In downtown San Francisco, there’s a multi-level shopping mall with an atrium and a skylight. If you stand in the dead center of the atrium and look up, it resembles an eye, looking down at you through a giant microscope.
This was taken during WonderCon 2009. Years later, I posted it for a February 2015 photo challenge on the theme “Symmetry.”
I was recently reminded of the view while reading author Annalee Newitz’ latest newsletter, Inside the Dying Malls of San Francisco. Continue reading
Took the Macbook in for battery service yesterday. Fortunately it was easy to tell which store to bring it to!
An outdoor mall extension completed in 2020. Which wasn’t exactly ideal timing.
The courtyard was at least someplace they could set up chairs and signs reminding you to keep your distance. I saw a few people walking through on their way to somewhere else (like I was), and could hear an exercise class running in the parking structure next door.
Previously posted on photog.social.
Update October 2022: Since pandemic restrictions lifted last year, the mall has added a few restaurants and shops in and around the courtyard, more chairs and tables, a toy kiosk, and WiFi. People are hanging out here now. I’d certainly rather set up outside than at one of the seating areas inside the mall. I’ve spent a couple of mornings and afternoons here with my work laptop for a change of scenery without going all the way to the office.
The biting flies that live by this fountain are a pain, though. Literally.
The outside of the former Great Maple restaurant at Del Amo Fashion Center. It opened with the new upscale wing of the mall, and closed suddenly about a year later. (Like, people showed up to work and the door was locked.) Nothing’s moved in since then, and of course nothing’s likely to move in for a while now.
The facade reminds me a little of the facade on the old medical building that used to stand near the corner. It was demolished for the parking lot that came along with the mall expansion. And I have to wonder if someone was actually trying to keep a little bit of the old building’s character alive?
I stopped by the mall the other day to pick up dinner at one of the restaurants that’s open to the outside. The mall interior, however, is closed again as California has re-shuttered indoor gathering spots to slow down the resurgent coronavirus.
The Beat’s offhand mention of Anaheim GardenWalk got me curious and I went looking around for more info on the mall’s current status. The last few times I’ve been there, it’s been practically a ghost town: behind the anchor restaurants out front, there were a handful of stores, then nothing, nothing, more nothing, and finally a movie theater way at the back and a Johnny Rockets that probably only stuck it out because it was so close to the theater. (The mall opened in 2008 — very bad timing — and never recovered.)
Apparently they’re trying to reinvent it as a restaurant/entertainment hub, with House of Blues moving over from Downtown Disney and more luxury hotels. (What is it with the luxury hotels?) Edit: I think I’ve been to the old location a half-dozen times, and it did suffer from sightline issues and crowding. They’re taking over part of the movie theater at Garden Walk to build the new venue, which will be bigger, add some seating areas in addition to the standing room, and have some of the side spaces as well. I think the HoB has a better shot than the rest of the mall, honestly.
So I’m not convinced, but if it works out, it could benefit WonderCon next year. It’s not a super-long walk (except in hot weather), and if they have a shuttle for parking like last year, it would make it even easier to get to.
From a comment at The Beat’s article on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride opening at Disney’s California Adventure.
2026 Update: I haven’t been back in ages, probably not since the last WonderCon I attended in 2019 (if then). But the mall’s still there, and the House of Blues at the back and anchor restaurants at the front are still open. There are still a lot of empty spaces on the map, though, especially on the upper level. Johnny Rocket’s apparently is still there, which I think makes it the only restaurant to have closed at Del Amp and stayed open at Garden Walk.
So what exactly is a “coastal modern” parking structure and why is it so great? Even this press release doesn’t shed much light on it, only saying that the renovations include “upgraded” entryways and elevators and spaces-available signs. I suppose that’s modern, but I’m really not sure where “coastal” comes in.
