There's a nice little new park in Cupertino called Cali Mill Plaza. It's at the corner of Stevens Creek and DeAnza Boulevards. When I moved here 21 years ago to work for Apple, tilt-ups, office buildings, and strip malls occupied most of the area, but one corner of this major urban intersection was an anachronism, featuring the landmark Cali Bros. grain silo. In 1988, this relic of a different Cupertino fell to the wreckers -- it was gone, suddenly, in a single day. Office buildings, a hotel, apartments, and restaurants filled the spot. Over the years, plans to finish development on the corner were made, then fell through: movie theaters, another hotel, more apartments.
Finally, the city and the developer decided to devote the remaining space to a lovely urban park, which was dedicated this week. And of course, they honored the Cali family by giving it their name. That's kind of neat, although isn't it always the way: bulldoze the natives, then name the park after them.
Also: the park has free wi-fi. ;-)
It also happens to be my place of residence (OK, not the park--actually the building right next to it). At least until the end of August, when I have to move out to make way for someone to buy my apartment as a condo. Kind of a pain, actually...
Posted by: Buzz Andersen | Friday, July 30, 2004 at 08:00 PM
It looks pretty nice. Good dog park!
Posted by: courtney | Friday, July 30, 2004 at 09:03 PM
It's also right next to my apartment, but I'm in a different building than Buzz... It's been interesting the past couple months, watching them add different bits and pieces to the park, turn on the lights, turn on the fountains, tear up some of the sidewalk and put more grass in its place, and so on.
Soon the building next to it will be finished, and there'll be a few shops there too on its ground floor.
Posted by: Chris Hanson | Saturday, July 31, 2004 at 10:13 AM
The cupertino apartments there are going condo??? That's good I guess, since those are really high-spec apartments. I remember trying to get a place in May 2000 there ... UUGHGHGHG! The website said $1800 but when I showed up they said the price was $2100...
Posted by: Troy | Sunday, August 01, 2004 at 09:10 PM