Winchester Shopping Center
Santa Clara, CA
Photo courtesy Kwong Chang

Check out the huge boomerang arrow at Winchester Shopping Center. The red sweep and lively script lettering make quite a roadside announcement, with enough personality to hold its own among the larger shopping developments nearby.

The center opened in 1952, and the sign dates to around the same time. That puts this landmark ahead of neighboring Valley Fair, back when a supermarket and a row of smaller stores could attract shoppers with one spectacular marquee.

The arrow gives the sign most of its motion, even though nothing actually needs to move. Follow that sweeping shape with the eye and it does a pretty good job of steering attention toward the shopping center.

UPDATE: This landmark stands in San Jose near the Santa Clara boundary. The big arrow and script survive, although the sign has been dark for years. Still quite a roadside sight without its nighttime glow. 10-26

Country Corner Center
Fairfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here’s a shopping-center sign with a few holes in its argument. The marquee at Country Corner Center in Fairfield features circular cutouts in its framework, giving an ordinary tenant sign some space-age flair.

Those openings help break up the metal panels and make the silhouette more interesting against the sky. The original description called them “crater holes,” which seems fitting for a sign with this much Googie personality. Apparently, a solid rectangle would have been too easy.

The property has buildings dating to 1953 and 1973, placing its development across two decades of roadside shopping-center growth. The marquee brings that earlier commercial scenery into view before visitors reach the storefronts.

UPDATE: Country Corner Center remains a retail property along West Texas Street, with recent listings advertising its storefronts and prominent pylon sign. This Fairfield shopping stop still has some character overhead. 10-26

Hecker Pass Center
Gilroy, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Here’s the parking-lot marquee for Hecker Pass Center, with lettering that looked freshly updated when this photograph was taken. The clean appearance gives the shopping center a bright introduction, though the sign’s basic design reaches back further.

The structure apparently dates to the 1950s or 1960s. A fresh coat of paint or renewed lighting can make an older marquee look surprisingly young, especially when its shape still works well beside the roadway.

The center also once advertised Super Save Market on its signage. Like many neighborhood shopping stops, the names beneath the main landmark changed as businesses came and went.

UPDATE: Hecker Pass Center is in Gilroy. Its main marquee remains, while the Super Save Market sign was removed around 2019. Another old shopping-center marker carrying on beside the roadway. 10-26

Palma Plaza
Hayward, CA
Photo courtesy Jason Carlton

How about the twin palms above Palma Plaza? The shopping-center marquee carries its landscaping high above the parking lot, with palm outlines making the name pretty easy to understand. No watering required for these trees.

The plaza opened in the late 1950s, when a tall sign could give a neighborhood shopping center an identity of its own. Those palms offered motorists something more memorable than a plain list of stores. The property later went through a rough stretch. Fires in 2000 and 2001 destroyed the shopping-center buildings, followed by redevelopment. The palm-tree landmark became an important connection to the plaza’s earlier appearance.

UPDATE: Palma Plaza is in San Leandro and continues as a rebuilt shopping center. Its familiar palm design survives. 10-26

Eden Center
San Leandro, CA
Photo courtesy Jason Carlton

Check out the clean lines of the Eden Center marquee in San Leandro. This sign takes a quieter approach than some of its shopping-center neighbors, with a streamlined shape that gets the name across without a giant arrow or roadside mascot.

The simple design is part of its appeal. Its lettering and geometric accents give the framework enough detail to catch the eye while keeping the whole advertisement easy to read from the road.

The sign is thought to date from the 1950s. It recalls an era when even a neighborhood shopping center could have a custom-built landmark above the parking lot.

UPDATE: The marquee was modernized around 2015. Its exposed neon was removed, the lettering changed to backlit plastic, and the accents received LED rope lighting. The familiar shape remains, with newer illumination carrying on the nighttime job. 10-26

May Way Shopping Center
Watsonville, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

Look up at the big May Way Shopping Center sign in Watsonville. The name stands well above the roadside, while the Bar B Q pig icon adds another reason to stop. Shopping and something to eat, all announced from the same framework.

The center dates to around 1951. Watsonville’s history records that an old grammar school was demolished that year to make way for the development, turning a former school site into a neighborhood shopping stop.

The tall sign became a familiar marker near East Lake Avenue and Sudden Street. With steel supports holding the name overhead, it was built to catch attention beyond the storefront windows.

UPDATE: May Way remains documented as a neighborhood shopping center, with its towering sign apparently retained. The businesses beneath it have changed over the years, but the big name still recalls Watsonville’s earlier shopping-center days. 10-26

Pelton Plaza
CA
Photo courtesy Jason Carlton

Check out the streamlined marquee at Pelton Plaza in San Leandro. The geometric shape gives this shopping-center sign a tidy appearance, with the nighttime lettering adding a little glow above the parking area.

The center was built in 1948, placing it among the earlier postwar shopping developments in the area. Its sign is believed to come from that same period, giving the property a roadside identity that reaches back well before the larger regional malls.

Here’s a reminder that a shopping-center landmark doesn’t need a spinning ornament or an enormous mascot. A distinctive shape and some illuminated lettering can do a pretty good job of marking the turn.

UPDATE: Pelton Plaza remains a shopping destination in downtown San Leandro, and its vintage marquee continues appearing in current roadside sign documentation. A familiar piece of the center’s postwar character still standing above the shops. 10-26

Plaza Center
Lafayette, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here’s the nighttime glow at Plaza Center in Lafayette. The tall marquee gives passing motorists a landmark above the shops, with its lettering taking over as daylight fades. Even a routine shopping trip could include a little neon sightseeing.

Construction of the center began in 1963 under developer Russell Bruzzone. The seven-acre property was planned with space for 20 stores, a fountain, olive trees, and plenty of parking. Early tenants included an ice-cream shop, a camera store, a barber, and a drugstore.

UPDATE: Plaza Center remains in use, and its marquee received a facelift in 2021. The work brought back a functioning clock, while later sign documentation records modern backlit lettering replacing the exposed neon. 10-26