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Description
Model of proposed Valley Fair Shopping Center, located on Stevens Creek Boulevard. In the early 1950's, Macy's wanted to build in downtown San Jose but was denied by an effort led by Hart's and J. C. Penny's department stores. The store's parent company, R H May & Co. developed a new shopping center located in far west San Jose on the border with Santa Clara. The project was the second mall designed by Victor Gruen, a Los Angeles based architect acknowledged as the pioneer of modern shopping centers. The center opened on August 10, 1956. Despite retaining the sales tax revenue, city leaders did not envision the impact the opening of the center away from downtown San Jose, which had been the region's retail and social destination for nearly a century.
Type
image
Identifier
59B73E28-3D34-43EE-A4D2-710391340643 1997-3x-85
Subject
Shopping centers Valley Fair Shopping Center (San Jose, Calif.) Nineteen fifties (LCSH)
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