Dulce Estevez grew up in Mexico and moved to Arizona with her family when she was 16. She moved into a neighborhood in South Phoenix. When Dulce was in high school she and her friends, would come to the mall or go to South Mountain in order to skip school. Their trips to the mall were often dangerous because they were all still learning how to drive and some of them were not very good. Then she went into an anecdote about her then-fiancé wanting to go the Florsheim shoes in order to buy the nicest shoes he could for their wedding. Dulce and her friends from school would sometimes come to Park Central Mall to wander and look in the stores and go to the Walgreens (she thinks, it was some pharmacy and there was one here). Every so often they would buy something other than a drink from the soda fountain, but not very often.

Her memory of what stores was here was limited but she did remember her favorite store, another one the she and her friends would wander through, the Hallmark store. She discussed how she might have come to the mall during the special events but didn’t come specifically for them. After events like Prom or weddings they would come to the mall to take photos because she and her friends thought it was so beautiful, especially at Christmas. She would also go on double dates to the mall. Dulce kept coming to the mall with her husband after many of the stores left, just to walk around and reminisce about what stores were there and what things they did. At that point there were other places to shop and eventually it got too sad and empty and they stopped coming. Dulce remembers how unsafe downtown was when she first came and how much its changed and hopes that the mall restoration will make it a place to come again. Then she talks about how the concept of having a mall open to the outside was totally new for her, even being familiar with giant malls from her home. With the mall restoration, she wants to see some of the 80s vibe return and she very happy that were are doing the project because she believes history to be very important.