Groceteria.com

Here's something I've never seen before: a Safeway located in the front half of a geodesic dome! (Hell, I've never seen a supermarket anywhere use a geodesic dome as far as I know of.) This July 1961 Chain Store Age article (page E30) mentions it was at "Harbor Point Shopping Center", four miles north of San Francisco, and that it was designed by John Bolles.

I'm assuming that is in Marin County...however, a google search does not find me any current shopping center with that name in the area. Anyone know more?




larger: http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/swy-dome.jpg

Not that this helps much, but Harbor Point tennis club and bar & grill is at 475 E. Strawberry Hill Dr. in Mill Valley, so I guess that's where the Harbor Point area is.

Can you be sure it was ever built?

Dave wrote:Can you be sure it was ever built?

Looking closely at the first image, there seem to be perfectly spaced paper-doll "people" in the lot. So now I'm pretty sure this is either a model, or a damn good drawing (and more likely the former).

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Here's a biography on the architect commissioned for this project.

http://sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articl ... sJohn.html

He apparently was the guy behind Candlestick Park's design.

According to a short story in the 5/14/1961 issue of the New York Times, it was to be the largest geodesic dome ever built in the US. "The gold-anodized dome will have a diameter of 200 feet. Some 22,000 square feet of space in a dome and an adjoining building will be utilized by Safeway Stores, Inc, for a supermarket and an additional 15,000 square feet will be reserved for smaller stores."

(As an aside, it's fun to read the NYT articles at the time about construction delays at Candlestick Park...)

runchadrun wrote:According to a short story in the 5/14/1961 issue of the New York Times, it was to be the largest geodesic dome ever built in the US. "The gold-anodized dome will have a diameter of 200 feet. Some 22,000 square feet of space in a dome and an adjoining building will be utilized by Safeway Stores, Inc, for a supermarket and an additional 15,000 square feet will be reserved for smaller stores."

That's pretty damn fascinating that this would make it into the Times. Now, I wonder where we'd find out more about this project and why it (likely) never happened...I don't think Bolles's firm still exists today.

runchadrun wrote:
(As an aside, it's fun to read the NYT articles at the time about construction delays at Candlestick Park...)

OT: That REALLY puts some interesting context to the recent talk of the Niners moving from Candlestick to Santa Clara...

TheStranger wrote:Now, I wonder where we'd find out more about this project and why it (likely) never happened...I don't think Bolles's firm still exists today.

It says that his son, Peter P. Bolles, is still an architect in Las Vegas;
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:shuC ... =clnk&cd=1
If all this talk about this truely phenominal dream that was never realized makes you as sad as it makes me, just remember, there's still the 1964/5 San Francisco Diamond Heights Safeway that was actually built. In my opinion, it's essentially the same concept, except that it has a pyramid instead of a dome ceiling. It's been said that being inside a pyramid has a profound psychologically empowering effect!

justin karimzad wrote:

TheStranger wrote:Now, I wonder where we'd find out more about this project and why it (likely) never happened...I don't think Bolles's firm still exists today.

It says that his son, Peter P. Bolles, is still an architect in Las Vegas;
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:shuC ... =clnk&cd=1

Does Peter have his own website? I wonder if he'd know more about this, maybe even have the original drawings on file.

justin karimzad wrote: If all this talk about this truely phenominal dream that was never realized makes you as sad as it makes me, just remember, there's still the 1964/5 San Francisco Diamond Heights Safeway that was actually built. In my opinion, it's essentially the same concept, except that it has a pyramid instead of a dome ceiling. It's been said that being inside a pyramid has a profound psychologically empowering effect!

I haven't been in the store yet, but only saw its shakeroof front...which makes me wonder, is this the first ever shakeroof/mansard Safeway?

TheStranger wrote:Does Peter have his own website? I wonder if he'd know more about this, maybe even have the original drawings on file.

A google search of mine didn't turn up any website for him. If you haven't been inside the Diamond Heights Safeway, Stranger, then winter break presents a convenient opportunity to, doesn't it? :) As for this being the first mansard roof Safeway, I think it's in close competition with that 1964 Gilroy Safeway. Here's the thing; the Gilroy Safeway almost certainly opened in 1964, while the Diamond Heights Safeway building was listed as having been built in 1964 by the San Francisco parcel assessor (of which credit goes to Groceteria for introducing me to it);
http://gispubweb.sfgov.org/website/sfvi ... nd+heights
However, the caption of this newspaper photograph suggests that the shopping center was not complete in 1964;
http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/search/Xdiamo ... D&3%2C3%2C
Also, although I didn't look up the Safeway itself, you may remember that the Super S in the shopping center was listed as far back as 1965 in the San Francisco city directories. I'm thinking that, even if the Safeway building was built in 1964, it probably didn't open until 1965.