Remember Lulu the monkey? Popular Modesto shopping center once housed city’s only zoo
About 60 years ago, a popular Modesto shopping center housed the city’s first and only zoo.
Roseburg Square, along what’s now the Virginia Corridor Trailway, once was home to various animals and a diverse array of businesses, from a Save Mart to a pharmacy.
After reading about The Modesto Bee’s On A Budget visit to local bookstore Bookish, a reader emailed Bee Curious — a community-powered project focused on helping you navigate life in your community — to suggest an article on the history of Roseburg Square.
“It’s been occupied since the ’60s,” the reader wrote.
Whether you’re a lifelong Modestan or a newcomer, join The Bee as we take a stroll down memory lane to the changes Roseburg Square has undergone over the decades.
When did Modesto shopping center open?
The mall originally known as the Ulrich Shopping Center opened in April 1956 at the intersection of Virginia and West Roseburg avenues.
Among the stores that originally called the shopping center home were Regal Pharmacy, Save Mart, The Cousins men’s clothing store and Royal Cleaners, which offered dry cleaning and laundry services.
All have since closed their Roseburg Square locations.
The shopping center once boasted large water fountains, phone booths and “extra-wide parking spaces,” according to a 1961 advertisement in The Bee.
What happened to the zoo at the mall?
“Does anyone remember a small zoo, in Roseburg Square where O’Brien Market is,” Melody Puccetti wrote in a 2022 post on the Facebook group You Knew You Grew Up in “MODESTO” When? “I remember a monkey I think called Lulu that smoked cigarettes?”
“Yep, used to ride my bike there,” another Facebook user, Robyn Hoegh, replied. “Got ice cream at Swensen’s and visited Lulu.”
The zoo, which stood in the middle of the mall’s parking lot, had “a number of different animals,” including monkeys, according to the 1961 ad.
Other animals found at the zoo included chickens, chipmunks, tropical birds and turtles.
In September 1979, Ulrich Shopping Center was remodeled under new management and renamed Roseburg Square.
While the center underwent a “sprucing up, name change and expansion plans,” the animals were donated to larger zoos, The Bee reported in 1979.
The former zoo area was transformed into the space for a new restaurant.
Which restaurants, stores are at Roseburg Square?
Roseburg Square’s current anchor, O’Brien’s Market grocery store, opened for business in June 1987, and another long-standing business, Yogurt Mill, arrived in June 1989.
Other businesses at Roseburg Square moved in more recently.
In December 2016, the shopping center welcomed Vintage Holes, a shabby chic antique and home decor store.
Elevate Community Yoga, a yoga studio, started offering classes at Roseburg Square in May 2017, and First Impressions Barber Shop opened its doors soon after that.
Dragonfly Tearoom, a restaurant and retail shop, opened in 2018.
This year, Roseburg Square has welcomed several new additions.
Bookish, a bookstore owned by local author Paula Treick DeBoard, opened in early April.
The shop sells new and used books, as well as merchandise from Central Valley crafters and paintings from local authors.
Laughing Crow Collectibles, which also opened in April, sells retro video games and collectibles. Items include older gaming consoles, posters, magazines, VHS tapes and Pac-Man arcade games.
Cora, a restaurant that serves dishes with cultural influences including Spanish, Filipino and Italian, replaced another eatery, The Divine Swine, in May.
These businesses also are in Roseburg Square:
- Bob’s Take n Bake Pizza
- Cen Cal Smoke
- Central Valley Play and Grow
- Core Fitness
- FI Presidential Barbershop
- Mobaak Aroma Co.
- Orient House Restaurant
- Royal Nails
- Santiagoscissorhands
- Sewing & More
- Shear Glamour Hair Salon
- Smoke & Magnolias
- Taqueria El Compadre
- Top Shelf Beauty Bar
This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 8:48 AM.
