmer’s markets, flea markets or community events would add a new level of utilization that Oak Park’s retail centers have never seen. 

The Oak Park Community Garden could even contribute an installment, growing food near some of the city’s most profitable and long-standing restaurants. It opens up the opportunity for seasonal decorations—think a space for Diwali or Day of the Dead celebrations, a Christmas tree or menorah that could have a lighting ceremony or a pop-up ice skating rink. Year-round, there could be public installations of cornhole, life-size chess or oversized Jenga, turning the Oak Park Shopping Center into the ideal hangout.

Bowling Lanes or Arcade:

While the plazas should incorporate free activities, the retail spaces hold the potential for more entertainment options. Any of the three shopping centers would benefit from an attraction that draws families from the area. While younger siblings go to Kids World, teens who would otherwise go into Westlake or Thousand Oaks to hang out with their friends might stay if there were local activities. This would be convenient for Oak Park residents and add an interactive element to the plazas that restaurants and retail can’t fulfill.

Independent Bookstore/Stationery Store:

To place small businesses first, Oak Park could recreate the success of Barnes and Noble and World Market at the Westlake Promenade with a cross between the two: an independent bookstore and stationery store. Students would come for the aesthetic of a peaceful place to study and romanticize their homework at its workspaces, pick up books for their classes or specialty school supplies. 

Quality Thrift/Consignment Store:

The Oak Park plazas would benefit from capitalizing on social media trends. While the Oak Park Shopping Center has a Goodwill, it’s small and has a limited selection. Residents interested in vintage fashion or clothes at good prices are more likely to shop along Thousand Oaks Boulevard or seek out stores like Buffalo Exchange or Agoura’s The Closet Trading Company on Kanan Road. Both of these shops curate the second-hand items they receive. While this can drive up prices relative to other thrift stores, it ensures quality fashion, still at a lower cost.

Boutique:

If residents aren’t looking to thrift, but still hoping to swipe their credit card, open retail spaces could fill their vacancies with more clothing options. The Westlake Promenade’s Brandy Melville is a staple of the plaza, and before or after shopping, customers are likely to give their business to its multitude of food and drink options.

Despite the improvements we would like to see, we also want to stress the importance of keeping Oak Park shopping centers affordable. A common occurrence in instances of urban planning is gentrification, where an influx of wealthy residents in a neighborhood leads to new housing and businesses, but displaces current residents, fundamentally changing the area’s character. As is more likely in Oak Park’s case, an unintended consequence of these proposals could be a general rise in prices. Our desire is that any changes made to these plazas reflect investment in the community as much as economic growth. The hope is that increased activity in these shopping centers will eliminate the need for high prices or even reduce them. 

Another benefit emerges: the job possibilities these plazas hold for OPUSD high school students. Instead of commuting to Westlake, Agoura or Thousand Oaks, students can utilize nearby ways to make money and gain experience in the workforce. 

This article envisions a way pre-existing community fixtures can shift to be by, and most importantly for, its people. It is up to the community to see it out.