Coddingtown Mall, in the Sonoma County city of Santa Rosa, is one of the largest and oldest malls north of San Francisco along the California coast. Unfortunately it seems to be a bit troubled nowadays, but historic mall geeks may find a lot to love. Let’s take a look:
Coddingtown Mall opened in 1961 just off [...]
Bella Terra is a redevelopment of a failed 1960s vintage shopping mall (The Huntington Beach Mall) in Orange County, California. The center was redeveloped as a hybrid big-box/entertainment center with an Italian Village feel.
Westfield Downtown Plaza is a 1.1 million-square foot, two level outdoor shopping mall located in the heart of downtown Sacramento. Anchored by two Macy’s stores, the mall caters equally to downtown office workers and weekend tourists, but is facing some trouble.
A 2006 proposal to renovate the mall appears to have stalled, and many tenants are fleeing the center even as activity throughout the rest of the center city is increasing.
At this point, anyone who has followed shopping center developments even slightly over the past few years knows that enclosed malls–those raggamuffins we love so much at Labelscar–are kind of on the outs. Everything’s all about big box plazas and lifestyle centers nowadays, and the “eternal springtime” of indoor, air-conditioned corridors has lost popularity to [...]
Before I get too histrionic, this is why I found Manchester Center in Fresno, California to be such a treat. It had been at least five years since I had discovered a mall quite like this one, and it was a shock to find such a creepy time capsule still completely open and accessible.
It’s really cold in Northern California today. My friends back in New England are all struggling with a historic ice storm and no heat or power. How do I respond? I post a set of photos I took on a 110 degree day. Can’t you just feel the heat in these shots? The air conditioner [...]
Cupertino Square (the former “Vallco Fashion Park”) has a more tangled and bizarre tale than many of the malls of the San Francisco Bay Area, and today seems to be mired in a never-ending renovation and revitalization that bears few fruits. While some progress has been made to date–such as the opening of all of the above attractions–the mall seems to be frozen in amber, unable to move forward on the promise of renewal. The entire first floor of the mall is mysteriously shuttered, the food court has been closed and under construction for over a year, and little seems to ever change. The large pylon facing I-280 still displays the “Vallco Fashion Park” name, even as all other signage for the mall has been updated to reflect the new name and logo.
Marin County in many ways symbolizes quiet California affluence. It’s a place where people reuse their grocery bags, drink expensive wine, and reliably vote Democratic. It’s no surprise that Marin County–which resides just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco–has become a popular spot for well-heeled suburbanites. The scenery, which is dominated by dramatic [...]
In honor of my recent cross-country move, I figured we should offer up a slice of Americana with a lesser-known Route 66 landmark: the Barstow Mall.
Barstow is a notoriously isolated city located in the Mojave Desert, near where I-15, I-40, and CA-58 all converge. It’s also a spot along historic route 66, and as a [...]
The mailbag arrived the other day, stuffed with a bunch of (very touching, I assure you) notes expressing some grave concern about my whereabouts. I figured that I might as well come clean.
Many of you noticed that I haven’t been around as much, and that poor ol’ Labelscar just hasn’t had quite as much content [...]
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