What happens when a wrecking ball hits an anchor? We were there Tuesday morning to witness the result as a demolition crew began the long-awaited tear-down of the old Broadway store, one of the original anchor tenants of Montclair Plaza.

As the ominous theme music from “Jaws” played, the 4,000-pound ball hit the south wall’s brick exterior and seemingly bounced off. On the second swing, though, a dent was made. The third time, a hole appeared.

As the ball kept swinging, and the music changed to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (“clap along if you feel like a room without a roof”), bricks and dust began to rain down as gaping holes were created.

More than 200 invited guests were watching from folding chairs in the parking lot after a buildup involving speeches about the store’s past and the mall’s future. I couldn’t help but be disappointed that the demolition crew wasn’t using dynamite, like at a Las Vegas casino past its prime. Or that Miley Cyrus wasn’t riding the wrecking ball.

As the 90-foot crane swung the ball again and again, I watched the work with Tim Mayeda. He’s the general partner of Lyle Parks Jr. Construction, which is handling the demolition and construction. American Wrecking is the subcontractor.

“This crane operator has gotta be lovin’ this. It’s not often they get to work in front of an audience,” Mayeda joked.

The Broadway was an original tenant of Montclair Plaza for nearly three decades, from 1968 until the chain’s sale to Macy’s in 1996. Macy’s was there another decade until taking over Robinson-May on the mall’s west end in 2006.

Talk of knocking down the empty building began in 2007 and has continued ever since.

Guests watch a wrecking ball smash into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

A wrecking ball smashs into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

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Montclair Councilman Bill Ruh reminisces shopping at the original Broadway department store during the demolition ceremony of the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Guests watch a wrecking ball smash into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

A wrecking ball is ready for the demolition ceremony of the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)



A wrecking ball smashes into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Pictures are displayed of a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, during the demolition ceremony at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The 12-Screen AMC Theatre will be constructed on the upper level of the new building, occupying 55,000 square feet while 64,000 square feet of space on the lower level will be comprised of the new restaurant and entertainment concepts. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Marilyn Monroe and Edward Scissorhands, two celebrity impersonators, watch a wrecking ball smash into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Guests watch a wrecking ball smash into the old Broadway building on the east side of the Montclair Place mall to make way for a new two-level entertainment and dining building that will feature an AMC Dine-In Theatre, at the Montclair Place in Montclair, CA., Tuesday, April 10, 2018. (Photo by James Carbone for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

When interior demolition began in February, the building still had display cases, an escalator and other pieces left over. “It looked like the day it closed,” Mayeda said.

AMC Theatres has signed a lease for a 12-screen theater to occupy a new two-story building on the former Broadway site that will also have three restaurants and an unspecified entertainment use. Expected to open by Christmas 2019, this will be the first indoor theater in Montclair since the demise of Montclair Cinemas on the mall property nearly two decades ago.

There was a movie theme to the ceremony, with containers decorated like bags of popcorn, a chance to get a selfie with actors playing Edward Scissorhands and Marilyn Monroe, and director chairs on the platform for speakers.

Spotted two celebrities journalist David Allen and Marylin Monroe during the demolition of the former Broadway Department store to make way for the new AMC dining theater. @DavidAllen909 @ivdailybulletin @MarilynMonroe #AMC pic.twitter.com/lrAEbFUJfB — James F. Carbone (@saintcamera) April 10, 2018

Photographer James Carbone took my photo with Monroe, telling her I was a famous writer. “You remind me of my third husband, Arthur Miller,” she cooed.

While the event had a celebratory air, the moment was “bittersweet,” Councilman Bill Ruh said. He used his time at the microphone to talk about the Broadway’s importance in city history.

“It made Montclair a destination for Southern California,” Ruh said. The store appealed to “upper middle-class shoppers” with its clothing, housewares, home furnishings, fragrances, notions and “its very own fur department,” Ruh said.

The exterior’s bricks were angled to mimic a wicker basket and the tile represented the four elements. The architect was Charles Luckman and Associates, which also designed the Forum, Madison Square Garden, the Los Angeles Convention Center and more. Montclair’s was the 26th Broadway, and Luckman thought it was the best, Ruh said.

Councilman Bill Ruh shows off an original Broadway box from circa 1970. pic.twitter.com/anLr1JFcay — David Allen (@DavidAllen909) April 10, 2018

He brought props: a Broadway box, a plush Broadway Jingle Bear sold at Christmas, a plush Broadway Easter Bunny, a tie “made exclusively for the Broadway,” and a T-shirt and a plate, both with the store logo. “My mother never threw anything away,” Ruh told me earlier.

“As the wrecking ball flies around the building, let us recall the building’s proud history,” Ruh said.

Other speakers were less sentimental. “It’s finally going down after so many years of talking about it!” exclaimed Councilman John Dutrey.

Indeed, the building’s continued existence as an empty shell, year after year, has grated on city officials, who have watched in frustration as shoppers headed to Ontario Mills and Victoria Gardens malls and Montclair’s mall has shown few visible exterior changes.

CIM Group bought the mall in 2014 for a reported $170 million and has rebranded it as Montclair Place. Progress has been slow, but a new food court, Moreno St. Market, opened in 2017. A new facade for JC Penney also was completed last year, and new escalators, elevators and interior signs have been installed.

CIM’s vice president of development, Patrick Rhodes, called the ongoing improvements “a phased redevelopment and repositioning of the center.”

Many of the improvements have been limited to the interior or the north side of the mall, both invisible to people passing by on the 10 Freeway, City Manager Ed Starr told me. “You’re not going to get them into the mall unless you show them something’s happening,” he said.

The demolition, Starr said, will “send a signal” to tenants and the community that the mall is moving forward.

Demolition will continue into June, Mayeda told me, as the wrecking ball works its way around the building. Construction on the theater complex is expected to start in the fall.

Tuesday’s sense of playfulness was in keeping with the mall’s history. Rather than break ground for the mall, on Oct. 19, 1967 the mall had a “ground blasting,” according to the Daily Report: “The ceremony was highlighted by an explosion that sent yards of dirt flying, signifying the groundbreaking of what will be the largest air-conditioned mall in the west.”

Sounds like a blast.

David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, more wreckage. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, visit insidesocal.com/davidallen, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook, follow @davidallen909 on Twitter and buy “Getting Started” and “Pomona A to Z.”