MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

24 April 2009

1956. Edina, Minnesota. "Interior Garden Court with stairway to upper level in Southdale Regional Shopping Center, the first enclosed shopping mall." I love this photo. (If the high-res one is too big for your monitor, try the preview page.) From the always excellent shorpy.com vintage photo blog.
This is my new Desktop.
posted by Joe Beese 24 April | 10:31
That looks so much like the old downtown mall in my hometown, which was built in the 1970s to enclose several downtown streets. I'm trying to dig up old photos but unfortunately they don't seem to be online.

It was built around a preserved Bank. When I was a kid that was the entrance to the comic and tabletop gaming store.

The drugstore shown here was originally a stand-alone store as well. (You can see the old bank entrance on the right) In the distance the mall is two-storeys tall but this section had vaulted ceilings. There used to be a really good deli in the pharmacy that my dad liked to eat at - I thought it had "too many old people".

At the bottom of the page, a color photo of what I believe is the North entrance to the mall. This is near the storefront that hosted our High School's annual Haunted House.

From Flickr, here's a view down from the "second floor". My parents never let me go up there because they were afraid of monkey business. Another angle of the same thing. Right below that used to be this creepy indoor fountain.

Dicker's department store went out of business shortly before I moved there in... 1994?

Last time I was home they'd finished tearing the roof off as part of the downtown revitalization project. This post really got out of hand.
posted by muddgirl 24 April | 10:45
Thanks for sharing, muddgirl!
posted by crush-onastick 24 April | 10:55
One more! I forgot about the awesome art deco stained glass columns that are still standing after the roof was torn off, and much prettier now that they're open to full sunlight.
posted by muddgirl 24 April | 11:03
Oooh, those stained glass columns are stunning!
posted by essexjan 24 April | 11:14
BoPo, it doesn't even look like a photograph - can you explain what a "color transparency" is? It looks almost painted. It's beautiful. I'm going to save it in case I ever need it to show a set designer as the sort of look I'd love to see created for a play.
posted by rainbaby 24 April | 11:19
rainbaby, I think a color transparency means a slide.

Joe Beese, it's my desktop, too. :)

Off to check muddgirl's links- they sound awesome.
posted by BoringPostcards 24 April | 11:22
I love how all these old indoor malls have little gardens and water features and such. All the beauty of an outdoor mall, except with air conditioning ;)
posted by muddgirl 24 April | 11:24
Oh wow, muddgirl, those are all great pics!
posted by BoringPostcards 24 April | 11:46
Google has located a couple more pics of the Southdale Center Mall in Minnesota:

≡ Click to see image ≡

≡ Click to see image ≡

≡ Click to see image ≡

That second pic shows a tall birdcage with a tree in it, and I assume little birds in it (right edge of pic). I remember a mall here in Atlanta having one of those when I was a kid! I haven't thought of that in forever.
posted by BoringPostcards 24 April | 12:00
lovin' this thread
posted by danostuporstar 24 April | 12:04
It looks so much like the mall in WA where I got my first bike, on my 6th birthday. My dad and I went to Sears after he got home from work to pick it up. It had a yellow banana seat decorated with a grinning sun and a rainbow. And best of all, back in those days, Sears still had that Brach's candy counter in the middle of the store. (Remember those?) In addition to the spiffy new birthday bike, I got a bag of those crunchy peanut-butter-flavored candies.

I loathe malls with a passion now, but back then they were cool.

Looking at those pictures, I remember Kinney shoes well. And Stride-Rite. And Orange Julius (which I always hated). And the redundantly named Corndog-on-a-Stick. And Morrow's Nut House, where you could get loads and loads of gummy bears!
posted by mudpuppie 24 April | 13:06
And Spencer's Gifts, which had an over-18 section, easily visible from the rest of the store, that had pictures of women in bikinis. I always felt like I'd get caught looking.
posted by mudpuppie 24 April | 13:07
The photo does have a very dreamy look to it. I think the graininess of the photograph has a lot to do with it.

Thanks BP and everyone else for the great links.

Here's a link to my first FPP at Mefi. It has a couple links to sites with lots of old mall photos.
posted by deborah 24 April | 13:48
Oh man, this Malls of America site is fantastic. Thanks, deborah!
posted by BoringPostcards 24 April | 13:58
Birdcages were pretty common in malls, who knew?
posted by octothorpe 24 April | 20:34
grandbun 2.0 is.... || Friendly's Rap

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN