https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/22/san-joses-eastridge-celebrates-50-years-of-shopping-memories/

I spent some time this week at Eastridge Center, the San Jose mall that celebrated its 50th birthday on May 17. Having not been there in quite some time, I wanted to see how the shopping center stacked up to my memories. I came away pleasantly surprised by how familiar it remains.

Unlike Westfield Valley Fair and Oakridge malls in San Jose, which have been expanded and re-modeled so many times it’s hard to remember what they used to be, Eastridge is still recognizable despite its own updates. Billed as the largest indoor mall in the West when it launched in 1971, Eastridge was a big deal for residents in Evergreen and East San Jose, who no longer had to drive to Valley Fair or Westgate to shop. Remember that downtown San Jose’s retail was in full retreat by this time, and the smaller Oakridge Mall would also open that year to serve the growing population in South San Jose.