South Coast Plaza Toasts to 45 Years at the Hotel Bel-Air

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Last night, South Coast Plaza hosted a pretty luxe dinner at the Hotel Bel-Air for its top customers and the press in honor of its 45th birthday. The event was also to celebrate South Coast Plaza's fall catalog, shot in Big Sur. Here's how they could afford such swankiness: In 2012, the shopping center (it'd feel déclassé to call it a mall) will reach 1.5 billion in sales. Wowza.

Members of the Segerstrom family, who still privately own the Orange County-based shopping center, were also in attendance and its 89-year-old co-founder and managing partner Henry Segerstrom took a moment at dinner to speak. He told two stories, the first about the founding days of South Coast Plaza and how French designer André Courrèges decided to take a risk on the shopping center, a move that set the place on the path to where it is today—home to Hermès, Harry Winston, Tiffany & Co., Chanel, Prada, Balenciaga and pretty much every other luxury label out there.

At the end of the night, guests (including, disclosure, ourselves) were gifted with a bag that contained a bottle of wine, a candle, the fall catalog and, in a nod to the Segerstrom family's farming history, a sack of lima beans.
· South Coast Plaza [Official Site]
· Bruno Frisoni Has Some Really Nice Things to Say About LA [Racked]
· Pops of Color at Roger Vivier's Swank South Coast Plaza Flagship [Racked]
· The 38 Essential LA Shops, January 2012 [Racked]