We've looked at some surprisingly scenic Safeways before, from
San Francisco Harbor to the
mountains of Eastern Washington, but now it's time for the most scenic grocery store I've ever visited! This is the Pacific Palisades Vons, right between Los Angeles and Malibu and right across Highway 1 from the beach. I have no idea why this is here on what should be some insanely valuable real estate (probably something to do with California NIMBYs), but it's quite a cool sight, especially considering that this is a cool store on its own, being one of the rare wavy Marina stores in mostly intact condition!
I wonder if that Vons banner is covering some really old Safeway signage or something! We have a Kroger here in Houston that is in a really old former Weingarten/Safeway/AppleTree and for many years, Kroger had a banner up on the side of the store like that Vons banner which was covering an old Weingarten sign that Safeway, AppleTree, and Kroger never bothered removing until around 2015 or so (it has been a Kroger since 1994 I believe). Well, anyway, that corner of the roof overhang certainly needs some work!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if that land is zoned for retail or something and they'd probably have a hard time rezoning it if there aren't any other grocers in the area. On top of that, I'm guessing the store does pretty good business. Since we don't have zoning here, that wouldn't be a problem, but then we don't have anything even remotely similar to Malibu! I guess we have Galveston and the Kroger and Randall's there, but your parents went to Galveston so I don't think I need to tell you that Galveston is no Malibu, lol.
I'm not sure what the most scenic supermarket is that I've been to. It might have been something in the Canadian Rockies. One of those was an IGA in Banff in a former Safeway that still had a dark Lifestyle interior! In the US, I'm not sure. The Market Basket I went to in North Conway, NH this summer is certainly a contender. I'm not sure if I sent you one of my photos of that one. I actually took my photos of that from the Eddie Bauer parking lot in front of the Market Basket so at least there is a bit of a Seattle connection! There is a Shaw's and Hannaford right by the Market Basket so I guess they would look nice too, but I didn't go to either one of those.
Although I didn't go to this store specifically, I did drive by a Hannaford in South Portland, ME whose rear truck dock has a great view of an outlet which directly leads to the Atlantic Ocean. Seriously, check this out, you'd never guess the back of a supermarket is what lurks right behind this view when you do a 180 degree pan! Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3bx6kHehAjqnUB5BA
Before the remodel, there was a real Vons sign where the banner is now, so I'm not sure what the deal is. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a workaround to restrictions on proper signs, since this seems like the kind of place that would have those restrictions!
DeleteYeah, the loading dock runs right along this side of the store, and I guess some truck drivers have been having problems with the clearance here. And you know how things go with Safeway and maintenance these days...
It's crazy how many ordinary grocery stores there are in incredibly beautiful places like this! Of course, in some areas (like that Newport Safeway) it's pretty much impossible to find a spot of land that doesn't have scenic views, but these waterfront locations just seem like they would be too valuable for something like this. That Hannaford is even worse since it hides the water views around back! This store is at least situated to show off the views, even if people would surely be willing to pay a ton of money to live in such a beautiful spot. That Hannaford really reminds me of the Bayview Thriftway in Olympia, built right at the south end of Puget Sound.
Great shot!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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