The state isn't the only thing turning 50 years old this month. Today, Ala Moana Center is a half-century old.

The state's largest shopping mall is celebrating its birthday this evening with a variety of special events, including honoring 11 original tenants that are still at the mall, which has grown from 680,000 square feet of retail space and 80 merchants in 1959 to 2.1 million square feet and 290 merchants.

Don Graham, a Dillingham company executive who managed the Ala Moana project, said the expectation in 1959 was to grow the mall over time to as big as 1.5 million square feet.

"Now it's 2 million square feet," the 95-year-old Graham said yesterday. "All the things we planned were accomplished."

There is no prize for naming the 11 charter tenants (See answers on Page B7). But mall owner General Growth Properties is giving away 1,959 candy bars, five of which will have a coupon for a $250 mall gift card.

The giveaway will be part of a celebration that is scheduled to include a Hawaiian blessing, hula performance, songs by the Brothers Cazimero and a cake worthy of the major anniversary.

The events are slated to start at the mall's centerstage at 5:30 p.m. and wrap up at about 6:30.

However, throughout the rest of the month, other anniversary festivities are planned, such as bringing back 50 performers who have danced, sung and demonstrated on centerstage over the past 50 years.

The mall also will showcase 50 garments spanning the past half-decade in an exhibit with the Hawai'i Fashion Incubator and University of Hawai'i called "Fifty Years of Fashion in Hawai'i."

People who have photos taken at the mall over the past 50 years may submit their pictures in a contest in which a $250 mall gift card will be awarded.

For details on these and other events, visit http://www.alamoanacenter.com.

Eleven of the original tenants of Ala Moana center are still in business: Crack Seed Center, Dairy Queen, Sears, Watumull's, Shirokiya, Reyn's, Slipper House, Foodland, Longs Drugs, Territorial Savings Bank and the U.S. Post Office.

ALA MOANA CENTER TIMELINE

1912: Local businessman Walter F. Dillingham buys the 50-acre site from Bishop Estate for $25,000, and uses coral removed from nearby dredging operations to fill the swamp-like area between then and the 1950s.
1957: Construction begins.
Aug. 13, 1959: Initial two-story phase opens with 680,000 square feet, 80 merchants and 4,000 parking spaces.
1966: Second phase opens, doubling the amount of retail space to 1.35 million square feet occupied by 155 stores. New stores include J.C. Penney and Liberty House. The number of parking stalls increases to 7,800.
1980: Mall reaches 1.5 million square feet in 1980, after Liberty House and Penneys add fourth floors to their stores.
1982: Japan-based retail giant Daiei Inc. and insurer Equitable Cos. buy the mall and two adjacent office buildings in 1982 for about $300 million.
1987: Mall completes a third phase and major renovation that includes the 900-seat Makai Market food court.
1996: Construction begins on a fifth phase — a 160,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus store, and 160,000 square feet of third-floor space for 30 stores and restaurants to open, respectively, in 1998 and 1999.
1999: General Growth Properties, the Chicago company managing the mall, buys the property for $810 million.
2008: Nordstrom opens as part of a new wing that adds an 800-stall parking garage and more merchant space that increases the mall's size to more than 2 million square feet — big enough to still be the world's largest outdoor shopping center.
2009: Ala Moana celebrates 50 years in business.
— Andrew Gomes