Bay Fair Mall (or Bayfair), originally Bay Fair Shopping Center, opened between 1957 and 1959. The late 50s saw an explosion of growth in suburbs, and department stores were eager to follow suit. It was a joint venture of Macy's and the Capital Company.
The opening act (aka, before I was born)
Bay Fair Shopping Center opened in carefully choreographed phases—first with Macy’s in 1957, and then a two-level retail wonderland designed by the ever-futuristic Victor Gruen & Associates. The parking lot flowed right into two different levels. Genius! One side called the Mall Level, the other the Terrace Level, depending on where your dad could find a parking spot.
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| Phase II building, which contained 22 inline shops. |
By 1959, they had thrown in two sleek pads of stores right in front of Macy’s, turning the place into a full-fledged open-air mall. And not just any mall—the first dual-level center in the West. That meant if you were a kid with a skateboard (don’t judge), it was your racetrack.
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| Artist's rendering of Bay Fair with 1959 addition. |
The 1970s: Wards, BART, and wall-to-wall carpet
The '70s gave Bay Fair three gifts: Montgomery Ward in 1971, BART right next door in 1972, and in 1979... the mall was enclosed and carpeted. Yep. Full carpeting. A decision that seemed cutting-edge at the time but would later prove to be equal parts cozy and migraine-inducing.
Imagine shopping for school clothes while walking on a zig-zaggy optical illusion. Honestly, I couldn’t make it past Mrs. Field’s without feeling like I was about to fall into another dimension. But hey—at least the cookies helped.
The most 80s mall ever
By the mid-’80s, Bay Fair was in a bit of a slump. But then Westfield swooped in like a neon-lit mall fairy godmother. They ripped out the trippy carpet and replaced it with cool earth-tone porcelain tile (very adult), and in 1989, added a 40,000 sq. ft. wing that practically glowed with 1980s optimism. Skylights! Neon strips! A new side entrance with fake ficus trees!
It was glorious. It was on the far side. And it was often... empty. But I loved it.
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| Artist's rendering of the expansion. |
2000s: food court renaissance & slow fade
The 2000s were a rollercoaster. There were remodels, ownership swaps, and more drama than a soap opera filmed in a Sears dressing room. But in 2009, a bright spot: a brand-new food court. Actual good restaurants. The clunky old elevator was retired like a beloved but unreliable grandparent.
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| View of the new food court. |
Still, the upper level of Macy’s closed off in 2013. The writing was on the mall wall. The second floor lingered like a ghost town—part community college, part dialysis clinic, and one very lonely escalator to nowhere.
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| Sealed entrance to Macy's. |
The end of the aisle
By 2024, the last major player—Macy’s—packed up and left. COVID had accelerated the inevitable, but consumer habits had already changed. Bay Fair wasn’t the Saturday destination anymore. It was a relic of another time, slowly fading behind glass and “Available for Lease” signs.
While the mall was closed, Target and Kohl’s still remain, and plans are afoot for the site’s next chapter. But for me, Bay Fair was more than a mall. It was a coming-of-age stage. A Saturday hangout. A place where I once bought friendship bracelets, tried Taco Time for the first time, and played Miami Vice under those glowing neon skylights.
Bay Fair Mall may be gone, but the memories still echo like the PA system paging a kid who wandered off from Foot Locker. And I’ll always have that dizzy walk to Mrs. Field’s as proof I was there.
Scott Parsons
Comments
The awkwardness of the layout may have been due to the fact that the original outdoor mall was built around a single anchor(Macys). It's sister center(Valley Fair) chose instead to demolish everything except Macys when it came time to enclose it.