Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Uh...California.

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TheStranger
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Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Post by TheStranger »

I was taking BART up to Richmond (to catch an Amtrak train back to school) and saw a few things between the El Cerrito Del Norte and Richmond stations:

- 1960s era Lucky sitting abandoned on I think San Pablo Avenue, obvious Lucky labelscars on the sides of the building and on the old "needle" styled lighted sign; was this store replaced by the Albertsons at El Cerrito Plaza? This store is a block from a modern Safeway. Not sure if this store is in El Cerrito or Richmond.

- Non-supermarket, but a closed Toys R Us next to the BART line halfway between the two stations. Probably a victim of the recent TRU closures.

- A former marina Safeway on 23rd Street in Richmond right before it feeds southbound into Carlson Boulevard. Building was now serving as a Kragen and I keep thinking I've seen a photograph of it before, though I could be mistaken.
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Alloy
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Re: Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Post by Alloy »

- 1960s era Lucky sitting abandoned on I think San Pablo Avenue, obvious Lucky labelscars on the sides of the building and on the old "needle" styled lighted sign; was this store replaced by the Albertsons at El Cerrito Plaza? This store is a block from a modern Safeway. Not sure if this store is in El Cerrito or Richmond.
Hi Chris--
I think this one closed down before the El Cerrto plaza was renovated. It's in Richmond, by about a block. I'm not sure it ever made the switch to Albertson's. I used to shop there when I lived in the neighborhood, twenty years ago.
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Post by Groceteria »

There was a shopping center Lucky store at 10700 San Pablo in El Cerrito, which started out as part of the defunct Food Farm chain before becoming Lucky and then Alberstons. There is a Safeway in the center next door.

There was also a freestanding Lucky near the intersection of San Pablo and MacDonald in Richmond. It's pretty much accross the street from a freestanding (not very well renovated) Safeway. This one opened as a Lucky and also did convert to Albertsons before closing. It had the stone veneer and white concrete entryway wth the arches.

Both of these were empty the last time I drove through the area, in 2005.

However, the newer Albertsons at El Cerrito Plaza was not a replacement for either of these, but for an older Lucky (Later Albertsons) within the same center. Last time I was there, I think the building that had housed it was actually still standing in the far back right (southeast?) corner.
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Post by TheStranger »

I've got some photos up of the old marina and old Lucky on my site, from an East Bay photo trip with Charles Hathaway:

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/rich.htm

Image
Image
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Re: Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Post by Jason B. »

I visited the exterior of the former Lucky store near the southeasterly corner of MacDonald and San Pablo in Richmond (just across the city limits from El Cerrito) on May 23, 2010. The "label scar" from the Lucky sign is fading away. A Safeway store still "faces" the old Lucky across MacDonald.

What's perhaps most interesting about this old Lucky is the Hacienda restaurant (12020 San Pablo Avenue) with which it shares a parking lot. The stonework and the arches are similar to the nearby Lucky store. Both buildings have a 1960s appearance. I suspect that they share an architect and/or contractor. See photo of Hacienda:
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/_MoMJsu2 ... G3KZoun-cQ

Supermarkets and large retail stores have been playing "musical chairs" in the past decade in this area. El Cerrito Plaza, a shopping center at the other end of El Cerrito, was demolished and re-built in the early 2000s. An Albertson's there was re-located to a new building nearby (today a Lucky). (I also think that another Albertson's in El Cerrito was consolidated into the new El Cerrito Plaza store, but I'm unsure.)

After Montgomery Ward went bankrupt in late 2000, its building along I-80 at MacDonald in Richmond sat vacant. Target recently re-located its store from next to El Cerrito del Norte BART station to the former Montgomery Ward building (I think). The former Target at El Cerrito del Norte BART is now vacant, but a Safeway is planned for that location. See the special website at:
http://safeway-store.com/
(That generic-sounding U.R.L. strangely is devoted just to the El Cerrito, Calif. planned store.)

The website says, "On October 5, 2009, The City of El Cerrito, Safeway, and Target agreed agreed upon a solution that would permit Safeway to move forward with an application for a new Safeway Lifestyle store while providing the City an opportunity to advance its vision under the Specific Plan. Our team is very excited by the win-win solution that was created. Our team will spend the next several month working with the planning department to obtain the necessary approvals and anticipate that Safeway will be permitted to start construction in early summer 2010 and open for business in the fall of 2010. Please see the updated plans that were submitted to planning on 10/6/2009."

The website says that it will be modeled after the "Lifestyle" Safeway in Novato (Marin County). The Safeway store will be 66,511 square feet.

Apparently the Safeway store at MacDonald & San Pablo in Richmond (mentioned above) will re-locate to the former Target in El Cerrito. The existing Safeway in El Cerrito also will close -- so the two nearest Safeway stores north and south will be consolidated into this "new" store in the former Target building. So by the end of 2010, there likely will be a vacant Safeway facing the vacant Lucky across MacDonald.
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Re: Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Post by Jason B. »

See my "Photostream" on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50610655@N02/

I have placed photos there of the abandoned Lucky/Albertson's supermarket, the nearby 1960s Hacienda Restaurant and the soon-to-be-closed Safeway at San Pablo Ave. and MacDonald Ave. in Richmond, Calif.
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Re: Richmond/El Cerrito (California) area sights

Post by Alloy »

Hi All--
I'm glad to see plans to do something with the abandoned Target building. The Safeway location will only move 10 blocks or so, but the new location is a better one. It has access to BART trains, and there's a commercial strip right across the street--Orchard Supply Hardware, and several other prominent franchises.

That said, I can't figure out the reasons that Target moved the opposite direction, into Richmond. Richmond needs all the economic help it can get, so it's a great thing for the city itself. Target may have needed more space. The old Ward's site has plenty of parking, and maybe the building itself is bigger. It's alone, though, as far as I remember. Surrounding area had banks, county health clinics, and residences, last time I was there; not exactly a commercial hotbed.

I lived in Richmond in the mid 80s, and I still have a fondness for it. It has a bad reputation for crime and urban blight, and that's not going to change any time soon.
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