Then and now: Round Hill mall changes

The original Round Hill Shopping Center was built in the early 1960s. It had two driveway entrances and featured a rustic indoor mall.

The corner of the center in 1996. Photo/TRPA

On the south corner fronting the center was a popular deli in an A-frame building. A retail and business office building now occupies that separately-owned corner.

The south entrance to the center in 1996. Photo/TRPA

To the right of the deli was the south entrance to the center from Elks Point Road. A Safeway store was immediately to the right.

This is what the strip mall looked like 20 years ago. Photo/TRPA

Next to the Safeway going north was the main building of the mall.

In 1996 the mall was enclosed. Photo/TRPA

The skylight-topped mall included, among other things, water displays, a roller skating rink, U.S. post office, photography, jewelry, shoes, clothing, crafts, gifts, bakery, florist, various eateries, bars, offices and an open booth from which mall promoter Dick Green broadcast Round Hill Time daily. (“Hi there, Mrs. Smith — nice to see you here!”)

At the far north end of the mall was a spacious disco nightclub which had various names/owners over the years including the Monte Vista.

The north entrance in 1996. Photo/TRPA

The north driveway to the center was from Highway 50, fronted by a Shell gas station which was razed in about 2005. That lot remains empty today. At one time there were thre gas stations at Round Hill; today just one.

By 1998, the original buildings had been razed and replaced by the new Round Hill Square, without an enclosed mall. The post office and Safeway remained, but the other original tenants gradually left.

The south entrance as it looks in 2016. Photo/Bill Kingman

On the site where Safeway had been at the south entrance now stands the Dollar Tree store.

The strip mall in 2016. Photo/Bill Kingman

A new Safeway was built at the north end of the center where the Monte Vista nightclub was.

Note: My thanks to Karen Fink, Theresa Avance, Devin Middlebrook, and Julie Regan for sharing the 1990s photos from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency files.

— Bill Kingman