Shoreside Vale

Updated 30 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Shoreside Vale is the suburban third area of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004) and Liberty City Stories (2005), and the last one players unlock. It is the only part of the 3D-era city on the mainland. It contains Francis International Airport, Cochrane Dam and the mansions of Cedar Grove.

What is Shoreside Vale?

Shoreside Vale is the third part of the 3D-era Liberty City, after Portland and Staunton Island. Wikipedia's account of how Grand Theft Auto III was designed calls this area the suburbs, comparable to New Jersey. GTA Wiki notes that it is the only part of the city on the mainland, that it is far hillier than the islands with a ridge of mountains along its northern edge, and that it was known internally as the "Suburban" area during development.

The wiki also calls it notoriously awkward to drive around, with winding roads that make timed vehicle missions harder than on the flat islands.

What is Shoreside Vale based on?

GTA Wiki ties the borough to Westchester County in New York, the Bronx and north-east New Jersey. It matches each district to a real place.

What are the districts of Shoreside Vale?

Cedar Grove is the wealthy end, with large houses, pools and sports cars in the hills. Donald Love's mansion is here, and GTA Wiki says it later passes to Catalina and the Colombian Cartel. Wichita Gardens is the low-income housing district. Pike Creek in the west is light industry and services: the police station, a medical college, a Pay 'n' Spray and 8-Ball's bomb shop, plus businesses such as Punk Noodles, the Turtle Head Fishing Company, AMCo Petroleum and Liberty Pharmaceuticals.

The south of the borough is taken up by Francis International Airport. Most of its planes are just scenery, but GTA Wiki notes that the small Dodo can be taken into the air. Other landmarks include Cochrane Dam in the north-west corner and the Cedar Ridge Observatory above Cedar Grove.

Who controls Shoreside Vale?

In GTA III, Wichita Gardens belongs to the Southside Hoods, and GTA Wiki describes Cedar Grove as Colombian Cartel territory. GTA Wiki says Wichita Gardens was once Forelli turf, and that the Hoods took it after Toni Cipriani helped them in the 1998 mission Rough Justice. Pike Creek was Yakuza ground in 1998, but by 2001 no gang holds it outside one mission, Bait.

When does Shoreside Vale unlock?

It is always the final area. GTA Wiki lists the missions that open it in each game.

What happens in Shoreside Vale?

Claude has a safehouse at Wichita Gardens in GTA III. Wikipedia says the story ends with Claude trapped in the Cartel's stronghold after Catalina's double-cross; our Claude page covers the rest. In Advance, Wikipedia says Mike finishes the game by heading to the airport and leaving Liberty City on Cisco's private jet. In Liberty City Stories, GTA Wiki lists Toni's Cedar Grove safehouse among his homes. The wiki's resident lists show how the borough's population shifts: 8-Ball and Donald Love live there in 1998, Mike and his ally Cisco in 2000, and Claude and Catalina in 2001.

Shoreside Vale trivia

GTA Wiki collects several oddities. A road tunnel through the hills behind Cedar Grove is closed in GTA III but drivable in Liberty City Stories, and the road beyond it, signed "Upstate", is blocked; the wiki says Rockstar never meant anything to be past it. Behind the Cedar Ridge hills sits the set used for GTA III's opening bank robbery cutscene, which fans can reach only with glitches. GTA III also has no gun shop in the borough, while Advance puts an Ammu-Nation in a depot that later becomes a fish-packing plant.

The remaster The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition, changes the area slightly. GTA Wiki says it adds simple background houses and boats in the mountains, which it treats as non-canonical, and that the bank robbery set disappears for good once the opening cutscene ends. In Liberty City Stories, players get only a limited look at the borough from the airport subway station until it opens.

In the HD era, GTA Wiki treats Wichita Gardens as a forerunner of Bohan, and the airport name returns in Dukes in GTA IV.