Mall of Childhood

[kmikeym]

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[kmikeym]

non-dither

[kmikeym]

for scale, population of the city of my childhood was 4,689

[joni]

Three Rivers Mall — Kelso, WA (Pop.11, 819)

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[joni]

non-dithered

[yourfriendclaire]

non-dithered

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[DUCKULA]

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[joni]

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[jjstratford]

[joni]

Orange Julius
Kelso, WA

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[kmikeym]

Another mall pic from my childhood

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[jjstratford]

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[meadows]

Damn, I can't find many pictures of the Galleria in the 80s and 90s, but it was cool as shit. All small businesses, weird little cafes, etc.

[meadows]

Does anyone else remember Corno's?!

Also, this is pretty interesting https://www.oregonlive.com/window-shop/ ... _past.html

[infopetal]

[kmikeym]

someday i will own a mall and I will wave my fist in the face of good economic sense and insist on only small non-chain businesses and no matter what happens I will be happy

[yourfriendclaire]

The Galleria was my Mall of Teenhood! A friend of mine in middle school named her cat after a funky glassware store in the Galleria Mall—“Twist.” I thought that was unbearably sophisticated at the time.

[m o l l y]

someday i will own a mall and I will wave my fist in the face of good economic sense and insist on only small non-chain businesses and no matter what happens I will be happy

I will be happy too!

The Tucson Mall <3

[RCH]

[meadows]

these are all really beautiful

[yourfriendclaire]

Oh man the Caesar's Palace Mall?!

[alexshred420]

[mention]meadows[/mention] RIP Cornos!

Clackamas Town Center, mid-90s (yes that's Tonya):

[yourfriendclaire]

ICONIC

[RCH]

What's the deal with those amazing Santa Claus support beams?

The Caesars Forum shops opened when I was 10 and obsessed with fairy tales and mythology. The animatronic statues took a lot of artistic liberty, but the solid figures and other details were reasonably accurate. The sky in the whole mall was lit so that it would cycle through the colors of dawn-day-dusk over an hour or so. It was great for kids, like art history Disneyland.

I put a lot of hours in the now-decrepit NorthTowne mall in grade school and middle school years. I'd hit the $1 movie theater, spend some time looking at fine art jewelry in Claire's, and browse the wonders of science at the Nature Company. My friend's uncle owned a kiosk selling glass crystal objects and I wanted all the tiny wizard castles.

[yourfriendclaire]

What was the '90s mall store that had two doors, one adult-sized and one kid-sized?

[m o l l y]

Did KB toys have two doors?

My first 'real' job was working at Afterthoughts at Christmastime when I was 16. I used to listen to Casey's Top 40 as I drove to work at the Park Mall on Sunday morning. I stacked nail polish on the shelf and literally pierced infants' ears. One girl who was at the mall with her mother was allowed to have her ears pierced for her 12th birthday or something and chose the pearls(!). After I pierced her ears she stood up walked a yard or two and fell flat on her back like a falling tree and lay on the ground passed out with her eyes wide open while I called mall security.

Wait, IMAGINARIUM HAD THE TINY DOOR!

[joni]

[mention]meadows[/mention] CORNO'S! YEP. The family that owned it had a beach house in Seaside, Oregon that was next to my great-grandma's house. We thought they were fancy!

[mention]alexshred420[/mention] I spent A LOT of time at "CTC" aka Clackamas Town Center when I was a new teen living with my brother in a weird house on 82nd Ave. I learned how to drive down the street in the parking lot of the Cub Foods (now WinCo).

[meadows]

If I quiet my mind enough I can almost conjure the smell, sound, and particular lighting of Corno's

[m o l l y]

Did KB toys have two doors?

My first 'real' job was working at Afterthoughts at Christmastime when I was 16. I used to listen to Casey's Top 40 as I drove to work at the Park Mall on Sunday morning. I stacked nail polish on the shelf and literally pierced infants' ears. One girl who was at the mall with her mother was allowed to have her ears pierced for her 12th birthday or something and chose the pearls(!). After I pierced her ears she stood up walked a yard or two and fell flat on her back like a falling tree and lay on the ground passed out with her eyes wide open while I called mall security.

Wait, IMAGINARIUM HAD THE TINY DOOR!

If you worked at the Afterthoughts in the Park Mall in the 90's you worked your shift alone and could therefore never go to the bathroom. We were also never allowed to be caught sitting in a chair on the job, which meant if you had to pee really bad, you just crouched and sat on your heel in the middle of the floor.

Once, two 13 year olds came in and one girl had had her first period and the back of her white jeans were all bloody. They figured they'd come to Afterthoughts, because the big girls over there would help. Proud big girl moments in mall America. Broke EVERY rule for that girl.

[yourfriendclaire]

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[alexshred420]

[mention]joni[/mention] I learned how to drive stick in Costco parking lot near there. Like 95/96?

[marijke]

Couldn't find old Chico Mall pics, but in lieu here's the Tower Records from which I was banned at a tender age for shoplifting. And Jody, the beloved Tower Books manager.

[joni]

[mention]marijke[/mention] Was there another big record store in Chico? If not, I totally bought the Moog Cookbook, which if you don't know it is a novelty album of musak-ish versions of popular songs played on Moog. Check out this track list:

1. “Black Hole Sun” – originally by SOUNDGARDEN
2. “Buddy Holly” – originally by WEEZER
3. “Basket Case” – originally by GREEN DAY
4. “Come Out And Play” – originally by THE OFFSPRING
5. “Free Fallin’” – originally by TOM PETTY
6. “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” – originally by LENNY KRAVITZ
7. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – originally by NIRVANA
8. “Even Flow” – originally by PEARL JAM
9. “The One I Love” – originally by R.E.M.
10. “Rockin’ In The Free World” – originally by NEIL YOUNG

It's pretty stupid, but sounds pretty good right now.

[marijke]

It *was* 1997... I’m feeling this very Californian playlist.

[marijke]

[mention]joni[/mention] There were two other downtown record stores. The Underground was big and "funky" and vaguely adult-themed (sexy). Melody records was/is small and has head shop vibes.