[Read part one and part two] The summer Valley View mall opened, a lot of teenagers – myself included – spent way too much time there. Conveniently, there were balconies a couple steps down from the second floor walkway spaced around the center of the mall with the food court. They had benches to sit on and rest from shopping or just watch the people on the first floor – who would occasionally look up to see if anyone was watching.
A group of girls would huddle on one side of a balcony pretending to completely ignore the group of guys on the other end. The guys were busy “ignoring” the girls. Both groups watched the people on the first floor. Then they would watch the good looking members of the opposite sex. When the person being watched looked up, the trick was to not get caught looking.
That exciting activity would last quite some time. Then both groups would wander away ignoring each other. They would proceed to the food court and start the game all over with different people. Except with food and drinks.
The picture above shows the parking lot at the entrance where my friends and I always parked. The building on the left, I believe, was a 
Penney’s store. It was not there when the mall opened. It was added later when the original theater was built. To the right is a closer picture of the entrance. The first store inside on the right was Sound Warehouse. Upstairs to the right down by Sanger-Harris was McCord Music Company. In the food court, one of the eateries was Famous Ramos Hot Dogs. All three would be the sites of interesting stories of me and the mall.
Feel free to leave comments as to memories you have of Valley View mall – both on the blog and on Facebook.
Peace be with you.
