The
beautiful Old Mill Shopping Center is a much missed Mountain View
landmark to those who remember it. The Old Mill opened in 1976 as a boutique
shopping center, the "Ghiradelli Square of Mountain View"
as it was known. Stores and restaurants surrounded a two story
atrium that contained a creek, old wooden mill, and large living
trees and luxurious landscaping. Fargo's was a popular teen hang
out, La Posada a popular Mexican-American restaurant. The mall fell
on hard times in the 1980s, and after a failed conversion into a
"public market" (without the creek and trees), it closed
in 1989. The site is now home to the landmark New Urbanist
"Crossings" neighborhood.
Photo
from a postcard in the MVHA archives.
