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Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek

Here's a pre-1960 gem showing the famed Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek. Pictured is the glorious sign and view down Broadway.

Broadway Plaza in the 50s.

The back of the card reads "Broadway Shopping Center. This view shows only a portion of this rapidly expanding business district. The city is situated in the shadow of famed Mt. Diablo and has grown in less than a score of years from a peaceful farming area to a friendly bustling shipping center. Predictions have the county population to half a million by 1960 and over a million by 1990." I wonder if they meant "shipping center"? Their population estimates were close. In 1990, Contra Costa County had 803,732 people. In 2005, Contra Costa County had 1,023,400 people.

I love the giant oak tree in the background of the picture on the right. The ancient tree, since felled, is now the home of Il Fornaio restaurant in the Broadway Pointe shopping center.

The hip sign would look good today, perhaps with an updated stand. Nevertheless, you won't find any such sign this size there today.

Here's another for the memory files. A postcard showing Broadway Plaza and downtown Walnut Creek. I very nearly didn't recognize it myself.

Aerial view of Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek.

It features a Safeway Foods, H.C. Capwell's department store (now Macy's) and a small collection of mostly downtown-looking retailers. The postcard is postmarked May 1970.

A few things have changed since then, most notable, much of Walnut Creek! It looks nearly rural here. Now it's very urban, built up, and hordes of traffic.

Safeway was torn down and replaced by a bank. The Nordstrom building isn't even there. That was added later when Bullock's joined the shopping center. The parking garage in the photo was replaced with a taller structure. And finally, the back of the shopping center was paved over with a multi-story parking garage. An entire transformation from sleepy downtown Walnut Creek to uber-chic Broadway Plaza.

The back of the postcard reads "Aerial view of one of the many shopping centers of this bustling East Bay area."

2011 directory of Broadway Plaza

A picture of the directory from March 2011, before Neiman Marcus joined the following year.

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Comments

Livemalls said…
That is one massive department store on the right. I guess that the Capwell's
7:43 PM
Georob said…
There are A LOT of Broadway Plaza postcards from the 50's and 60's floating around if you check EBay.

On the upper(north) side of that picture is a Lucky supermarket. It was that building that was torn down for Bullocks and is where Nordstrom is today. David M Brian is in the old Penney's and the Crate & Barrel building was formerly Joseph Magnin and before that a Sears store, believe it or not.

Broadway Plaza has no doubt benefitted from being in a very affluent area. However, the strong sense of community in Walnut Creek may really be what has kept this center thriving. Between nearby Sunvalley and Stoneridge malls, this center could have easily rolled over and died a long time ago, but it didn't
8:08 AM
Scott Parsons said…
Holy cow... someone remembers all that. I didn't know Joseph Magnin was ever in Walnut Creek. That's great info... thanks for contributing!
Scott
4:21 PM
Anonymous said…
Hmmm... we moved to Orinda in 1956 and Broadway Plaza was our main shopping location (other than The City). I don't remember there being a Sears there, or a Safeway. There was definitely a Penney's-- one of the old-fashioned smallish downtown Penney's stores. I do have fond memories of the Compton's cafeteria connected to Capwell's. They had great custard in green stoneware cups. Amazing the stuff you remember from your childhood ...
10:18 PM
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