The concept of centralized food vendors is certainly nothing new to the American eater, thanks to the mall food court. It’s a place where fast-food chains — and in the isles, plate-lunch outfits — have traditionally reigned supreme.
In Hawaii, one of the earliest precursors to the food court cropped up shortly after Pearlridge Center opened in 1972.
Within about a year, the mall unveiled the International Kitchen, a space that served foods of different cultures, among them Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, American and Italian.
Located in Pearlridge Uptown, it was between the two escalators at the current Center Court. Customers ordered at various food counters and sat in a common dining area, where their food was served to them.
If that seems logistically odd — how would you cook meals in the middle of the mall? — it’s probably because few know there was indeed a kitchen very close by.
“There was a kitchen in a basement below Center Court,” said Rick McDonald, who as a University of Hawaii student worked for a construction company that helped build the mall. Since then, he’s spent more than 30 years managing mall spaces.
Pearlridge patrons who remember the International Kitchen will likely recall that it was also home to penguins, housed in large pens with water, a slide and tall, transparent walls. The birds were originally in the dining area.
Why penguins?
“The reason for the International Kitchen, the penguins, the monorail (which transports customers between the separate Uptown and Downtown locations) was that the partners wanted to have attractions to bring in people,” McDonald said.
It wasn’t until 1984 that the current food court opened. Another food court in Pearlridge Downtown followed.
(Another item for the “Did you know?” file: In the mid-’70s, the Uptown food-court space became a disco at night.)
Today, the mall’s eateries, sans penguins, are all about providing a variety of food for good value, said Fred Paine, general manager of Pearlridge Center.
“If we do that, customers support our tenants tremendously,” he said, noting that many food vendors want in and few leave once they set up shop. “If you can’t make it at the Pearlridge food court, something’s wrong.”
But when tenants do leave, Paine said, the mall is careful about replacing them, preferring to leave a space vacant until it finds the right fit. “We like to mix it up a bit,” he said. That means providing Philly cheesesteaks and fried chicken alongside a selection of ethnic restaurants.
“We’re trying to cater to local people — we’re a local mall,” he said. “Our customer base lives and works in this community. One of our top tenants, Bautista’s, offers the kind of food that caters to this community.
“We’re different from a place like Ala Moana, which caters to tourists as well.”
At Ala Moana Center, which has more than 80 dining options, food vendors began with ’60s-era department-store lunch counters and local operators scattered throughout the mall — think Patti’s Chinese Kitchen and Lyn’s Delicatessen. Today’s restaurants range from McDonald’s to the trendy Forty Carrots at Bloomingdale’s.
In 1987, the center’s Makai Market food court opened. It is now a combination of “one-offs that are unique and special,” and vendors from national chains, said Kay Day, senior director of leasing for the center.
“There are 25 to 30 tenants of the food court as well as adjacent spaces. We offer various restaurants to serve the broad tastes and needs of our customers, from sushi and ramen to Italian to hamburgers and shakes.”
The mix, along with numerous other restaurants within the mall, allows Ala Moana to cater to its diverse customer base, 50 percent locals and 50 percent visitors from the mainland and Asia.
