Business & Tech
Video: Lifelong Resident Laments Downtown's Decline
Gordon Nickle, 62, moved to San Lorenzo Village when it was a delight for children and shoppers. But those days are gone, he says in an interview outside the theater.
It was nearly 80 years ago when San Lorenzo Village became one of the nation's first planned communities, built to provide affordable homes to East Bay factory families during World War II.
Part of the Village plan was the creation of shopping centers on Hesperian Boulevard between Paseo Grande and the San Lorenzo Theater.
Find out what's happening in Castro Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
For 62-year-old Gordon Nickle, a lifelong San Lorenzo residents, this central shopping district was his stomping grounds from his childhood to adulthood.
But over the past 20 years he's seen this once vibrant area decline, as he tells Patch in a video clip taken in front of the now-defunct San Lorenzo Theater -- itself a symptom of the community's difficult times.
Find out what's happening in Castro Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
What do you remember about the San Lorenzo Village's central district back in the day? What are your hopes for it in the years to come?
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