Photo Essay, 11/25/09: Ghost Town UPDATE - Cupertino Square ("Vallco") puts on its holiday face

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Ain't that America, for you and me?

All photos taken today, on my cell phone. This stuff breaks my heart. I want my country back. 2009 was the year of fellating Wall Street. Let's turn the focus to the hard-working men and women of America in 2010.

:patriot:

[EFerrari]

1. Vallco is the first mall I ever saw. The first bus line in Sunnyvale

went to Vallco and back.

That was a long time before those escalators or little white string lights or the span across Wolf Road, and Sears was the anchor. Is it really as empty as it looks? Christ.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. When I moved to California, Vallco and Mayfield Mall were DISNEYLAND to me.

I grew up in a tiny, good-for-nothing town in Massachusetts. The nearest mall was "Peabody Shopping Center"...and if I was lucky, I could coerce my dad into driving me there a couple of times a month and leaving me there for an hour or two to roam in freedom and bliss.

So when I moved to California...and, as a teenager, got my own car...and could go to Vallco WHENEVER I WANTED TO...Mayfield Mall too...I was in hog heaven.

I remember Vallco when there were NO VACANCIES...the place was wall-to-wall, JUMPING, packed to the rafters.

Of course, in 2009 you can drive to Santana Row...which I hate with every cell in my body, because it is self-indulgent Yuppie HELL...or Valley Fair Mall, which is "almost" as bad as Santana Row, but it still manages to hold onto a shred of the "mall charm."

I go to Cupertino Square one or more times a week. I hook up my iPod shuffle and walk the grounds, looking to see who has survived since my last visit.

Chiaramonte's Deli, in the food court, seems to have reinstated full-time hours. But it's them, Subway's, Burger King, and Popeye's Chicken...that is the ENTIRE FOOD COURT.

They cleaned the purple fabric benches...thank God.

They no longer have "events"...they tried entertainment but for whatever reason gave up on it...and if you go to the Cupertino Square Website and click on "events," other than the weekly farmers market, there ARE no events.

They recently re-opened TGI Fridays, but that's not strictly "in" the mall, mor adjacent to it.

:toast:

[EFerrari]

4. Where was Mayfield Mall? I remember being there but not where it is.

I remember that TGI Fridays. It seemed so cool to me when I was a teenager. :)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. Northbound Central Expressway, immediately before the San Antonio Road offramp.

When the mall shut down, Hewlett Packard acquired the property. Then they left. I actually drove by there today and can;t remember of it is still vacant or occupied.

But they used to do the most wonderful, heartwarming "Santa's Village" decorations that stretched the length of the mall...little trains and elves and snow and GOD, did it break my HEART when they just...went...AWAY.

:toast:

[EFerrari]

10. You know what, my mom and I went to the closing sales there.

It was teenage girl heaven. Mom bought stuff she NEVER bought. It was like Christmas all over again.

But, it was also very sad. I had a job waiting tables when I like 14 and used to go there to unload most of my paycheck because it was on the way home from the restaurant. First and last time for shopping as hobby. There was an import store on the lower level and I still remember smelling the incense.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. I can't remember specific stores, but I do remember that they had EVERYTHING.

I used to also trek up El Camino to Stanford Shopping Center, but Mayfield Mall was my "base of operations" when I became a Californian. Stanford lacked charm...it still does, it's cold and distant.

Mayfield Mall and Vallco...back in the day...were "rites of passage" destinations. It's where teenagers could be teenagers, in all of their unrepentant glory.

:patriot:

[EFerrari]

14. I can beat that a little bit. My cousin used to come down from SF

and stay the weekend, and we'd WALK to downtown Sunnyvale for the action, maybe 1969 or 70. LOL! There were a few stores, some bars, a Mexican restaurant and an old book dealer. You wouldn't recognize any of the store names, they were all indys. Somewhere in there there was a place to get candy and ice cream but now I've no idea where that was. Oh -- See's! There was a See's on Murphy Street, iirc. It was really very charming, thinking back.

Later, there was a White Front at El Camino and 9. That became the new thing, sort of like Target for Trailer Trash. But the low prices were great for kids. And even then, the Marianni's still had a bunch of cherry orchards all over the place. :)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

15. I REMEMBER WHITE FRONT!!! And Gemco, too.

I also used to live on Michelangelo Drive in Sunnyvale, directly across the street from one of the few remaining orchards in the valley.

:toast:

[EFerrari]

20. I think I had to walk through the orchards where Michelangelo is now

to get to White Front. Or, bike. That's more likely. We lived in the birds, on Egret, right across Fremont from that development. There wasn't much in that Fremont, 9, El Camino triangle for a long time but apricot orchards.

In fact, we had to walk through an orchard to get to Panama school in 1964. The owner built little bridges for the kids to cross the irrigation ditches. He was a sweet man, a Chicano, and I went to school with his grandkids, Raul and Leticia Aurelia. There used to be no outlet to Fremont from the birds between 9 and Wolf until he sold his orchard.

That was a nice place to be a kid for a long time.

[juno jones]

13. We used to go to Peabody Shopping Center to see movies

because at the time IIRC there was no movie theater in Ipswich where we'd go for the annual vacation with mom's family. :D

[Amerigo Vespucci]

16. I saw "Shaft" at Peabody Shopping Center.

My brother gave me $25 for my birthday and I bought the first three Neil Young albums and "Layla" at the record store there (can;t remember the name of it, but I do remember that most single albums were between $2.99 and $3.99, and double albums...like Layla...were generally &6.99 and up.

Over the years, I've sold most of my vinyl collection, but I will take the four albums above to the grave withg me. They are the epitome of "sentimental value."

Proof once again that "It's a small world, after all."

:toast:

[juno jones]

22. I saw Star Trek 2, IIRC (among other things not so adult)

And I remember buying a T-Rex album at the record store there. Unfortunately, it was stolen with all my vinyl years ago.

I mostly remember getting a kick out of the funny names and pronounciations in Mass. Like PEE-buh-DEEE and WOO-steh. Or Belchertown. The Belchertown Gas Company always sent us into giggles.

Yep, small world. :toast:

[Betsy Ross]

2. I'm still using the dishes I bought at the Macy's there

20+ years ago. I haven't been there much since then. Really something to see it so empty.

[EFerrari]

5. I remember wrestling other parents for the big time wrestling figures

on Christmas Eve at that toy store that was on your right as you came out of Sears, iirc. That was probably 1979 or so. Yikes.

[bluesmail]

6. Hoping their somewhat-smart-shoppers and waiting for the

Biggest Shopping Day of the Year? No matter, it does depress.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. There was a somewhat large crowd there today, but...

...they weren't "spenders," they were mallrats. Macys, JC Penney and Sears seem to do OK...nothing earth-shattering, just OK...and the other stores are the ghost town stores.

There is a "Todai" restaurant...seafood, sushi buffet...somewhat expensive...and at peak lunch hour it was less than 25% full. I was going to take a picture of that too, but there were too many people looking out at me, and I didn't want to ruin their lunch by being a "papparazi."

[EFerrari]

11. This place used to be hopping most nights of the week until closing time.

[inna]

8. wow, we need another FDR

- and it ain't Obama, that's pretty darn clear at this point.

[alittlelark]

17. We go there for the AMC theatre and Benihana.

The rest of the place is depressing. I used to love ice skating there.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

18. AMC seemed to be doing a brisk business today...

...but as I said earlier in the thread, many of the people who were there today seemed to be the "taking up space" mall denizens, rather than the "I came here to spend money" types. It was a real "Dawn of the Dead" vibe, a lot of people walking around with their kids with that blank expression on their face and no evidence of any destination, just wandering. Maybe they were drawn there because of the holidays...I don't know.

[alittlelark]

19. There aren't many malls nearby.

Some ppl are drawn to them. Valley Fair seems to do OK, Santana Row was dead when I dropped my daughter off for a movie a few weeks ago - but w/ the high end shops I assume it is doing OK (?).

Silicon Valley is undergoing a definite downturn.

[EFerrari]

21. Didn't Valley Fair close down once before, in the early 80s or so?

This is already it's second life.