Northgate — Local services in San Rafael

When is the last time you went to a car show or watched cars do burnouts? I bet you paid admission... Well get this, come down to the Northgate mall between 9:30PM and 12AM and you can see a show for free.

Watch as 4 cylinders fart their life out in Honda's and Toyotas as they spin around the parking structure night, after night, after night. Not to be out-done, you'll seem some "f-yeah America" muscle cars out here too, blaring twice as many cylinders as the Japanese counterpart.

What an exciting show to see amatures throw their Autozone kitted cars around as if they were toys. What control, what skill they must have to mash on one pedal while turning their steering wheel full opposite lock.

Unfortunately everyone's mom must call them at the same time because they leave all at once, speeding away home until they can get permission to go out again the next night.

I realize this review has nothing to do with the actual mall, but given this is my most impactful experience with this place, and no one seems to do anything about it, this is what you...

Northgate mall has the potential to be something great, but right now that potential is not being lived up to.

The mall is in a great location nestled up next to the Terra Linda neighborhood. It could be the local hub, where families go on a regular basis to hang out and browse the high end shopping options that are available (akin to the Corte Madera mall, or Larkspur Landing).

Instead the mall is currently filled with a plethora of low end shops, and in general has a vibe of an 80’s mall that never quite grew up and evolved with the times.

The mall as it stands today is not a destination, it is a place you have to go to do a specific thing, and then leave as quickly as possible, which is a disappointment.

I hope we see some changes in the near future with the mall looking like it may be re-developed, but I’m not...

This mall is a nice place to walk indoors if you're not a fan of the lovely weather of the area.

Covid has really done a number on the store fronts as about 60% have been shuttered inside. The outside stores seem to have faired better with most being food establishments.

The options at the theater felt lackluster and nothing was showing at 1400hrs (2pm) on a Wednesday. The public library with heavily restricted hours was the sign to me of the state and likely future of what seems like a completely fine mall otherwise. Now in a death spiral.

Despite all this I still managed to find things I wanted to buy. Which is actually impressive as I'm not big on impulse buying and keep myself to a firm budget for fun and games even on a...