Let me add to David Allen's recollections of Ontario Plaza

While I was away from home, David Allen was near my home:

The old Ontario Plaza was built starting in 1956 at Mountain Avenue and Fourth Street and expanded in 1959 down to I Street. The nearly six blocks of shops and services marked Ontario's transition away from the downtown core and into suburban-style shopping.

The Plaza was torn down in 1998 for a new development, also named Ontario Plaza, but with an Albertsons, Rite Aid and other shops.

Many people offered comments about the old Plaza, but no one mentioned one little factoid about how the new 1998 Plaza was constructed - it was constructed right in back of the old one. The old Plaza had a relatively small parking lot, with Thrifty on the north side near 4th Street. The new Thrifty was built literally behind the old one, and when the new Thrifty (and the rest of the new Plaza) was completed, the old Thrifty (and the rest of the old Plaza) were closed, torn down, and became an expanded parking lot.