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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
Few places have been as nostalgized, or as maligned, as malls. Since their birth in the 1950s, they have loomed large as temples of commerce, the agora of the suburbs. In their prime, they proved a powerful draw for creative thinkers such as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, and George Romero, who understood the mall's appeal as both critics and consumers. Yet today, amid the aftershocks of financial crises and a global pandemic, as well as the rise of online retail, the dystopian husk of an abandoned shopping center has become one of our era's defining images. Conventional wisdom holds that the mall is dead. But what was the mall, really? And have rumors of its demise been greatly exaggerated?
In her acclaimed The Design of Childhood, Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and playgrounds. She now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles postwar architects' and merchants' invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange's perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion--of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall's story of rise, fall, and ongoing reinvention, for readers of any generation.
In her acclaimed The Design of Childhood, Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and playgrounds. She now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles postwar architects' and merchants' invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange's perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion--of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall's story of rise, fall, and ongoing reinvention, for readers of any generation.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2022
About the author
Alexandra Lange
17 books59 followersNote: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Alexandra Lange is a journalist and an architectural historian. She is a contributing editor at New York Magazine and writes articles about architecture, design and urban planning for Metropolis, Domino and The New York Times. She received her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and has contributed essays and articles to peer-reviewed publications such as the Journal of Design History and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Alexandra has taught architectural criticism at New York University and delivered papers on her research at the Society of Architectural Historians 59th Annual Meeting and the 2005 Buell Dissertation Colloquium at Columbia University.
Alexandra Lange is a journalist and an architectural historian. She is a contributing editor at New York Magazine and writes articles about architecture, design and urban planning for Metropolis, Domino and The New York Times. She received her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and has contributed essays and articles to peer-reviewed publications such as the Journal of Design History and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Alexandra has taught architectural criticism at New York University and delivered papers on her research at the Society of Architectural Historians 59th Annual Meeting and the 2005 Buell Dissertation Colloquium at Columbia University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
January 15, 2023
Review American cities are mostly new and mostly designed on grids and very much zoned. In addition America is a very homogenous society. When you get off the interstate, there always the same cluster of places, the gas station, the Wendy's, McDonald's whatever plus one or two local places. And everyone owns a car and so it doesn't matter how far way the mall is, so malls really fit the American life style.
But European cities grew slowly with city centres of winding roads, traditional shops mixed in with residential and small manufacturing (cobblers, tailors that sort of thing) so they are charming to wander around. Malls cut all that out, and so, to me don't seem so charming. In the biggest cities like London and Paris, not everyone has a vehicle. Parking is too hard to find, and too expensive.
New York and Boston have city centres like Europe, Boston is just like North London and I love the both for that ability to wander from shop to shop.
What I hate about malls more than anything else is 'anchor stores'. The same old Saks, Macy's, Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Penney's etc. Stores I would never enter. (Except Saks in Brickell, Miami because the restaurant Casa Tua Cuchina is one of the best ever).
Department stores sell the same stuff, always generic whether up or downmarket. And it is by them you can judge the average prices of the mall shops. Malls have made street shops redundant in many towns - and there is a great deal of pleasure in wandering from shop to shop, pausing in a cafe, maybe buying sandwiches and sitting in a green or a park. Malls have food courts where the food is generally rubbish and the chairs are uncomfortable and the staff do not clean the tables.
So if internet shopping screws malls up, so much the better. Maybe little high street shops will spring up again because the buildings are there and often empty right now, the rents might well be low enough. Hopefully anyway.
But I'm not entirely negative about malls. They are good to escape the weather be it too hot, cold or wet. And they offer with their plastic plants and skylights (or painted roofs) the illusion of being in an open, airy space although in reality, the air is stale, and the trees are looking tired. They are good for doing not-too-boring walks, and they are good for meeting people and having free internet while you are waiting. But mostly I prefer walking around an area going into the little shops that could never afford the rents of the malls.
The book had entirely too much history. I couldn't care less. A mall is a mall unless it is a strip mall which isn't a mall but a little collection of shops miles from anywhere and not worth visiting except they often have really good little restaurants hidden in them.
There are no malls on the island I live on, either you go to town where the supermarkets are. There are Syrian little department stores that sell a very downmarket high-priced collection of goods (but you can bargain!), mostly cheap clothes. They are on every island. Then locally-owned shops, mostly quite downmarket which does not mean cheap, and a couple of even more expensive expat shops, English usually, who cater to other expats who prefer to shop among their own community even if they could get it cheaper from a local shop.
Outside that there are a couple of shops in the villages. Rum shops. Shops that sell rum, beer, box cheese, canned margarine, crackers and Spam at the least, but mostly rum to their domino-playing clientele. Gas stations, where you never pump your own gas, and can tell the attendant that you will pay inside and just wander in and look to see if there is anything (they all have little groceries) you want to buy and tell the cashier how much you owe for gas. Everyone believes you. We don't have sex shops. But in a couple of stores you will see a little area with a curtain in front of it, behind it are cheap pink vibrators and other items that look more like Christmas gag gifts. It's no wonder Amazon does so well!
But back to the book. I didn't read it in one go, it was the sort of book to pick up and read when there was nothing else around, a book to read between books, we all have those. So 3.5 stars rounded down.
But European cities grew slowly with city centres of winding roads, traditional shops mixed in with residential and small manufacturing (cobblers, tailors that sort of thing) so they are charming to wander around. Malls cut all that out, and so, to me don't seem so charming. In the biggest cities like London and Paris, not everyone has a vehicle. Parking is too hard to find, and too expensive.
New York and Boston have city centres like Europe, Boston is just like North London and I love the both for that ability to wander from shop to shop.
What I hate about malls more than anything else is 'anchor stores'. The same old Saks, Macy's, Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Penney's etc. Stores I would never enter. (Except Saks in Brickell, Miami because the restaurant Casa Tua Cuchina is one of the best ever).
Department stores sell the same stuff, always generic whether up or downmarket. And it is by them you can judge the average prices of the mall shops. Malls have made street shops redundant in many towns - and there is a great deal of pleasure in wandering from shop to shop, pausing in a cafe, maybe buying sandwiches and sitting in a green or a park. Malls have food courts where the food is generally rubbish and the chairs are uncomfortable and the staff do not clean the tables.
So if internet shopping screws malls up, so much the better. Maybe little high street shops will spring up again because the buildings are there and often empty right now, the rents might well be low enough. Hopefully anyway.
But I'm not entirely negative about malls. They are good to escape the weather be it too hot, cold or wet. And they offer with their plastic plants and skylights (or painted roofs) the illusion of being in an open, airy space although in reality, the air is stale, and the trees are looking tired. They are good for doing not-too-boring walks, and they are good for meeting people and having free internet while you are waiting. But mostly I prefer walking around an area going into the little shops that could never afford the rents of the malls.
The book had entirely too much history. I couldn't care less. A mall is a mall unless it is a strip mall which isn't a mall but a little collection of shops miles from anywhere and not worth visiting except they often have really good little restaurants hidden in them.
There are no malls on the island I live on, either you go to town where the supermarkets are. There are Syrian little department stores that sell a very downmarket high-priced collection of goods (but you can bargain!), mostly cheap clothes. They are on every island. Then locally-owned shops, mostly quite downmarket which does not mean cheap, and a couple of even more expensive expat shops, English usually, who cater to other expats who prefer to shop among their own community even if they could get it cheaper from a local shop.
Outside that there are a couple of shops in the villages. Rum shops. Shops that sell rum, beer, box cheese, canned margarine, crackers and Spam at the least, but mostly rum to their domino-playing clientele. Gas stations, where you never pump your own gas, and can tell the attendant that you will pay inside and just wander in and look to see if there is anything (they all have little groceries) you want to buy and tell the cashier how much you owe for gas. Everyone believes you. We don't have sex shops. But in a couple of stores you will see a little area with a curtain in front of it, behind it are cheap pink vibrators and other items that look more like Christmas gag gifts. It's no wonder Amazon does so well!
But back to the book. I didn't read it in one go, it was the sort of book to pick up and read when there was nothing else around, a book to read between books, we all have those. So 3.5 stars rounded down.
September 19, 2022
Every day will be a perfect shopping day.
- Ad for the world's first indoor shopping mall.
I'm old enough to remember the wonders of shopping downtown: enticing store window displays, the sporting goods store turning its backroom into a magical Santa Land every November, the fun and occasional agony of buying my back-to-school wardrobe, and horrifying stretchy gym-suit from the local merchants. One of the highlights of the year was Sidewalk Sales Days every July. Streets were closed off to make wandering back and forth between the stores that much easier . . . sort of a precursor of the shopping mall.
On Friday nights, my parents and I would dine out at a downtown restaurant, but then we'd head to the strip center outside of town. There wasn't much to it: a Town & Country department store, a Joe, the Motorists' Friend, but it had a great independently owned bookstore where each of us would easily find something we wanted to read. Then, in the early seventies, the Plaza got some competition - a new mall opened up on the other side of town. The strip center morphed into an enclosed mall in order to stay alive. The downtown merchants either headed to the malls or closed their doors.
Since my teenage years, malls have been an unforgettable part of my life. The mall was not only where I shopped and hung with friends, it was actually where I went to see my grandparents. That dynamic duo loved to be on the go, but every Saturday night, they'd be dining at Woolworth's in one of the booths by the window that overlooked the mall. I smiled and waved as I strolled past. My aunt Barb got her dream job there at the mall, demonstrating the pianos and organs for sale at the music store. I myself spent more than a few years toiling for pennies at various mall stores, from Pearle Vision Center, to Sear's, to JOANN Fabrics. My friends were other employees I'd met at the mall.
Malls have obviously meant a lot to Alexandra Lange, as well, so much so that she spent many hours researching and writing a book about them. Her detailed account is exhaustive, and, at times, exhausting to read. There was honestly more history here than I wanted, from the origins of these climate controlled dreamscapes for consumers, to the stories behind specific malls.
Chapter 5 was more my style, when the author delved more into the cultural, social, and community aspects of the shopping mall. It was fascinating to read about everything from muzak, to food courts, and all the work that goes into creating an atmosphere that encourages lingering. She also touches on how malls have become a pervasive part of our popular culture.
According to George Romero, we even go to the mall after death.
And, no, she has not forgotten mall walkers.
Lange also examines the effect of the Covid 19 pandemic on an already dying industry, and envisions the future for malls.
I'm happy to report that in the town where I live now, there has been a resurgence and a rebirth of the downtown area. Since the pandemic, eight new stores have opened, almost all of them owned by people in their twenties. Will the downtown area become the new "mall"? An interesting idea, and something to keep an eye on.
I really need to mention one other way that malls have impacted my life: thirty-three years ago, I met my husband at a mall when we were both working for B. Dalton Bookseller.
Perhaps we should have gotten married by the fountain . . .
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this memory-provoking read.
- Ad for the world's first indoor shopping mall.
I'm old enough to remember the wonders of shopping downtown: enticing store window displays, the sporting goods store turning its backroom into a magical Santa Land every November, the fun and occasional agony of buying my back-to-school wardrobe, and horrifying stretchy gym-suit from the local merchants. One of the highlights of the year was Sidewalk Sales Days every July. Streets were closed off to make wandering back and forth between the stores that much easier . . . sort of a precursor of the shopping mall.
On Friday nights, my parents and I would dine out at a downtown restaurant, but then we'd head to the strip center outside of town. There wasn't much to it: a Town & Country department store, a Joe, the Motorists' Friend, but it had a great independently owned bookstore where each of us would easily find something we wanted to read. Then, in the early seventies, the Plaza got some competition - a new mall opened up on the other side of town. The strip center morphed into an enclosed mall in order to stay alive. The downtown merchants either headed to the malls or closed their doors.
Since my teenage years, malls have been an unforgettable part of my life. The mall was not only where I shopped and hung with friends, it was actually where I went to see my grandparents. That dynamic duo loved to be on the go, but every Saturday night, they'd be dining at Woolworth's in one of the booths by the window that overlooked the mall. I smiled and waved as I strolled past. My aunt Barb got her dream job there at the mall, demonstrating the pianos and organs for sale at the music store. I myself spent more than a few years toiling for pennies at various mall stores, from Pearle Vision Center, to Sear's, to JOANN Fabrics. My friends were other employees I'd met at the mall.
Malls have obviously meant a lot to Alexandra Lange, as well, so much so that she spent many hours researching and writing a book about them. Her detailed account is exhaustive, and, at times, exhausting to read. There was honestly more history here than I wanted, from the origins of these climate controlled dreamscapes for consumers, to the stories behind specific malls.
Chapter 5 was more my style, when the author delved more into the cultural, social, and community aspects of the shopping mall. It was fascinating to read about everything from muzak, to food courts, and all the work that goes into creating an atmosphere that encourages lingering. She also touches on how malls have become a pervasive part of our popular culture.
According to George Romero, we even go to the mall after death.
And, no, she has not forgotten mall walkers.
Lange also examines the effect of the Covid 19 pandemic on an already dying industry, and envisions the future for malls.
I'm happy to report that in the town where I live now, there has been a resurgence and a rebirth of the downtown area. Since the pandemic, eight new stores have opened, almost all of them owned by people in their twenties. Will the downtown area become the new "mall"? An interesting idea, and something to keep an eye on.
I really need to mention one other way that malls have impacted my life: thirty-three years ago, I met my husband at a mall when we were both working for B. Dalton Bookseller.
Perhaps we should have gotten married by the fountain . . .
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this memory-provoking read.
June 4, 2022
The earlier parts of this book linger too much on the architectural and over-arching business perspectives of malls, but when the book transitions to a more sociological aspect of malls around the 1980s, it really finds a distinct voice that’s fascinating. There is both criticism and praise for mall culture - what it has done to suburbia and zoning, shopping, the broadness of mall culture as a defining point of post 1980s pop culture ephemera, and the changing of perspectives surround what malls are and who they are for, in theory and practice.
The early chapters would be something I could only recommend to people with niche historical interests, but as the book continued, I couldn’t put it down.
There is certainly an entire book waiting from the conclusion mini chapter on malls outside of the United States. And, perhaps selfishly, I wish there had been some insights into how malls differ regionally in the US.
The early chapters would be something I could only recommend to people with niche historical interests, but as the book continued, I couldn’t put it down.
There is certainly an entire book waiting from the conclusion mini chapter on malls outside of the United States. And, perhaps selfishly, I wish there had been some insights into how malls differ regionally in the US.
November 9, 2022
There is no one -- NO!! ONE!! -- in the world who wanted the information in this book more than me -- mall architects and historians aside perhaps -- and no author less suited for delivering it to me. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, a mall connoisseur from a very early age, lived off of Country Club Plaza in KCMO, and now live roughly in the reach of the Mall of America! I am actually deeply interested in the architectural history of malls AND the social, sociological, and economic factors surrounding them and the communities they've both shunned and impacted! I am truly THE audience for this book!
And yet! This was a slog -- S! L! O! G! -- and at points literally only my desperate desire for the information stored in the densely packed, brutally dry paragraphs kept me going. This is an academic text, closer to something my undergrad urban planning professor (A class I took voluntarily! I was an English major!!) would've assigned than the casual history the title seems to imply, and while the information is educational and interesting and well-cited, almost to the point of annoyance, the writing is duller than a lot of the academic reading I've done in my life.
You know how sometimes you're reading an academic piece and you can feel your brain grinding and stretching to both process and absorb the information? And when you're done, you feel like you've really worked for your newfound knowledge? This was not that, but the information is mine now anyway! We made it, boys.
I am finally done, the three stars are really for the information and the images, and I do not want to meet Lange by the fountain, I am afraid she will footnote me.
And yet! This was a slog -- S! L! O! G! -- and at points literally only my desperate desire for the information stored in the densely packed, brutally dry paragraphs kept me going. This is an academic text, closer to something my undergrad urban planning professor (A class I took voluntarily! I was an English major!!) would've assigned than the casual history the title seems to imply, and while the information is educational and interesting and well-cited, almost to the point of annoyance, the writing is duller than a lot of the academic reading I've done in my life.
You know how sometimes you're reading an academic piece and you can feel your brain grinding and stretching to both process and absorb the information? And when you're done, you feel like you've really worked for your newfound knowledge? This was not that, but the information is mine now anyway! We made it, boys.
I am finally done, the three stars are really for the information and the images, and I do not want to meet Lange by the fountain, I am afraid she will footnote me.
January 22, 2024
Can't really recommend this one! Unless you want something to put you to sleep. The pictures of the old malls were cool. I think I would have given this five stars if it was just pictures of old malls with people in them wearing weird old clothes.
Want to read
June 14, 2022Giveaway Win!
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1645808644i/7494844._UX200_CR0,6,200,200_.jpg)
September 26, 2023
It was okay, but it felt too long and too repetitive.
But I learned a lot about the malleability of malls? And the place they hold in society, for good, for bad, for perhaps better.
But I learned a lot about the malleability of malls? And the place they hold in society, for good, for bad, for perhaps better.
September 25, 2022
This was an okay read. I expected a social history of mall culture, but this was a design history with a little social history thrown in. Still interesting—just way drier than expected.
September 19, 2022
The history of shopping malls tells you a lot about the history of humans, shopping but habitation and the rise of cars. The word MALL comes from England, GALLERIA from France, Department Stores too.
This is a history of America, moving to suburbs. Privately owned places becoming a social nexus point people needed. It does talk about home owning a and selling practices in our racist country.
I enjoyed the chapter on the always debated Death of the Mall and George Romero's brilliant 1978:movie Dawn of the Dead.
This is a history of America, moving to suburbs. Privately owned places becoming a social nexus point people needed. It does talk about home owning a and selling practices in our racist country.
I enjoyed the chapter on the always debated Death of the Mall and George Romero's brilliant 1978:movie Dawn of the Dead.
December 30, 2022
This book would have made a great blog. The subject is inherently fascinating, as it touches on so many aspects of post-WWII economic and social history along with obvious impacts on design and architecture. Lange repeatedly connects the evolving mall to larger forces at play, demonstrating, for example, how intentional choices in site planning and design acted to exclude minority populations while selling the white middle-class a comforting and aspirational vision of consumerism as patriotism. She does an excellent job situating the mall in a dynamic cycle of development, decay, and repurposing, and shows how these derelict behemoths can salvage a brighter future once the department stores are gone. I really appreciated her view of the mall as the new public square and its possibilities beyond pure retail. Lange's magpie approach digs up fascinating tidbits about lots of specific places, makes insightful comments on the logic of planning and social justice, and offers assured architectural critiques of spaces that are often intentionally invisible to its users. The final chapter on international mall culture was cool.
However, this did not make an excellent book. It is fatally undercut by poor organization and an effort to do too much. While Lange is a capable prose stylist, the frenetic jumps in subject matter and chronology render it a frustrating experience. It's a chaotic grab-bag of factoids and anecdata, reminiscent of nothing so much as the desperate jumble of random stores haunting the decaying husk of your local mall. Lange begins with a chronological approach, but quickly veers off to follow a rabbit-trail of stories loosely tied to sites, and later seems to abandon it altogether to just riff on mall-adjacent stuff like the history of video games, pinball, mallwave music, street arcades/the Crystal Palace, and zombie movies. This stuff is all cool but it doesn't really flow in a cohesive way, and it gets repetitive. A good editor probably could have shuffled this into a pleasing order, but as it stands, it feels a little like Lange dropped her stack of notecards.
I don't regret reading this since I learned some good stuff and was inspired to search out more. But I expected more. Lange quotes extensively from a lot of earlier studies of the mall and its culture, and I can't help but feel this one might not have added too much to that body of literature. My work is in retail development so this held some professional interest for me, but those looking for a nostalgic read or a sociological understanding of mall culture may find this a plodding read. It's probably best for those interested in architecture and design. Even for that, you'll wish there were more illustrations. The few included are well-curated and beautiful, but I found myself trawling the internet for better insight into the spaces Lange describes. Also, the failure to include even a passing reference to the song "Let's Go to the Mall" by Robin Sparkles is a fatal omission.
However, this did not make an excellent book. It is fatally undercut by poor organization and an effort to do too much. While Lange is a capable prose stylist, the frenetic jumps in subject matter and chronology render it a frustrating experience. It's a chaotic grab-bag of factoids and anecdata, reminiscent of nothing so much as the desperate jumble of random stores haunting the decaying husk of your local mall. Lange begins with a chronological approach, but quickly veers off to follow a rabbit-trail of stories loosely tied to sites, and later seems to abandon it altogether to just riff on mall-adjacent stuff like the history of video games, pinball, mallwave music, street arcades/the Crystal Palace, and zombie movies. This stuff is all cool but it doesn't really flow in a cohesive way, and it gets repetitive. A good editor probably could have shuffled this into a pleasing order, but as it stands, it feels a little like Lange dropped her stack of notecards.
I don't regret reading this since I learned some good stuff and was inspired to search out more. But I expected more. Lange quotes extensively from a lot of earlier studies of the mall and its culture, and I can't help but feel this one might not have added too much to that body of literature. My work is in retail development so this held some professional interest for me, but those looking for a nostalgic read or a sociological understanding of mall culture may find this a plodding read. It's probably best for those interested in architecture and design. Even for that, you'll wish there were more illustrations. The few included are well-curated and beautiful, but I found myself trawling the internet for better insight into the spaces Lange describes. Also, the failure to include even a passing reference to the song "Let's Go to the Mall" by Robin Sparkles is a fatal omission.
April 5, 2022
I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I for one have had a love affair with the mall since I was a little girl. I loved strolling up and down the hallways, going in and out of stores, people watching and snacking I. The food court. During high school in the mid 90s it was the place to be, hanging out in the arcade and the food court sitting or catching a movie. It also represented books to me, taking my allowance and later pay check to the book store perusing the shelves for the latest SVH, Christopher Pike or Fear Street, and don’t forget the magazines, YM, Seventeen, and so many more… with that being said, this was an interesting read about the history of the mall and the future of it as well.
January 10, 2024
Lange ranges large in Meet Me by the Fountain and travels widely through time and geography. More than architecture, more than urban and residential planning, this is sociology - the why of it all, not just the what or the how. Malls are the natural extension of the automobile economy that drove single family housing, highways and the deterioration of downtown. Its all about shopping though, how best to curate an environment that draws in shoppers. But malls are also designed for sociability and community - that common, privately managed space to convene and converse and of course shop.
I didn't grow up within a mall culture and was too busy working to shop but I remember the pull that suburban malls had on others and am curious as to what these folks remember. Lange describes the exhilaration of opening day, the style and intent of specific malls and contrasts that with the malls' present state. Some malls were poorly planned and later demolished. Some were cannibalized by later shopping centers, just as the mall cannibalized the downtown. Some were re-visioned and reborn as another entity entirely. Some, just a few, live on.
So, last week I visited a number of malls. I walked an enclosed mall with four anchors, a youth oriented wing, food court, higher and lower end merchandise and trendy pop ups along the center way. There were other walkers, people sitting in comfortable chairs or gathering under the skylights. Walkers peeked in the windows as they passed, but the stores were empty of shoppers, inhabited only by a clerk intent on their cell phone. Kids rode mechanicals, virtual reality pods and trampolines. I saw only national brands, no local goods. It all felt safe, protected and warm in the winter weather. Huge parking lots with really not too many cars circled the buildings which had few exterior designs and the property itself isolated by highways.
Not half a mile away is a new shopping complex that is a village of separate stores placed at angles and odds ends connected with sidewalks and curved roads. Parking areas were broken into smaller sections and adjacent to the stores with hardly an open space to be found. All national brands crowded with people, a grocery, glasses, clinic, pet food, hard ware, restaurants and nearby within walking distance, a new apartment complex is almost complete.
And then, maybe 3 miles away, I walked through an older shopping center now an open air, u-shaped complex with theater, a cinema, offices, restaurants, wine bars. The news reports that a Japanese dollar store will be opening soon. That mall was once anchored by Sears and languished for a time but has found vigorous new life by creating community, offering services and diverse experiences. A dense, apartment and multi-family residential district is nearby.
I wondered what the future would hold for these three models and which would persist.
Lange writes too pedestrian malls, streets closed to traffic - why some are successful and some not. I think of Eugene, Oregon where a pedestrian mall stalled development and became a dumping ground until the streets were opened again for traffic and a nearby transit center refreshed. The area is crowded with restaurants and services now. I think of the 16th Street Promenade in downtown Denver with its empty store fronts, unkempt streets and wonder at the wisdom of this pedestrian mall which opened with such promise.
And most of all I wonder at Hudson Yards and the marvel and contrariness of Jose Andres' Mercado Little Spain quick stop so easily accessible at the ground level when luxury draws shoppers to the top. I wonder at American Dream on the Jersey Meadowlands, which opened in 2019 just months before covid lock down. How did these survive those dead years? In an online economy, will these malls be a community center or will they be laser focused on shopping? How will these malls reflect their nearest, most natural demographic and their needs?
Lange's work is ultimately a promise though. That these massive structures, formed for community and commerce, are too centrally located with space and material too valuable to waste. Just like Main Street, she sees that flexibility, vision, accommodation and continual re-invention is the future of the mall. The mall is not dead, at least not all of them, but they're changing. Meet Me by the Fountain was a very good read.
Postscript: Severance by Ling Ma
I didn't grow up within a mall culture and was too busy working to shop but I remember the pull that suburban malls had on others and am curious as to what these folks remember. Lange describes the exhilaration of opening day, the style and intent of specific malls and contrasts that with the malls' present state. Some malls were poorly planned and later demolished. Some were cannibalized by later shopping centers, just as the mall cannibalized the downtown. Some were re-visioned and reborn as another entity entirely. Some, just a few, live on.
So, last week I visited a number of malls. I walked an enclosed mall with four anchors, a youth oriented wing, food court, higher and lower end merchandise and trendy pop ups along the center way. There were other walkers, people sitting in comfortable chairs or gathering under the skylights. Walkers peeked in the windows as they passed, but the stores were empty of shoppers, inhabited only by a clerk intent on their cell phone. Kids rode mechanicals, virtual reality pods and trampolines. I saw only national brands, no local goods. It all felt safe, protected and warm in the winter weather. Huge parking lots with really not too many cars circled the buildings which had few exterior designs and the property itself isolated by highways.
Not half a mile away is a new shopping complex that is a village of separate stores placed at angles and odds ends connected with sidewalks and curved roads. Parking areas were broken into smaller sections and adjacent to the stores with hardly an open space to be found. All national brands crowded with people, a grocery, glasses, clinic, pet food, hard ware, restaurants and nearby within walking distance, a new apartment complex is almost complete.
And then, maybe 3 miles away, I walked through an older shopping center now an open air, u-shaped complex with theater, a cinema, offices, restaurants, wine bars. The news reports that a Japanese dollar store will be opening soon. That mall was once anchored by Sears and languished for a time but has found vigorous new life by creating community, offering services and diverse experiences. A dense, apartment and multi-family residential district is nearby.
I wondered what the future would hold for these three models and which would persist.
Lange writes too pedestrian malls, streets closed to traffic - why some are successful and some not. I think of Eugene, Oregon where a pedestrian mall stalled development and became a dumping ground until the streets were opened again for traffic and a nearby transit center refreshed. The area is crowded with restaurants and services now. I think of the 16th Street Promenade in downtown Denver with its empty store fronts, unkempt streets and wonder at the wisdom of this pedestrian mall which opened with such promise.
And most of all I wonder at Hudson Yards and the marvel and contrariness of Jose Andres' Mercado Little Spain quick stop so easily accessible at the ground level when luxury draws shoppers to the top. I wonder at American Dream on the Jersey Meadowlands, which opened in 2019 just months before covid lock down. How did these survive those dead years? In an online economy, will these malls be a community center or will they be laser focused on shopping? How will these malls reflect their nearest, most natural demographic and their needs?
Lange's work is ultimately a promise though. That these massive structures, formed for community and commerce, are too centrally located with space and material too valuable to waste. Just like Main Street, she sees that flexibility, vision, accommodation and continual re-invention is the future of the mall. The mall is not dead, at least not all of them, but they're changing. Meet Me by the Fountain was a very good read.
Postscript: Severance by Ling Ma
January 13, 2023
This was waaaaaay drier than I anticipated and I am pretty much the prime audience for this type of material. As an 80s baby from the suburbs of a large city, I spent my youth shopping at the mall with my mom. Remember Joslins at Westminster Mall? That is where we went exclusively for back-to-school shopping trips until I graduated to something like Banana Republic. And as a teenager, I spent my hard earned first job dollars at Sam Goody where I bought George Michael swag and Prince CDs. I got my white satin pumps died electric blue at the tux rental shop to perfectly match my electric blue formal for the 9th grade dance (I went with Cliff S, LMK if you want to see pictures). We also used to cruise the parking lot in Lauren J's car looking for boys and blasting Dream On by Aerosmith. My brother worked at the movie theater in the mall and we used to prank call the pay phones outside the theater too.
Anyway, I was totally ready to read about the history of the mall but really I just wanted to hear about stories of people going to THEIR mall. The architectural theory and zoning issues and property transfers ended up being kind of boring. The last third was a bit more interesting with how malls are surviving or not, and some interesting info about malls in other countries.
I would have a hard time suggesting this to many readers. Other reviews also mention that it picks up as it goes, which was helpful because other than that I would have not finished.
What is your mall story?
Anyway, I was totally ready to read about the history of the mall but really I just wanted to hear about stories of people going to THEIR mall. The architectural theory and zoning issues and property transfers ended up being kind of boring. The last third was a bit more interesting with how malls are surviving or not, and some interesting info about malls in other countries.
I would have a hard time suggesting this to many readers. Other reviews also mention that it picks up as it goes, which was helpful because other than that I would have not finished.
What is your mall story?
September 12, 2022
Gets off to a brutally slow start, especially if you're expecting more of a sociological POV than an architectural one, but eventually takes a more general focus. I can't really point to anything that I think Lange is doing wrong here, but this felt weirdly incomplete to me.
Read
July 15, 2022I was hoping for more culture vs city planning
September 7, 2022
As a person who grew up in the 80s and 90s, the mall was a large part of my young life, and I have many fond memories of various malls from the Copper Country Mall in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Market Square Mall and Gwinnett Place Mall (as seen in Stranger Things) in Atlanta, GA to Eastland Mall, City Center Mall, and Easton Town Center in Columbus, OH to the Old Capital Mall and Coralville Mall in Iowa City to the Galleria in St. Louis. This book made me think of them all and the role they have had in my life, especially the ones that are gone or struggling along.
I expected an anti-mall, get back to real community through-line, but the author seems to see a future where malls become the idealized thing they were ostensibly supposed to be from the start: community centers that suburbs are largely missing. That would be cool because I still enjoy going to malls and looking around at stuff, which is weird I guess but nostalgia is a powerful drug. So if you have enjoyed malls or are interested in mall culture, give this book a spin! The narrator does a solid job on the audiobook if you enjoy reading that way.
I expected an anti-mall, get back to real community through-line, but the author seems to see a future where malls become the idealized thing they were ostensibly supposed to be from the start: community centers that suburbs are largely missing. That would be cool because I still enjoy going to malls and looking around at stuff, which is weird I guess but nostalgia is a powerful drug. So if you have enjoyed malls or are interested in mall culture, give this book a spin! The narrator does a solid job on the audiobook if you enjoy reading that way.
February 13, 2023
This book felt like it was in two parts. The first part is fairly dry academic history of the shopping mall that wouldn't be out of place in a professional journal. Names, dates, and places are listed with all the excitement and narrative of a grocery list, and architectural terms are used without definition, so if you aren't already a bit knowledgeable about the vocabulary expect to pull out your dictionary (here's a freebie; if you don't know what clerestory windows are, look them up early, because they're referenced a dozen times).
The second part of the book is where the author delves into the cultural and sociological significance of the mall, and I found it to be a disjointed mess. The author has apparently never met a blind alley she couldn't follow, leading to a long digression about the significance of the mall in 'The Breakfast Club,' (a film which takes place entirely in a high school), the importance of home video games during the covid-19 pandemic, and the emergence of "mallwave" music, which appears to be 1980s music played with filters to make it sound like it's playing in an empty mall...truly the peak of artistic endeavor. Some of these sections quote from YouTube video comments, which seems a far remove from the academic prose elsewhere in the book.
In short, the prose style is never entirely comfortable, and the density of information felt a bit too low for me to recommend pushing through it even if this is a topic in which you're interested.
The second part of the book is where the author delves into the cultural and sociological significance of the mall, and I found it to be a disjointed mess. The author has apparently never met a blind alley she couldn't follow, leading to a long digression about the significance of the mall in 'The Breakfast Club,' (a film which takes place entirely in a high school), the importance of home video games during the covid-19 pandemic, and the emergence of "mallwave" music, which appears to be 1980s music played with filters to make it sound like it's playing in an empty mall...truly the peak of artistic endeavor. Some of these sections quote from YouTube video comments, which seems a far remove from the academic prose elsewhere in the book.
In short, the prose style is never entirely comfortable, and the density of information felt a bit too low for me to recommend pushing through it even if this is a topic in which you're interested.
June 18, 2022
This is very well-written and thoroughly researched. I learned a lot about how the concept of malls came to be, how they developed and evolved, and how they both reflected and shaped societal issues and fault lines. I had never really considered how the advent of retail shopping supported first and second wave feminism. I hadn't thought about how retail was one of the first adopters of a lot of engineering developments like air conditioning, elevators, and even electricity itself. I had no idea of the staggering retail square footage/citizen that exists in America and how bloated it is compared to the rest of the world!
This was interesting reading and I'm glad to have learned these things, but I really wanted a nostalgia-trip coffee table book. I was hoping for lots of pictures and a fun revisit to my youth of hanging around the local mall for hours on end with only a few dollars (what on earth did we actually DO???). This touches on that, of course, but it's really not the main focus. That doesn't diminish what it is, but readers should go in knowing what to expect.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
This was interesting reading and I'm glad to have learned these things, but I really wanted a nostalgia-trip coffee table book. I was hoping for lots of pictures and a fun revisit to my youth of hanging around the local mall for hours on end with only a few dollars (what on earth did we actually DO???). This touches on that, of course, but it's really not the main focus. That doesn't diminish what it is, but readers should go in knowing what to expect.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
August 20, 2022
I had read Lange's book on the design of childhood and thought I'd fall head of heels for a topic like the mall- when mall scenes from Stranger Things echo in my head and my own days in the mall and knowing what they are/aren't today including a visit last summer (for the second time but this time with kids) to the Mall of America.
However, there was nothing that kept my interest-- 1) there was no overarching theme or statement Lange was making that I could understand to center the story, 2) the name dropping and more general history wasn't written in a way that appealed to me whether conjuring images of my own mall days or that it was important to really know who these people were that thought up the concept of a mall, 3) and the writing couldn't keep me there either. I felt disorganized reading it and therefore disengaged.
However, there was nothing that kept my interest-- 1) there was no overarching theme or statement Lange was making that I could understand to center the story, 2) the name dropping and more general history wasn't written in a way that appealed to me whether conjuring images of my own mall days or that it was important to really know who these people were that thought up the concept of a mall, 3) and the writing couldn't keep me there either. I felt disorganized reading it and therefore disengaged.
January 6, 2024
I listened to this on double speed because I knew if I didn't get through it quickly, I would have a hard time staying invested. It really would probably be better in hardcopy so that the reader could see pictures that I assume are in there of the different malls being discussed. I did start to become interested in this in the latter half. It was a hard slog through the history of seemingly every mall that was ever erected in America for awhile, but then several things were brought up:
A) RAY FRICKIN BRADBURY kinda designed malls because he was an excellent world builder because he was a sci fi writer, and he wrote something about it, and a mall architect USED HIS IDEAS. That's pretty cool.
B) MY 2ND COUSIN was cited! Multiple times!! Here's a fun fact while I have an audience: Dr. Bernard J Frieden, who was a Ford Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, is my father's cousin. My dad (who is also a Professor Emeritus) is also named Bernard, but he always felt burned (or berned?) by the fact that his parents had essentially named him after a child who was only six years old when he (my dad) was born. It's actually a big no-no in the Jewish faith to name your child after someone who is alive. So my dad has always gone by his middle name, Roy. BUT! He always puts, "B. Roy Frieden" on everything he does professionally, SO, he started getting junk mail addressed to "Broy" Frieden. And THEN, he started getting junk mail addressed to "Bro" Frieden. And THEN, he got mail from some Jesuit Priests who thought he was also a Brother. So there you go. Anyway, it was really cool and unexpected to hear my relative's name cited in this book. Neat!
C) I have always felt that malls aren't that bad, actually. Like, I get that they take up a ton of space and they're full of generic "keeping up with the Joneses" type nonsense, but they don't have to be like that. I have often argued that local businesses should be more of a focus in malls. I also see value in a place you don't have to pay to get into, and which is air conditioned (or heated, if you don't happen to live in the American Southwest), has good lighting, gathering spaces (food courts, bench and seating areas, fountains,), and long, walkable spaces. This book agrees with me. It brings up how a mall can be a safe place for youths to hang after school, for unhoused individuals to get shelter, water, and restroom use, and for people to be able to walk safely for exercise. It also brings up what I've seen happening at two malls near me: local businesses ARE starting to move in. The Tucson Mall has multiple games stores and one of them has a hidden Tolkienien/DND-esque pub/games room. Both the Tucson Mall and Park Place are now home to local theater. The Foothills Mall is getting even more community-friendly, because it is revamping into housing to go along with its standby movie theater (which has been renovated recently and now has the comfy seats), and more local businesses and services will also become a part of it.
While being a mall rat in the 90s was some part of my identity as a tween and teen, I'm happy to see the direction malls are going. I agree with this book: they're not decaying into slummy ruins. At least, not all of them. I think we should keep them, but make them better, and so does this author. While I had a hard time slogging through some of this book, it ended up being more valuable to my personal knowledge and understanding of city life than I expected.
A) RAY FRICKIN BRADBURY kinda designed malls because he was an excellent world builder because he was a sci fi writer, and he wrote something about it, and a mall architect USED HIS IDEAS. That's pretty cool.
B) MY 2ND COUSIN was cited! Multiple times!! Here's a fun fact while I have an audience: Dr. Bernard J Frieden, who was a Ford Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, is my father's cousin. My dad (who is also a Professor Emeritus) is also named Bernard, but he always felt burned (or berned?) by the fact that his parents had essentially named him after a child who was only six years old when he (my dad) was born. It's actually a big no-no in the Jewish faith to name your child after someone who is alive. So my dad has always gone by his middle name, Roy. BUT! He always puts, "B. Roy Frieden" on everything he does professionally, SO, he started getting junk mail addressed to "Broy" Frieden. And THEN, he started getting junk mail addressed to "Bro" Frieden. And THEN, he got mail from some Jesuit Priests who thought he was also a Brother. So there you go. Anyway, it was really cool and unexpected to hear my relative's name cited in this book. Neat!
C) I have always felt that malls aren't that bad, actually. Like, I get that they take up a ton of space and they're full of generic "keeping up with the Joneses" type nonsense, but they don't have to be like that. I have often argued that local businesses should be more of a focus in malls. I also see value in a place you don't have to pay to get into, and which is air conditioned (or heated, if you don't happen to live in the American Southwest), has good lighting, gathering spaces (food courts, bench and seating areas, fountains,), and long, walkable spaces. This book agrees with me. It brings up how a mall can be a safe place for youths to hang after school, for unhoused individuals to get shelter, water, and restroom use, and for people to be able to walk safely for exercise. It also brings up what I've seen happening at two malls near me: local businesses ARE starting to move in. The Tucson Mall has multiple games stores and one of them has a hidden Tolkienien/DND-esque pub/games room. Both the Tucson Mall and Park Place are now home to local theater. The Foothills Mall is getting even more community-friendly, because it is revamping into housing to go along with its standby movie theater (which has been renovated recently and now has the comfy seats), and more local businesses and services will also become a part of it.
While being a mall rat in the 90s was some part of my identity as a tween and teen, I'm happy to see the direction malls are going. I agree with this book: they're not decaying into slummy ruins. At least, not all of them. I think we should keep them, but make them better, and so does this author. While I had a hard time slogging through some of this book, it ended up being more valuable to my personal knowledge and understanding of city life than I expected.
November 14, 2023
Lange’s monograph offered an interesting and compelling exploration of the rise, fall, and possible rebirths of the American mall. The historical portions were truly fascinating, providing readers a new perspective on an aspect of routine commerce we may take for granted—or even dismiss entirely.
However, I found the author’s discussions of re-use slightly lacking. While she thoroughly examined current adaptations of the space (education, ethnic enclaves, wetland conservation, etc.), I would actually have preferred more speculation.
While it’s interesting to see how developers pivoting towards new models, it would have been nice have a more extensive discussion of potential futures that didn’t center private ownership and commerce—particularly because the first half of the book waxes so nostalgically for the mall’s use as a public space for the women, children, the elderly, and minorities.
Finally, I think Lange’s picture of post-COVID commerce misses the larger damage the pandemic has done to individual psyche, social cohesion, and community health—why should children who only have memories of curbside pickup want to wander the mall? Is pushing immunocompromised elderly and disabled individuals into enclosed private spaces for socialization and exercise really a good idea? And can nostalgia and “experiences” aimed at a shrinking swath of Americans really keep open massive malls?
However, I found the author’s discussions of re-use slightly lacking. While she thoroughly examined current adaptations of the space (education, ethnic enclaves, wetland conservation, etc.), I would actually have preferred more speculation.
While it’s interesting to see how developers pivoting towards new models, it would have been nice have a more extensive discussion of potential futures that didn’t center private ownership and commerce—particularly because the first half of the book waxes so nostalgically for the mall’s use as a public space for the women, children, the elderly, and minorities.
Finally, I think Lange’s picture of post-COVID commerce misses the larger damage the pandemic has done to individual psyche, social cohesion, and community health—why should children who only have memories of curbside pickup want to wander the mall? Is pushing immunocompromised elderly and disabled individuals into enclosed private spaces for socialization and exercise really a good idea? And can nostalgia and “experiences” aimed at a shrinking swath of Americans really keep open massive malls?
July 25, 2022
Pretty interesting book, with a right (for me) nostalgia/sentimental level.
As an immigrant coming to the US in 2000s, one of the very first things I noticed is the ubiquitous malls, department stores, and, perpetual sales -- It quickly felt "too much", "over", "tiring" and I sort of turned against the consumerism fairly quickly. Yet this book presented malls in a different perspective, the one I thought about rarely but actually lived through -- as a community, a place for social gathering and safe wandering. Yes indeed, I have some nice memories of strolling in malls, a movie, a meal, day-dreaming in chairs, lazily looking at fountains under the hypnotic California sun. I was also amazed the first time I saw the fake sky in a Las Vegas mall. I also have fond memories of wandering around markets back in China (and realized why I like farmers' market so much more -- just not the price! :))
Another angle I really like is about design. How the architects designed malls, intending to have it not only as a place just to sell stuff, but also an "experience", a place to gather, to social, to hang out. How the design both wants to have people linger a little longer, but at the same time not getting too comfortable to shop more. And zooming out, how the design, construction (and demolishment) of a giant mall would affect the residence nearby. Whom do they serve? Is it purely private land? Can people protest there? These discussions are very interesting and each obviously is a huge topic by its own.
The mall, or retail space, or whatever you want to call it, is ever evolving, just like our life and time. I think I'd be more attentive when visiting a mall in future -- what's its design? What are the aesthetic components? foodie? entertainment places? How do I feel when I stroll around it? What does it indicate of the surrounding community?
As an immigrant coming to the US in 2000s, one of the very first things I noticed is the ubiquitous malls, department stores, and, perpetual sales -- It quickly felt "too much", "over", "tiring" and I sort of turned against the consumerism fairly quickly. Yet this book presented malls in a different perspective, the one I thought about rarely but actually lived through -- as a community, a place for social gathering and safe wandering. Yes indeed, I have some nice memories of strolling in malls, a movie, a meal, day-dreaming in chairs, lazily looking at fountains under the hypnotic California sun. I was also amazed the first time I saw the fake sky in a Las Vegas mall. I also have fond memories of wandering around markets back in China (and realized why I like farmers' market so much more -- just not the price! :))
Another angle I really like is about design. How the architects designed malls, intending to have it not only as a place just to sell stuff, but also an "experience", a place to gather, to social, to hang out. How the design both wants to have people linger a little longer, but at the same time not getting too comfortable to shop more. And zooming out, how the design, construction (and demolishment) of a giant mall would affect the residence nearby. Whom do they serve? Is it purely private land? Can people protest there? These discussions are very interesting and each obviously is a huge topic by its own.
The mall, or retail space, or whatever you want to call it, is ever evolving, just like our life and time. I think I'd be more attentive when visiting a mall in future -- what's its design? What are the aesthetic components? foodie? entertainment places? How do I feel when I stroll around it? What does it indicate of the surrounding community?
October 21, 2022
I don't think I'm alone when, quarantining in the early part of the pandemic led me into YouTube rabbit holes. For me, that was the wonderland of dead malls. I had to read what I could about malls. Lange's book explores the early history of these structures and the architects, developers, and cultural minds behind them. The first half was a but slow--it's a meticulous history. However, the second half was my favorite. Lange delves into the cultural and sociological aspects of malls, references to comics, film, music. I guess the nostalgia got me. I really enjoyed it.
October 24, 2022
This is an excellent book, with a tone I'd call light-academic. There's extensive sources & references listed (a number of which I plan on following up with), blended well with occasional personal reflections. The author grew up where I now live, and it was a very strange moment to have the introduction be specifically about her experience with Durham's malls.
If you have any interest in American designed places, this is a book for you.
If you have any interest in American designed places, this is a book for you.
January 13, 2023
Oh the nostalgia. Love, love, love unique histories full of information, photos, personal story memories/narratives, the who-what-when-where-why-how of culture and differences around the world or even generation to generation. This title is newer and even has chapters post Covid-19 pandemic and the hopeful future for "malling".
August 14, 2023
I don't know what it says about me that I have been to an embarrassingly large number of malls mentioned in this book.
October 1, 2023
Incredibly disappointing.
I was so looking forward to this book, what with being a huge nerd for U.S. history, architecture, public planning, and malls. But there is no way around it: this is not a good book.
There's an introduction that's mildly interesting, where the author relates their own history with malls, and sticks a toe into Mall As Public Shared Space theory (yes, here for it), but then we immediately dive into a history of the mall in America. That should have been fine. That should have been interesting. Instead, we get long examinations of the lives of the architects who built the malls: where they were born, where they grew up, who they married, how they structured their businesses, what kind of art they liked to collect, their nicknames, and what their children wore to the grand openings of what they somehow, in their spare time I guess, created:
It's awful.
And I think the worst part is that Lange genuinely tried.
She touches on how racism affected public zoning for malls, parking lots, and suburban housing, which is excellent because we need to talk about this more. She touches on how racism affected how non-white teens were disproportionately targeted for "anti-social" behavior in malls, which I've never seen discussed elsewhere. She even touches on how malls were one of the last great spaces in which Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations were prioritized, so they became (largely) accessible spaces. Fabulous! We need much more of that discussion!
But these are like, five pages total in 266 pages of content. And just when you get interested, Lange whipsaws back to the world of architects and public holdings:
Friends, that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "drama".
Andreea Cutieru, writing for Architecture Daily, has stated that "Architecture critics are first and foremost great writers who manage to aptly convey their informed points of view to the general public, weaving together expert knowledge with a sharp understanding of the socio-economic and political context, adding, humour and sometimes drama to the mix." (1)
And what I came to realize around the 100-page mark is that while Lange is informed, and does have expert knowledge, she adds no humor or drama (as we saw above) to the mix. And fundamentally, she is not a great writer.
There are too few descriptions of the architecture of the malls themselves in this book. But when they do appear, they aren't vivid or compelling.
And that's a problem, because malls are fundamentally heaps of vivid and compelling architectural features: skylights, elevators, atriums, food courts, weird slopes and tiled half-walls. And of course, fountains.
Girl, what?
First of all, I do not care what the architect's nickname was or whether or not he shaved. But more importantly, I read that description of the fountain and I don't feel like I get a clear image of what is being described. For instance, what color is the concrete painted since the wood's been painted to match it? What material are the bridges made of? Can people actually cross over the pool?
And I had to go look up "clerestory", and frankly I can't tell if this was a skylight situation, or kind of a cupola with windows, and I have no idea why you'd need the wooden slats. Is it a lot of sunlight? Are we facing south? What is going on up there?
Now, there are two actually good things about this book.
One is that there are six pages towards the very end that deal with a genre of music called "mallsoft", and they are inexplicably excellent. I actually both listen to and read about mallsoft, and Lange nails the concept: that mallsoft is a genre that attempts to recreate the sound of music played in these vast enclosed tile-and-glass spaces, along with the emotions of listening to it in that space.
The pages are well-sourced and interesting, and I found new things to listen to.
The other good thing about the book is that it is extensively well-sourced. The resources are included as notes for the text rather than a bibliography (publishers, knock this off), but Lange brings those resources into the text a lot. I'd also go so far as to say that Lange is more vivid and compelling when writing about other people's sources than about malls themselves. The writing becomes less formal, and more personal and joyful:
This is not enough to make a decent book.
I'm so disappointed. Of course I spent quality time at many malls as a teen, and to this day I can barely talk about my love for Ghirardelli Square (yes it's a mall, it's just an open-air one) because my feelings about it live somewhere around the base of my spine. As an architecture nerd, I love thinking about weird mall things, possibly too much.
I have my own list of lovely mall criticism and art pieces, but please share your own with me. While I might not be able to meet you by this particular fountain, one of the particular joys of malls is that they are nearly everywhere. Hopefully this holds true for the art about them.
(1) https://www.archdaily.com/976654/arch...
I was so looking forward to this book, what with being a huge nerd for U.S. history, architecture, public planning, and malls. But there is no way around it: this is not a good book.
There's an introduction that's mildly interesting, where the author relates their own history with malls, and sticks a toe into Mall As Public Shared Space theory (yes, here for it), but then we immediately dive into a history of the mall in America. That should have been fine. That should have been interesting. Instead, we get long examinations of the lives of the architects who built the malls: where they were born, where they grew up, who they married, how they structured their businesses, what kind of art they liked to collect, their nicknames, and what their children wore to the grand openings of what they somehow, in their spare time I guess, created:
On opening day, all three Nasher daughters were outfitted in matching blue A-line sleeveless dresses with green trim, matching pendant necklaces with the NorthPark bug symbol in white on green looped around their necks. They cut the ribbon, arranged in a row with their parents.Sorry, what? Is there a mall in there somewhere?
It's awful.
And I think the worst part is that Lange genuinely tried.
She touches on how racism affected public zoning for malls, parking lots, and suburban housing, which is excellent because we need to talk about this more. She touches on how racism affected how non-white teens were disproportionately targeted for "anti-social" behavior in malls, which I've never seen discussed elsewhere. She even touches on how malls were one of the last great spaces in which Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations were prioritized, so they became (largely) accessible spaces. Fabulous! We need much more of that discussion!
But these are like, five pages total in 266 pages of content. And just when you get interested, Lange whipsaws back to the world of architects and public holdings:
Owing Mills' story reflects all the economic drama that was mall ownership in the 1990s and 2000s -- a series of mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs that moved properties around financially but did little to service them physically. Though built as a Rouse property, by the time it was torn down and transformed into Mill Station, it was owned by Kimco Realty Corporation, which went public in 19911 and specializes in open-air shopping centers. Between the mall's 1986 opening and Kimco's 2016 acquisition, Rouse in 1996 purchased the Howard Hughes Corporation, which owned a number of resorts and planned communities, and was then itself acquired by larger mall owner and developer General Growth Properties in 2004.
Friends, that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "drama".
Andreea Cutieru, writing for Architecture Daily, has stated that "Architecture critics are first and foremost great writers who manage to aptly convey their informed points of view to the general public, weaving together expert knowledge with a sharp understanding of the socio-economic and political context, adding, humour and sometimes drama to the mix." (1)
And what I came to realize around the 100-page mark is that while Lange is informed, and does have expert knowledge, she adds no humor or drama (as we saw above) to the mix. And fundamentally, she is not a great writer.
There are too few descriptions of the architecture of the malls themselves in this book. But when they do appear, they aren't vivid or compelling.
And that's a problem, because malls are fundamentally heaps of vivid and compelling architectural features: skylights, elevators, atriums, food courts, weird slopes and tiled half-walls. And of course, fountains.
Outside Neiman Marcus, a series of square mountains rise from the floor, faced in the same taupe glazed tile that runs around the edge of NorthPark's long halls. A shallow pond, lined with blue tile, sinks below the concrete surface of the floor, with tiny flat bridges crisscrossing the water. Daylight filters down through a clerestory, with direct sunlight blocked by a series of thin wooden slats, painted to match the concrete. Wide benches of wooden slats frame the fountain... The fountain was designed by landscape architects Lawrence Halprin and Richard Vignolo, called "Viggy" by the NorthPark team. Halprin himself was a bearded Northern California type who created dramatic and pedestrian-friendly parks for downtown Portland, Oregon... He's easy to pick out in photographs of the NorthPark design team since he's the only one without a suit and a clean shave.
Girl, what?
First of all, I do not care what the architect's nickname was or whether or not he shaved. But more importantly, I read that description of the fountain and I don't feel like I get a clear image of what is being described. For instance, what color is the concrete painted since the wood's been painted to match it? What material are the bridges made of? Can people actually cross over the pool?
And I had to go look up "clerestory", and frankly I can't tell if this was a skylight situation, or kind of a cupola with windows, and I have no idea why you'd need the wooden slats. Is it a lot of sunlight? Are we facing south? What is going on up there?
Now, there are two actually good things about this book.
One is that there are six pages towards the very end that deal with a genre of music called "mallsoft", and they are inexplicably excellent. I actually both listen to and read about mallsoft, and Lange nails the concept: that mallsoft is a genre that attempts to recreate the sound of music played in these vast enclosed tile-and-glass spaces, along with the emotions of listening to it in that space.
The pages are well-sourced and interesting, and I found new things to listen to.
The other good thing about the book is that it is extensively well-sourced. The resources are included as notes for the text rather than a bibliography (publishers, knock this off), but Lange brings those resources into the text a lot. I'd also go so far as to say that Lange is more vivid and compelling when writing about other people's sources than about malls themselves. The writing becomes less formal, and more personal and joyful:
I counted eight entries in Interboro's Arsenal specifically designed to target teens: "Age-Segregated Communities" which are allowed to block residents under the age of eighteen under the Fair Housing Act; "Classical Music" and "Ultrasonic Noise" are two different aural barriers used to shoo teens away from convenience stores and public seating areas -- the first by boring them to death, the second by producing a mosquito-like buzzing that only younger ears can hear. (Teen pop at the mall, with this context, begins to sound like a song of freedom rather than pablum packaged for mass consumption).
This is not enough to make a decent book.
I'm so disappointed. Of course I spent quality time at many malls as a teen, and to this day I can barely talk about my love for Ghirardelli Square (yes it's a mall, it's just an open-air one) because my feelings about it live somewhere around the base of my spine. As an architecture nerd, I love thinking about weird mall things, possibly too much.
I have my own list of lovely mall criticism and art pieces, but please share your own with me. While I might not be able to meet you by this particular fountain, one of the particular joys of malls is that they are nearly everywhere. Hopefully this holds true for the art about them.
(1) https://www.archdaily.com/976654/arch...
December 8, 2022
this is a really good start. you can see why so many scholars/critics abandon malls when you read the early mall history chapters; no amount of Ray Bradbury quipping can make analyzing the role gruen and co. played on the development of How The Mall Looks any less unendurable for your average mall-loving reader.
but if you skip through the vegetables and get right to dessert, the social history bits are fun. Lange, as an architecture critic and not a historian, has pretty compelling takes on malls in pop culture, malls online (namely why the Dead Malls meme feels so unacceptably wistful and bland for those of us who still occasionally shop at malls, living or otherwise), and malls as public space. most academics struggle through gruen and the Crystal Palace and find themselves totally wiped out by the time they get to discussing, for instance, the mini-satanic panic that hit arcades
Lange's assertion that the future of any interesting developments in the physical shopping landscape lies outside the US, the mall's ancestral homeland, is correct. her examples of those developments fall a bit flat. it's hilarious to read gen-Xers wax poetic about the gleaming white facades and fountains and crystalline storefronts of peak american mall then be like "but now it's really cool in, like, fuckin.... Korea! like the whole place is like a mall!" or nearly break down in tears over the transgenerational spirit of a Cinnabon then be like, "maybe someday the Taiwanese will open up a boba joint here... and call forth the visage of the Orange Julius of my youth..." i think there's a better way for commentators to talk about the mall's global future with less bluster and less worming around the fact that they're just describing flea/farmers markets, but i'm not sure what it is. again, great start
but if you skip through the vegetables and get right to dessert, the social history bits are fun. Lange, as an architecture critic and not a historian, has pretty compelling takes on malls in pop culture, malls online (namely why the Dead Malls meme feels so unacceptably wistful and bland for those of us who still occasionally shop at malls, living or otherwise), and malls as public space. most academics struggle through gruen and the Crystal Palace and find themselves totally wiped out by the time they get to discussing, for instance, the mini-satanic panic that hit arcades
Lange's assertion that the future of any interesting developments in the physical shopping landscape lies outside the US, the mall's ancestral homeland, is correct. her examples of those developments fall a bit flat. it's hilarious to read gen-Xers wax poetic about the gleaming white facades and fountains and crystalline storefronts of peak american mall then be like "but now it's really cool in, like, fuckin.... Korea! like the whole place is like a mall!" or nearly break down in tears over the transgenerational spirit of a Cinnabon then be like, "maybe someday the Taiwanese will open up a boba joint here... and call forth the visage of the Orange Julius of my youth..." i think there's a better way for commentators to talk about the mall's global future with less bluster and less worming around the fact that they're just describing flea/farmers markets, but i'm not sure what it is. again, great start
December 7, 2022
Started well, but I got a little weary nearer the end. As usual, I'm thrown by less-than-accurate titles. An "Inside" history suggests someone has some insider knowledge, maybe they managed America's largest mall development team, I don't know. But I think it's just a joke, since so many malls are enclosed ... so it's an inside history, instead of an outside history. Oh dear.
I enjoyed the accounts of how malls were conceived originally (i.e. in the States), and grew, and spread, and changed, and suffered, etc. I was less keen on the chapter about Zombie movies set in a mall (it seems very out of place and unnecessary), and felt the chapter about malls elsewhere should have contained more information and been introduced earlier. Malls elsewhere, of course, existed first, and are a lot more interesting than most of the malls that were extensively discussed. A book which spent more time on Milan's Galleria or Kyoto's Teramachi would have been catnip for me.
Interestingly (for me, at least!) most reviewers seem to have the opposite reaction from me. I really enjoyed the (apparently) dry architectural history, and rolled my eyes at the later attempts to get at "but what does the mall really mean in popular culture?" Definitely a case of different strokes for different folks ... or an argument that the world could use two more books, one which does more of what I want, and one which does more of what they want, rather than this betwixt-and-between book that serves two masters and pleases few.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
I enjoyed the accounts of how malls were conceived originally (i.e. in the States), and grew, and spread, and changed, and suffered, etc. I was less keen on the chapter about Zombie movies set in a mall (it seems very out of place and unnecessary), and felt the chapter about malls elsewhere should have contained more information and been introduced earlier. Malls elsewhere, of course, existed first, and are a lot more interesting than most of the malls that were extensively discussed. A book which spent more time on Milan's Galleria or Kyoto's Teramachi would have been catnip for me.
Interestingly (for me, at least!) most reviewers seem to have the opposite reaction from me. I really enjoyed the (apparently) dry architectural history, and rolled my eyes at the later attempts to get at "but what does the mall really mean in popular culture?" Definitely a case of different strokes for different folks ... or an argument that the world could use two more books, one which does more of what I want, and one which does more of what they want, rather than this betwixt-and-between book that serves two masters and pleases few.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
April 6, 2022
While this is truly an informative book at it's heart, the nostalgia is what drew me in.
As an 80s baby I spent a lot of my tween/teen years getting my first taste of independence at the mall.
This book shares how malls got started, unique architecture styles, how malls and race/cultures mixed (or didn't), the importance of them in the lives of youths, the impact of quarantines and online shopping, and even how they exist overseas.
This is a fun read for anyone who has a bit of an emotional attachment to the mall life.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy!
As an 80s baby I spent a lot of my tween/teen years getting my first taste of independence at the mall.
This book shares how malls got started, unique architecture styles, how malls and race/cultures mixed (or didn't), the importance of them in the lives of youths, the impact of quarantines and online shopping, and even how they exist overseas.
This is a fun read for anyone who has a bit of an emotional attachment to the mall life.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy!
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