I can't imagine what "experience" we all thought we were enjoying in these grayboxes for so many years.
Did you actually attend malls in their heyday? Today's mall is a sad shadow of their former selves, and as a result a poor way to judge how or why we enjoyed them in decades past.
agreed. back in the 80s, the closest mall to me was pretty good - a decent mix of entertainment stores (music, games) and arcades, and water slide for a while, movie theater, and a decent mix of food (well, some of the better food was anchor restaurants in the parking lot). My recollection is there was a lot of natural light on sunny days - large glass sections in the ceiling structure let in quite a lot of light. I seem to remember one wing (of the 5?) being a bit drearier than the others, but might be bad memory (or... it was the 'lord and taylor' wing and I rarely ever went there!)
Biggest drawback I see to the older style 'mall' areas was lack of expandability - the structure was forever in place - you couldn't change the character with a new wing/section very easily. Outdoor shopping areas have a bit more flexibility in that respect.
Much like radio and tv have far more competition for our time, so too do malls have more competition for our time and money. But they had a good run :)
The indoor style exists because of extreme weather. I personally suspect California got indoor shopping malls back then because most everywhere else had indoor malls too- and they had indoor malls for the same reason they have indoor highschools.
You refer to outdoor schools. My middle schoool was sort of like that. Of course the classrooms were indoors, but the campus was several small building not one big one. So to go to art, or music, or gym, or lunch you would walk outside to another building. It was nice to get outside four or five times a day even if just for a few minutes. Of course it kind of sucked in a heavy rain....
Inland central and southern California need air-conditioned spaces to escape the summer heat. Coastal, not so much.
Or were you referring to the consumer productivity lost studying the grass or feeding squirrels and pigeons rather than paying attention to the fabulous product offerings in the mall curriculum? God forbid people obtain value without anyone profiting; think of the children!
- A sanctioned place to hang out with friends outside of school
- A predecessor to online shopping. If you buy it online today, and you can't get it from Target/Walmart/Etc, chances are you would have gone to a mall back then.
- Lots and lots of different clothes stores. The HN crowd probably doesn't care for this much, but other people liked that part a lot!
- Bustling and full of people. This has its downsides to be sure, but it can be nice to be around other people, and they didn't feel like the ghost towns they do today.
When malls were in their heyday when I was growing up, there was no Target or Walmart. At least not anywhere close to where I lived.
>A sanctioned place to hang out with friends outside of school
Malls now are starting to outright not let kids in unless they are accompanied by an adult. I am dead serious, I got carded entering a mall in 2008 and was told the policy is nobody under 18 unless accompanied by an adult. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shopping-malls-increasingly-p...
Yeah, I couldn't remember exactly what was around, when. But I meant warehouse stores and the like. Home Depot, perhaps? Or in my case, Orchard Supply. Which really shows you the Valley's origins.
Pre-internet, if you wanted to peruse music, toys, books, movies, and/or video games and software, you essentially had to go to a mall. Or at least you wanted to because it was so convenient to access one or more of these sources of entertainment. Now it's pretty much only a good source for clothes.
> Pre-internet, if you wanted to peruse music, toys, books, movies, and/or video games and software, you essentially had to go to a mall. Or at least you wanted to because it was so convenient to access one or more of these sources of entertainment.
Well, actually, as I recall, malls were typically where you went for stores for those things that tended to be overpriced and had limited selection, but were conveniently located together along with restaurants and places for the kids to be entertained (like arcades and sometimes play areas, carousels, etc.)
Did you actually attend malls in their heyday? Today's mall is a sad shadow of their former selves, and as a result a poor way to judge how or why we enjoyed them in decades past.