El Cerrito Plaza (Shopping Center)

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El Cerrito Plaza is a shopping center in El Cerrito, California. Originally a 350,000 square foot regional mall, it opened in 1958 around a Capwell's department store. The plaza was similar in layout to Valley Fair Mall in San Jose (opened 1956) and Bay Fair Mall in San Leandro (opened 1957), both of which were built around Macy's and catered to the booming suburbs.

The site of El Cerrito Plaza is very historic, as it was originally the homestead of Victor Castro, whose father was one of the original Spanish explorers who was given a land grant to the region. Victor Castro built his "adobe" there in the early 1800s and it remained standing until it burned down in 1956, shortly before the original shopping center was built. During the 1930s, the Castro adobe housed a gambling casino, and the eastern side of the current Plaza housed a dog racing track.

El Cerrito plaza was largely demolished, remodeled, and reopened in 2002 after years of decline beginning with the closure of the Woolworth's store in 1993 and accelerated by the closure by Federated Department Stores of the Emporium anchor store in 1996. Although the plaza is no longer a mall (now a community/neighborhood shopping center), it still attracts crowds from the surrounding area.

El Cerrito Plaza is located across the street from the El Cerrito Plaza BART station.

[edit] Stores

Ross Dress For Less, Albertsons, Trader Joe's, Shoe Pavilion, Longs Drugs, Petco, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Barnes and Noble are the largest stores. There is also a GameStop, a Cold Stone Creamery shop, Rubio's, Pasta Pomodoro, Louisiana Fried Chicken and a See's Candies shop, along with several dozen other stores.

[edit] References

  1. Squatriglia, Chuck. "El Cerrito Plaza to be Resuscitated: $40 Million overhaul to bring big-name stores", San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 1999, p. A-21. Retrieved on 2006-01-10.
  2. King, John. "Plaza lacks pizzazz: El Cerrito's redone center ends up a stodgy maze", San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2002, p. A-21. Retrieved on 2006-01-10.

[edit] External links


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