Hillsdale Shopping Center
San Mateo, California - circa 1957
Dig this peachy shot of the Hillsdale Shopping Center way back when! Nice view of Macy's, J.J. Newberry Co., Hartfields, Leed's shoe store, and a store on the right that looks like it says "Douglas" (or Douglass) something or other. I'm sure someone out there will know which store that is/was, but I'm not readily familiar with it myself from the bit I see in the photo.
If you'd like to see this mall in action from around the time this picture was taken, see my recent "Shopping Can Be Fun" video entry, if you haven't already. It's pure retro shopping mall bliss to me! In fact, my brain goes on overload and melts down whenever I watch it.
History: 1954 - present
Developer: David Bohannon (1899-1995)
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1
posted by Keith @ 6/29/2006
16 Comments:
Love the classy old Macy's signage. When the Macy monster swallowed The Bon Marché here in the Seattle area, a lot of 40-year-old Bon signage came down and got replaced by that ugly, stuck in the '80s, macy*s logo. Too bad they couldn't have used this vintage logo on the old facades that are still around!
The JJ Newberry in this photo doesn't have the script logo. I always associated Newberry's with the script logos and didn't realize they used other type faces.
Living in the east bay, we didn't get over to Hillsdale Mall, though Bohannon had properties all over. There is even a school named after him.
The pic reminds me a lot of the sunny open-air malls that were all around the bay at that time such as Bayfair, Stanford, Valley Fair, and our local Fremont Hub. It wasn't until Taubman came around with places like Southland and Sun Valley that malls started going indoors and then he built Eastridge in the early 70's which totally blew everyone away.
Watching the video, your mystery "Dougl.." store is Douglas Shaw's Fine Candy & Ice Cream. Seems they were a local chain though unfortunately I can't remember them.
BTW. Hillsdale is still going strong despite the competition from the newer Fashion Island which actually ended up being torn down. The Fashion Island story is one worthy of the "dead malls" sites as it had an incredibly creepy abandoned phase before it's ultimate demise.
-dean
There is a Shaws Ice Cream store still in San Bruno... or Millbrae. On El Camino Real.
Gawd, San Mateo Fashion Island mall was torn down a decade ago. I used to work there in its final days. On opening day in 1983, it opened with four department stores: Bullock's, Liberty House, JC Penney, and Montgomery Ward.
However, that same year, both Bullock's and Liberty House decided to pull out of the northern California market. Of course, they still had leases that forced them to stay open in the mall, but they didn't advertise or try to draw people in. When both their leases were up, they both closed. Bullock's had this Teflon tent-style roof that made the interior dreadfully hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. It made it inhospitable for future tenants and a SportsMart tried leasing the space, but lasted only about a year. Liberty House sat vacant for a while, but eventually Whole Earth Access leased the anchor with its new concept store. It lasted about 2 years and then shuttered.
Only Montgomery Ward and JC Penney remained, but by then, Ward's was in a tailspin and lasted only a few years more. By then, the mall sold and was rename “The Island.” The new owners advertised the mall’s entertainment venues: an ice skating rink and movie theatre, which both remained very popular. After Ward’s closed, Penney’s soon followed suit. The mall was then knocked down and a new power center rebuilt. The only part of the mall that remains today is the ice skating rink, now its own building. As a constant reminder, the exit from Highway 101 is still named "Fashion Island Boulevard." Yes, the island where fashion is king!
Scott
I go to this mall all the time and the only that has stay the same is the Macy*s buliding. Even the Macy*s sign has changed.
Grew up next to the fabulous Hillsdale mall, with my brother, 3 sisters, a sister in law, her mom, and me all working there at one time or another. Now where that Douglas sign is, in the early 70s that building held a grocery store. My brother worked as a checker there for a while. I dont think Shaws was there anymore. Yep we used to go to the Shaws in Millbrae every so often...loved it. I also worked in the Macys with my sister, in the basement at the Mamas restaurant. I was 15-17, had a BLAST. When I was younger I used to go to the mall almost every day after school (Abbot and then Hillsdale) and eat at the lunch counter at JJ Newberrys. They had the best fries! Such a wonderful place and time to grow up in! Best...
Keith, just watched the movie. That was great, it really makes you want to go back to that simpler time. Obviously there was a business propaganda angle to it, but all those events did make shopping fun. Thanks for sharing.
wow--this place looks clean
Kind of reminds me of the outside of Llyod Center.
That a girl didi, I knew I would go it alone
I mean I knew I would not go it alone, Duh!
Hell, no! Should we move on to the next photo after this one?
I watched the video and was delighted to see the Giant Toyland motorized toys again. It was our holiday ritual to go see them.
Whatever happened to them? I hope that they weren't left to rot someplace.
Help! Does anyone recall the name of the high end women's clothing store (mostly eveningwear) at Hillsdale from not much later than the early 90's where a person went in, but there were no racks/clothes to rifle through. Rather the employees would bring out different clothes from the back after discussing what you were looking for, just like from the 50's and 60's. Anyone recall this store's name?
i liked scott's story on Fashion Island, but he got a few things wrong. the mall open in 81 not 83 ans was closed down in 96. the main problem for the mall was its location, it was not easy to get to and many people got lost try to get there, even if they could see its tent tops from the freeway. Liberty House was a Hawaii based store and it gave me my very first credit card. The mall also failed because it could not get any big name department stores in since Macys and Nordsrom were already at Hillsdale mall only 2 miles away. It was a nice mall, but just not well executed plans. Too bad.
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