Part of the sprawling Fremont Meadows development, Fremont Fashion Center was a small mall just a few blocks down Mowry Avenue from the larger Fremont Hub shopping center.
This Capwell's building was designed by Welton Becket & Associates. A sister store exists at the Almaden Fashion Plaza in San Jose, which opened as the Emporium about the same time.
After Capwell's opened a new store at NewPark Mall in Newark, it converted this store to a clearance center. In 1992, the building was sold to Washington Hospital for an expansion project. Currently, it operates as Washington Hospital.
Enjoy!
Scott
4 comments:
Didn't Emporium-Capwell have an ownership stake in both the Fremont and Almaden centers? I recall they did at the El Cerrito Plaza, which had a similar layout.
By 68 Southland and Sunvalley had opened and it should have been obvious that enclosed multi-anchor centers was where retail was headed. so I wonder: What were they thinking?
Hey Rob,
Emporiun-Capwell did NOT have a stake in the Fremont Fashion Center. I was under the same impression as you.
Fremont Meadows had intended a second department store to anchor the center. I believe it was illconceived. The mall was far smaller than the Hub and there wasn't room for more. I think Emporium-Capwell was banking on the new BART station and never-built foothill freeway to bring in the shoppers.
Scott
The Almaden Emporium which opened later in 1968, had about the same architecture as the Fremont Capwell's.
A careful look at Google photosphere reveals the serpentine, double brick sidewalk inlays that were the signature of this third-fiddle Fremont shopping center. I was born at Washington Hospital in 1972 and remember the Fashion Center well. There was a Farrell’s Ice Cream (now, ironically a gym) a Bible bookstore, Hallmark gift store, and Capwell’s was the single anchor store. A long shopping day with mom could absolutely include trips through Mervyn’s & Montgomery Ward at the Hub followed by a painful trip through Capwells. As a little kid the only appeal the Fashion Center held was Farrell’s and 1970’s families didn’t just “stop by” a sit-down ice cream parlor. To go there it had to be your birthday. In the 70’s there was a Perry Boys smorgasbord that sat separate from the mall proper. There was also a three screen movie theater that no one ever went to. It became a teenage dance club for a few years in the early 1980’s before being demolished for more professional space sprawl. Lastly in the early 90’s a multiplex theater opened. I remember seeing “Fried Green Tomatoes” there. All of this layered history in Fremont is falling (or fell) to the wrecking ball. The entire shopping experience from Fremont Blvd to Paseo Padre Parkway is gone. Agenda 21 strikes again and it will leave Mc’merica unrecognizable to everyone over age 45.
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