Castro Village Remodel Goes Before MAC

Next Monday, April 27, the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) will hear about the plans to remodel the Castro Village. Plans for the remodel can be viewed at the Village Barbershop.

This will not be the first time the center has undergone renovation, of course. A representative of Crosspoint, the company that manages the property, told the Castro Valley Forum last January that "There will be no major changes to the town-and-country theme of the village. It will still look and feel the same. Our goal is to build upon what we have to create this as the shopping destination in town."

Your Boulevardier is grateful to his friend Stephanie for loan of the vintage Castro Valley postcard. Readers can click on the photo for a better view.

AMENDMENT: Your Boulevardier belatedly realized that this was a fairly lame post. It contained no insight, observations, or opinions on the situation, just a report. Apologies.

When Crosspoint said it didn't plan to change the village's theme, Your Boulevardier was mighty relieved. The worst thing that could happen, he believes, would be to try to make the Village -- and the town of Castro Valley -- over into something it's not. While local incomes are generally high and public education is generally good, Castro Valley is, it must be said, not upscale. And Your Boulevardier believes that's for the better. Sure, it might be lovely to have an Apple Store or a Sephora in the Village, or a Whole Foods built back where the carwash lies -- the long-term plan for Castro Village calls for some sort of large retailer back there, absorbing some of the vacant properties in the area -- but it's also a delight to have such a collection of small, independent, locally owned, sometimes-funky operations in one place. Homogeneity stifles creativity, Your Boulevardier believes, and creativity is what's needed in an economy like we have today.

So, bring on the remodeled Castro Village! Though it's managed by Crosspoint (a San Francisco firm), the center is still owned by the Nahas family who built it 60 years ago. That's something worth celebrating and supporting.

And, to answer Wudas' question, the postcard has no copyright or other date. The newest cars in the photos are from the mid-1960s.