The San Francisco-Oakland megalopolis has an astounding number of shopping malls. Since the first one opened, in 1952, there have been something like thirty-seven built within the six Bay Area counties of San Francisco (City & County), San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and Contra Costa.

Six LOST MALLS will be covered in this section. Four have been demalled into power centers, one repurposed as a retail-office center and another completely demolished. EASTMONT MALL has not been appreciably altered. In order of their completion, our LOST MALLS of SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND are listed as follows, with their original names used;

*WESTLAKE TOWN & COUNTRY CENTER [1951-2004]
*EL CERRITO PLAZA [1958-2000]
*LARWIN PLAZA [1962-2002]
*EASTMONT MALL [1970-1993]
*ALCOSTA MALL [1966-1993]
*FREMONT FASHION CENTER [1968-1990]

LOST MALLS-SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND are indicated in medium gray on the map above. A seventh contender -SAN MATEO FASHION ISLAND- was in existence between 1983 and 1998. Its grand opening date falls after our 1979 cut-off date, so this mall is not included in our write-up.
Click on image for a larger view


The first stretch of motor expressway in the Bay Area, the Bayshore Freeway, ran between South San Francisco and San Mateo and opened to traffic in 1949. It was extended into San Francisco proper in the early '50s, where it was officially deemed the James Lick Freeway. Hayward's SOUTHLAND CENTER [1964] was the region's first "freeway friendly" shopping mall. It occupies a site adjacent to the Interstate 880-Nimitz Freeway.

San Francisco-Oakland's LOST MALLS are spread throughout the East and West Bay suburbs, as are the five branches of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) network. The current 131.4-route-mile, fifty station, system was inaugurated, with a 28-mile starter line, in September 1972. Extensions were opened in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2016 and 2020.

The "BART to O-A-K," or Oakland Airport Connector, operates as a 3.2-route mile Automated Guideway Transit line. It began revenue service in November 2014. The 5.4-route-mile -one station- Warm Springs Extension (in light gray) opened for revenue service in 2016. A 10-route-mile addition to this line, serving Berryessa, was dedicated in  2020. Eventually, this BART line will extend to downtown San Jose.

Major shopping hubs serviced by the BART rail system include EL CERRITO PLAZA, BAYFAIR CENTER, SHOPS AT TANFORAN, STONERIDGE CENTER and GATEWAY PLAZA (nee' FREMONT FASHION CENTER).

The City-County of San Francisco is also served by its San Francisco Municipal Railway, or MUNI Metro, which has been in operation since 1917. Today's 34.6-route-mile light rail network serves thirty-three stations, eighty-seven additional stops and provides access to the STONESTOWN GALLERIA mall.

And away we go!