Death Scenes from a Mall

City Center will be closed forever in a few days. It's just a mall so big deal right? Yeah well, I'm still sentimental over it. City Center was designed by the same firm that built The Beverly Center in Beverly Hills which is where the bulk of Scenes From A Mall was filmed. When you watch that movie you can get a idea of what the first place I bought underwear in Columbus was like. It was also the first place someone recognized me as the Black Witch from D's show. (I signed an autograph in front of Cricket West.) Kind of funny -- last weekend marked twelve years in Columbus for me and this place was booming back then. What a change a dozen years make.

Boundless and Bare.

Bazaar.

Sunglass Hut. My friend Carlos bought $100 Gucci sunglasses there the day after he declared bankruptcy. I think he was making a statement.

The Big O doesn't meet the Missing Piece, but he is hanging out with some wildly colorful shoes.

Transparency. I want to make hats out of these.

Jars and Glass Elevator

Not For Sale.

All In One Bag.

Discarded Christmas Trees.

Ecce Homo

Hanged.

Decline and Fall of the American Empire

Two Left Feet. Anyone know a one-legged rivet head?

Kick.

It's Not Just A Hat.

Mall Art.

Left Arm.

Leafy Bird.

Lockers Beneath the Skylight.

Eggs.

Legs.

Scott was here.

Statues with Drained Fountain.

Exit.

They'll be auctioning off all the store fixtures Friday so the vultures were there today scoping out the clothing racks, mannequins and shelves the workmen had piled into the walkways. The empty shopfronts were open too which lent an eerie feel to the atmosphere. Ghosts of Marshall Fields, Cinnabon and Victoria's Secret seemed to be swirling about whispering "Remember me and all the time we spent together? Wasn't that grand?" And for a shopping mall, it really was.

On March 5th, 2009 12:10 am (UTC),

livingindarknes commented:

I think the first thing that brought on the demise of city center mall was the gang shootings that happened there. When City Center mall opened, it was thought of as a rich person's mall. It would get packed in there when it first opened. It was the place to be back then just as Easton is the place to be now. I don't like Easton by the way, too many snooty closed minded people and teenagers for my taste. It seems that most malls in this town eventually end up abandoned and unwanted. They build something new and the snoots no longer want to go to the old mall so eventually the stores start to leave. It is sad, such a throw away society. The continent was the place to be when I was a young child, it looked like a little European city back then and I always looked forward to going there. I always dreamed of living in the European apartments above the stores when I was old enough but by that time it was already on its way to its demise. I think when it warms up I am going to start taking pics of Easton because I feel that eventually it will end up like city center so it would be cool to have before and after pics.

You should send the pics you took to deadmalls.com since city center is now considered dead. :(

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On March 5th, 2009 01:28 am (UTC),

msomega commented:

Tragic. When I was a kid it was a privilege to get to go to the fabulous city center mall instead of some shithole like westland, or snob hangout like newmarket. Well, newmarket mall is gone and westland is still a shithole. Maybe city center was looking to be in the wrong niche.

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On March 13th, 2009 02:22 am (UTC),

oldnich commented:

"Decline and Fall of the American Empire"
"Mall Art"
"Left Arm"
"Statues with Drained Fountain"

Should be framed and hanging in a cool industrial loft in New York! Really cool post.

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On April 22nd, 2009 08:14 pm (UTC),

kristenjarrod commented:

Thanks for showing these to me (I'm the person you contacted on Flickr). I love these photos.

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On May 4th, 2009 08:41 pm (UTC),

sk4p commented:

Just found this linked from deadmalls.com. I feel rather wistful now. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

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On November 2nd, 2009 04:55 am (UTC), (Anonymous) replied:

I also found this journal via deadmalls.com I was in Columbus (Ohio State) from '91-'96 and did the obligatory retail stint at City Center. I agree that the gang-related violence, regrettably, nailed the doors shut on this place. I later lived in NYC for several years and always chuckled when I passed Henri Bendel on the eastside, knowing corn-fed Ohioans enjoyed the same retail privilege! There was also a well-stocked model train store on the ground level near the south entrance that always seemed out of place. *sigh* memories of 9:00pm retail closings, a quick change into Doc Martens, then straight to the beery club scene...

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On November 22nd, 2009 12:42 am (UTC),

nicolaa5 replied:

Another visitor from deadmalls.com. I am Columbus born and bred but now live in Toronto. I remember how cool City Center was when it opened in '89--the stores we'd never seen in Columbus (remember the music box store? The Metropolitan Museum of Art store? Marshall Fields?), the crowds, the sense Columbus finally had a big-league mall. It was a little like Northland had been in the early 80s--THE mall to go to.

After I moved to Toronto for grad school in 1990, I often made a point of coming to the mall when I was home for a visit. But by the time I moved back to Columbus in '99, the mall was already showing signs of wear. I moved back to Toronto in 2003, and I think I made my last City Center visit just before Lazarus closed in 2004.

I hear they've started tearing it down. Since my parents passed away, my trips to Columbus have pretty much stopped. I expect I'll visit again someday and be amazed at what has changed.

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