Over the past weeks, the sounds of diesel engines, jackhammers and shattering concrete have filled the air at De Anza College as excavators and wreckers have descended on the historic Flint Center for the Performing Arts to tear the building apart ahead of its replacement.
The Flint Center was closed in 2019 after it was deemed to be unsafe in a safety assessment ordered by the Foothill-De Anza College Board of Trustees. Following this, the board voted to close, demolish and replace the Flint Center using funding granted by Measure G.
The roar of excavators ripping down the walls of the Flint Center heralds the end to a historic venue and pivotal location in Bay Area tech history.
Opened in 1971 and seating approximately 2,400, the Flint Center was hailed as a premiere event center for its time, as reported by La Voz at the time of the venue’s opening. Over its lifespan the Flint Center has been an integral location in Bay Area tech history, hosting such historic events as Steve Jobs’ Macintosh computer announcement in 1984, kicking off decades of tech and computing innovation.
As reported by La Voz in 2015, during the filming of “Steve Jobs,” a biopic covering the life of Steve Jobs, portions were filmed at the Flint Center, and De Anza cinema students were invited on set to experience a working set for a major motion picture.
Despite its destruction, the legacy of the Flint Center will live on as a historic and important venue, not just to De Anza College, but to Bay Area tech history.