Mob scene at Santa Monica Place

Quite a disconnect between today's bleak employment report and the throngs waiting to get into the refashioned Santa Monica shopping center (some nutty folks were camping out overnight). Actually, if Santa Monica-based developer Macerich Co. had to select the one spot to open a new retail center in the midst of a stumbling economy, the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Streets and Broadway and Colorado would probably be it. The only consumers who are consistently spending money these days are on the high end, and this is a decidedly high-end center, with Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and a raft of pricey boutiques. "Trust me, those people still have a lot of disposable income,".Art Coppola, Macerich CEO told the LAT. He has a point - the customer base running from Manhattan Beach to Malibu won't have to schlep to Century City or Bev Hills. Also, don't forget tourists. Still, this is a far cry from what Macerich originally had in mind. The company had wanted to a 10-acre complex of high-rise condos, shops and offices, but community opposition scuttled that proposal almost from the start.