When the eight-story Beverly Center opened on L.A.'s Westside, there was more than a bit of concern about the impending "mallification" of Los Angeles. Loved for its convenience and disdained for its penitentiary-style architecture (and the "no validations" parking fee), Beverly Center contains about 160 standard mall shops, including a few that are open by advance reservation only (so L.A.); it's anchored on opposite sides by Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. You can see it blocks away, looking like a gigantic angular boulder with the Hard Rock Cafe's (America's first) roof-mounted Cadillac on one corner.