BIGMallrat

Foothill Square, once a vibrant shopping mall in Oakland, was a product of its time, opening in 1962 with a bold design by Welton Becket & Associates and landscaping by Lawrence Halprin & Associates. Located between MacArthur and Foothill Boulevard, the mall had a pedestrian-focused layout, featuring a central walkway—an innovative idea for the era. Built by the Draper Company, Foothill Square was anchored by community staples like Lucky Stores, Thrifty Drug Store, and an S.S. Kresge Co. five-and-dime, not the department stores seen in larger malls. The center became a gathering point for locals, reflecting a time when free parking was king. In fact, to mark the beginning of construction in 1961, a ceremonial "burying of a parking meter" symbolized the mall’s commitment to customer convenience. Jerome C. Draper, Jr. (left) holding a shovel behind a casket with a parking meter. The mall's design was ahead of its time, combining modernist architecture with lush ...

Bay Fair Mall (or Bayfair), originally Bay Fair Shopping Center, opened between 1957 and 1959. The late 50s saw an explosion of growth in suburbs, and department stores were eager to follow suit. It was a joint venture of Macy's and the Capital Company. The opening act (aka, before I was born) Bay Fair Shopping Center opened in carefully choreographed phases—first with Macy’s in 1957, and then a two-level retail wonderland designed by the ever-futuristic Victor Gruen & Associates. The parking lot flowed right into two different levels. Genius! One side called the Mall Level, the other the Terrace Level, depending on where your dad could find a parking spot. Phase II building, which contained 22 inline shops. By 1959, they had thrown in two sleek pads of stores right in front of Macy’s, turning the place into a full-fledged open-air mall. And not just any mall—the first dual-level center in the West. That meant if you were a kid with a skateboard (don’t judge), it was you...

Long before Amazon Prime and same-day delivery, Oaklanders were promised a shopping experience "a whole century ahead of its time." On September 9, 1965, the MacArthur/Broadway Shopping Center—affectionately known as M/B Center—opened to much fanfare. A full-page ad in the Oakland Tribune heralded it as “the most fantastic one-stop shopping and dining extravaganza in the entire universe!” With no traditional department store anchor, M/B Center dared to be different. Anchored instead by Woolworth’s, it offered a bold, modernist take on retail—wrapped in aluminum, terrazzo, and atomic-era optimism. Among its “space-age” features: A Space Ramp, the region’s first escalator made for shopping carts—decades before multi-level Targets made it mainstream. A quirky shuttle called the Astro-Bus, which ferried shoppers from the mall’s entrance to their parked cars like a theme park ride. Space-Port parking for 1,100 cars—right on the roof. Because nothing said “future” like pa...

Liberty House of Hawaii—yes, that Liberty House—had a brief, glittery moment in California between 1971 and 1987, all under the ambitious umbrella of the Hawaii-based Amfac corporation. But ask anyone who remembers, and they’ll probably bring up the same thing first: those glass elevators. Not just any elevators, mind you—these had mannequins riding up and down inside them, frozen in time like fashionable ghosts, floating through the atriums like it was totally normal to shop for blouses while being watched by a life-size plastic person in heels. Inside the Eastridge store. For me, it was the Snoopy Shop. Tucked inside the Liberty House in Dublin was the stuff of childhood dreams. All I wanted was to convince my mom to buy a tiny outfit for my Snoopy doll—a corduroy jacket, a tennis sweater, anything with that pink-and-gold Liberty House price tag. It wasn’t about the brand. It was about Snoopy, and the soft, luxurious hope that maybe today was the day I'd walk out with something...

Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, just outside Sacramento, California, opened April 19, 1972. The mall was developed by Ernest W. Hahn and Cordano Associates. It was the area's premier shopping destination with Weinstocks anchoring the north mall, JC Penney and Liberty House to the east, and Sears occupying the south mall. Macy's acquired the Liberty House location in 1984 and Weinstocks in 1996. Inside Sunrise Mall. The back of the postcard reads: "Ultra modern, enclosed air conditioned complex affords shopping in comfort. Citrus Heights, California." It is postmarked 1987 and most likely was taken from the Macy's court, looking northward towards Weinstocks. The geometric patterns on the ceiling and lighting reminds me of Krypton in the movie Superman. The ceiling was heavily remodeled in 1999 and the only reminder of these patterns is the tiled floor, which was barely touched by the 1999 remodel. Macy's at Sunrise Mall The Macy's at Sunrise Mall in Cit...

Set on a portion of the historic Rancho San Pablo, El Cerrito Plaza and Capwell's department store opened on July 9, 1958. The Plaza was developed by the Albert-Lovett Company and the Emporiun-Capwell Company.  This advertisement from the Oakland Tribune invites the public to come shop the largest store in Contra Costa County. The 2-level Capwell's store cost $6,000,000 and was 232,000 square feet of spacious aisles and modernistic fixtures. The exterior of the store was equally modern with its blue and brown tile. At the time, Capwell's El Cerrito was the fourth store in the chain, with other locations in Oakland (downtown), Walnut Creek (Broadway Plaza), and Hayward (downtown). De-malling After Capwell''s closed in 1996, the mall went into serious decline. In 2002, Capwell's was demolished and the shopping center de-malled. Although the renovation was described by urban designers as "dysfunctional and dull," today it operates as a thrivin...

Once a vibrant shopping hub in the heart of downtown Sacramento, Downtown Plaza began its heyday in 1993. With a goal of duplicating the success of San Diego's Horton Plaza, developer Ernest Hahn breathed new life into the struggling K Street corridor, transforming it into a 1.2 million square foot retail destination. A signature steel-framed rotunda anchored the design, once hosting dazzling nighttime laser shows that lit up the city skyline. At its peak, the mall housed major flagship stores, including the region's largest Macy's, complete with separate Men's and Furniture locations. Yet over time, cracks began to show. Retail giants such as Banana Republic pulled out, and the eastern wing fell into near-total vacancy, even as the western side maintained a degree of foot traffic. The mall’s architecture, while ambitious, worked against it. The interplay between bright sunlight and shaded overhangs created visibility issues for storefronts, discouraging window shopp...