He knew that he should have hated and feared the mall. And yet the mall was of the land and the market, an ancient thing always with us. Dead Malls, healthy malls, sprawling mediocrity, grandiose failures and successful gallerias.
I sing of 2 treasures among the junkpile.
The late 19th century Euclid Arcade was always there, even when downtown Cleveland was nearly dead.
and though for a century it lived as the place where wonders could be purchased, from a most excellent haircut to Chicago Chicago when it grew worn and was redeveloped in 2001 3 floors became a hotel. Now hobbies and oddities are distributed more efficiently through the tubes. I haven't been to Cleveland in years; none of the sites I looked at seemed willing to discuss what's left on the other 2.
But food is of the land and must be taken by hand. The West Side Market remains locked to its original purpose.
The swamp of mediocrity that defines most malls is too much to face, but a couple of epic fails are worth mention.
LikeRandall Park. An ordinary big mall dropped into an unfortunate place and time that devolved into a huge stain of blight.
And the monster from the id that infected and nearly killed the very concept of downtown malls - Lafayette Place (1985-1992, not missed).
Its black oppresive cavelike corridors could only be seen once before the knot of screaming terror drove you back into the sunlight of the Combat Zone where fierce pimps and diseased whores were more welcoming than the commercial nightmare within.Even that hideous excrescence had anoble vision, soaring bridges, sunshine & multiple modes of access - that somehow died between initial design & opening.