Eastridge, officially Eastridge Center, is a shopping mall in San Jose, California, located in the Evergreen district of

East San Jose East San Jose (abbreviated as ESJ), commonly called The East Side and less commonly as the East Valley, is the eastern region of the city of San Jose, California. The East Side is made up of numerous neighborhoods grouped into two larger distric ...

. Eastridge opened as the largest mall on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

in 1971 and has been redesigned multiple times throughout its history, most recently in 2017.Eastridge - About
/ref> Eastridge serves as an important community hub in Evergreen and the larger East Side, hosting farmers markets, holiday celebrations, and community events. The anchor stores are JCPenney, Macy's, AMC Theatres, Round 1 Entertainment, and

24 Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately owned and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs (behi ...

History

The mall opened on May 17, 1971, with the original anchors of Macy's, Liberty House,

J. C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

Joseph Magnin Co. The Joseph Magnin Company was a high-end specialty department store founded in San Francisco, California, by Joseph Magnin, 4th son of Isaac Magnin founder of the I. Magnin department store. Joseph Magnin Co. and I. Magnin Co. were rivals. Histo ...

, and Sears. Eastridge Center was the largest enclosed shopping mall in the Western United States. Emporium-Capwell replaced Liberty House when the chain pulled out of California. After Macy's bought Emporium-Capwell, the store was closed. It sat vacant until the 2005 remodel when it was demolished. In 1993, the Spillman Engineering 3 Abroad

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

, made c.1920 by Allan Herschell Company was restored and placed in the mall. The carousel has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. In February 2012, two teenage boys were stabbed and left in critical condition at the mall, which led to J. C. Penney and Macy's closing temporarily. In the wake of the

2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film ''The Dark Knight Rises''. Dressed in tactical clothing, James Holmes set off tear gas g ...

, a mysterious package was thrown into an AMC theater at Eastridge during a showing of '' The Dark Knight Rises'', which led to an evacuation of the theater. On July 20, 2012, a fire broke out near the mall at a homeless encampment in a 100-by-100 ft area, but was extinguished before the fire could reach any buildings. On January 15, 2016, a joint adventure between Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Silverpeak Real Estate Partners acquired the mall from GGP for $225 million, excluding the Sears and Macy's stores. The new owners announced that they will invest approximately $15 million to upgrade the mall. In March 2017, a renovation of the mall was announced. In December 2017, it was announced that Barnes & Noble would close its store in the mall in January 2018. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location as part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed on February 2, 2020. In 2017, Eastridge underwent its most recent and largest renovation. As part of the renovation, the Eastridge Murals were painted.

Eastridge Murals

As part of the major renovation of Eastridge in 2017, the four Eastridge Murals were commissioned, which constitute the world's largest murals on a shopping center. The four murals cover a total of 20,000 square feet of artwork and carried out by four different artists: Aaron de la Cruz, Brendan Monroe, CYRCLE, and Lila Gemellos.Pacific Retail - Eastridge Redevelopment Mural Project
/ref> File:Eastridge Murals (Aaron de la Cruz) 0901 (cropped).jpg, Mural by Aaron de la Cruz File:Eastridge Murals (CYRCLE) 0907 (cropped).jpg, Mural by CYRCLE File:Eastridge Murals (Lila Gemellos) 0912 (cropped).jpg, Mural by Lila Gemellos File:Eastridge Murals (Lila Gemellos) 0913 (cropped).jpg, Mural by Lila Gemellos

Location

Eastridge is located in the Evergreen district of

. It is bound on the east by the

Capitol Expressway There are 21 routes assigned to the "G" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "G" zone includes county highways in Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz cou ...

. Nearby landmarks include

Lake Cunningham __NOTOC__ Lake Cunningham is an artificial lake in Lake Cunningham Park, in East San Jose, California, near the Eastridge Center, Eastridge Mall and Eastridge Transit Center. It is not a geological feature recognized in the Geographic Names Infor ...

and

Raging Waters San Jose Raging Waters are a chain of four water theme parks in Sacramento, San Dimas, San Jose, California, and Sydney, Australia. The parks are operated by Palace Entertainment and owned by its parent company Parques Reunidos, but they each contain d ...

. Reid-Hillview Airport is located north of Eastridge, across Tully Road.

Transportation

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) operates the

Eastridge Transit Center The Eastridge Transit Center is a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus terminal located at the Eastridge Mall in the Evergreen District of San Jose, California. The station is located alongside Capitol Expressway near Tully Roa ...

on the northeast edge of the mall along

Popular culture

A scene from

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

's '' The Candidate'' (1972) was filmed at Eastridge. San Jose Mercury News
Five Things You Didn't Know About Eastridge
/ref> Several scenes of

Logan's Run ''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resource ...

(1976) were filmed at Eastridge.

References

External links

Eastridge Center official site
{{Shopping malls in California Economy of San Jose, California Shopping malls in the San Francisco Bay Area Shopping malls in Santa Clara County, California Shopping malls established in 1971