What was once a thriving West Los Angeles mall featured in hit movies and music videos has been closed since 2019, crushing numerous nearby businesses, and leaving neighbors frustrated.

“The West Side Pavilion was like an anchor store for the small businesses here on Pico,” said Lisa Morocco, business chair on the Westside Neighborhood Council. “When you lose that, there’s a big vacuum. it’s been a long and protracted process.”

“We’re saying please, please, please because our businesses are dying,” added Terri Tippit, chair of the Westside Neighbor Council and a nearby resident for 54 years. “We need to have a vibrant business district in order for the residential district to survive too.”

The Westside Pavilion, featured in “Clueless” and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” video, among others, began to decline, like similar malls, in the aughts. It was set to be redeveloped into a complex for tech companies, headlined by Google, called One Westside. 

“Google came in and promised us the world,” Tippit said. “They spent a couple of years [on construction] … And then the pandemic came and they decided no one’s coming back to work.”

The Westside Tavern and Landmark Theater were to remain open, but both eventually closed, largely due to the restrain of the covid era.

UCLA, neighbors about 2 miles north, purchased the property in 2024 to build the UCLA Research Park, which has been in construction ever since.

Businesses along Pico near what was once the Westside Pavilion have closed in droves in the years the building has sat empty, including what was once a popular Island’s.

“If I owned a business here, I would be upset, I would be angry, I would be anxious,” Morocco said. “Because we have been telling them, “Oh, just wait until Google gets in. It’s going to be great. Oh, it’s going to be UCLA. Just wait another year and another two.’”

UCLA did not provide The California Post an open date by this article’s publishing date, but the Westside Neighborhood Council has been told initial occupancy by 2028, with full occupancy by 2035.

“It’s not UCLA’s fault that they’re not here yet,” Morocco added. “It’s just that they have to go through the process and the permitting of the city, and the city moves in strange and mysterious ways.”

The 700,000 square foot facility, like 200 others across the country, will be shared by academic, public and industrial inventors.

“It’s not some business who has a lease for 10 or 15 years, they are building things here,” she said. “They’re solving big scientific questions here. I think honestly, when we look back in five years, we’re going to be super proud that we’re home to the Research Park.”

Tippit recalled when Australia’s Westfield Group first opened the mall in 1985 as an open-air structure.

“They said, because it never rains in California, and as soon as it opened we had our wettest season,” she said.

Macerich, who built the Santa Monica Place, later took over, but defaulted, setting the stage for the Google debacle.

“Businesses are desperate,” Morocco said. “Come on, UCLA, put on some speed. But we also understand that you have to go through the certain processes. So I guess the short answer is we want them to be here.”

Tippit added that she believes UCLA will enhance their community. 

“I think the experience that we’re having here is probably something that’s happening all over the city,” she continued. “And we are lucky, actually, that we get someone like UCLA to come in and lift the tide.”

“But in the interim,” Morocco said. “The Shop Local concept isn’t just a cute idea, it’s a lifeline now. … Go out to a meal. Buy something. Walk the street, even just have some activity.”