The Shops at Tanforan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Shops at Tanforan is a shopping mall and business area in San Bruno, California, in the Peninsula area of the Bay Area, 10 miles south of San Francisco. It is served by the adjacent San Bruno BART subway station and is served by several local SamTrans bus lines. It was reopened in October 2005 after several years of remodeling. Prior to its current role as a shopping mall, Tanforan was a racetrack, serving at various times as an airfield, military training center, internment camp, and golf course.

1 History
2 Anchors & Majors
3 Old Navy
4 Location
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Racetrack

Tanforan Racetrack was built in 1899, after San Francisco passed an ordinance banning gambling within its borders. It was named after Torribio Tanforan, the grandson-in-law of Jose Antonio Sanchez, owner of El Rancho Buri Buri. Horse, dog, motorcycle, and auto races were held at the track during the early years. Tanforan's most famous resident while it was used as a racetrack was Seabiscuit who, for a time, was stabled there. Today, a statue of Seabiscuit may be found on the grounds of the Tanforan mall.

Tanforan also served, for a time, as an airfield, with the center of the track used as an airfield. There is a plaque on the grounds identifying Tanforan as the first site in the world of the landing of an airplane that had taken off from a ship.

Tanforan was temporarily converted into a military training center during World War I. During World War II, it was used as an interment of American Citizens of Japanese descent before sending them off to detention camps.

[edit] Tanforan Assembly Center

Line outside of a mess hall, Tanforan Assembly Center.

During World War II, Tanforan was used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Tanforan Assembly Center was one of 17 "Civilian Assembly Centers", where internees were sent before being relocated to more permanent (and remote) "relocation centers". Horse stalls were used as housing. About 8000 people were kept at Tanforan during the war.

A monument outside the mall notes this history.

[edit] Shopping mall

After the war, Tanforan returned to its former role as a race track, with a golf course in the center of the track. The track went into decline in the 1950s due to competition from Bay Meadows, then burnt down in 1964. The mall, Tanforan Shopping Center, opened in 1971. The mall was demolished in 2003, and rebuilt in order to take advantage of the BART San Francisco Airport extension. The entrance to the BART station has been blocked by a chain link fence since the mall reopened, however, due to a dispute between the mall's owners and BART. Mall tenants also report battles with owners, General Growth Properties - who have been unaccepting and hostile to its tenants.

Target is also in the process of remodeling its store, JCPenney/Target intend to add a garage, and a larger garage on the Sears side is being built and a Century Theaters is to be added.

[edit] Anchors & Majors

Barnes & Noble (31,046 sq. ft.)
Century Theatres (80,000 sq. ft., opening 2007)
JCPenney (195,806 sq. ft.)
Old Navy (16,798 sq. ft.)
Petco (12,000 sq. ft.)
Sears (241,227 sq. ft.)
Target (189,571 sq. ft.)
Ulta (11,997 sq. ft.)

[edit] Old Navy

Tanforan is home to a concept store for Old Navy, which has corporate headquarters 1/2 a mile away on Cherry Ave and 15 minutes downtown to Folsom St. in San Francisco. The concept launched in March with a very natural design (sans the typically seen truck) and is designed to be a concept for future Old Navy stores.

[edit] Location

1150 El Camino Real San Bruno, California 94066 (650) 873-2000

[edit] References

Joan Levy, "Tanforan’s long and colorful history", San Mateo Daily Journal, February 3, 2003.
Uchida, Yoshiko (1982). Desert Exile. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-96190-2.