Which Was Your Teenage Mall?

[Wee67]

One of the benefits of getting out of West Philly as a kid was enjoying the teenage pleasures of the Utopian suburbs. This, of course, meant a mall. I wasted way too much time at the 70's and 80's version of a town center- snacks at Orange Julius, losing change at Space Port arcade... even picking up work there in high school. I'm not talking about the mall Mom took you to in the 70's. I'm talking about the one you went to on your own in the 80's.

Which was your local mall/strip mall/etc.?

For me it was the Oxford Valley Mall in bucolic Langhorne, PA. I can remember clearly the feeling of sitting on one of those concrete cubes and staring at thee loose change thrown into the fountain.-



Aside from this escalator, the mall had a spiral ramp that led from the second floor to the first, circling one of those spherical fountains. One Sunday, I had to come into work before the mall opened and rode my skateboard down the ramp and through the mall. It was definitely something I had thought about a lot.

[ZombieJimC]

Deptford and Echelon. Both are in South Jersey. Never go to the malls now.

[megomania]

Holiday Village mall in Great Falls, MT during grade school and jr high...Aladdin's Castle....Orange Julius...A&W...used to swipe change from my parents change jar to hit the arcade and junk. It's still there just totally overhauled from the early 80s.

During those summers back home in Seattle and during high school in Seattle it was Southcenter mall in Tukwila. It's now Westfield Center and pretty much a terrible place to hang out. Gangs and junk.

-Chris

[Iron Mego]

Fashion Fair in Fresno, CA.

[Duncan]

Plymouth Meeting & Montgomeryville Malls. As it turned out, I spent a summer working at Roy Rogers in Plymouth Meeting, and I did 2 summers & X-mas's at Sears in Montgomeryville.

[thunderbolt]

Northwoods Mall in Peoria and the Peru Mall in Peru Illinois.

[Wee67]

What?? No mention of the Thruway Mall, Metro Center Mall... or even other Philly-centrics like King of Prussia or Cherry Hill

[HardyGirl]

Mission Viejo Mall. (and sometimes Laguna Hills Mall).

[Red Hulk]

Lebanon Valley Mall and Lebanon Plaza Mall both in Lebanon PA.

[boss]

St. Clair Square.

[huedell]

One of the benefits of getting out of West Philly as a kid was enjoying the teenage pleasures of the Utopian suburbs. This, of course, meant a mall. I wasted way too much time at the 70's and 80's version of a town center- snacks at Orange Julius, losing change at Space Port arcade... even picking up work there in high school. I'm not talking about the mall Mom took you to in the 70's. I'm talking about the one you went to on your own in the 80's.

Which was your local mall/strip mall/etc.?

For me it was the Oxford Valley Mall in bucolic Langhorne, PA. I can remember clearly the feeling of sitting on one of those concrete cubes and staring at thee loose change thrown into the fountain.-

Aside from this escalator, the mall had a spiral ramp that led from the second floor to the first, circling one of those spherical fountains. One Sunday, I had to come into work before the mall opened and rode my skateboard down the ramp and through the mall. It was definitely something I had thought about a lot.

I practically broke out into tears looking at those pics---guess I actually LIVED in "Utopia"----'cause Oxford Valley Mall and Neshaminy Mall were "my" malls. I lived in Holland, PA growing up.

Sure, the Bucks County Mall in Feasterville and a couple local others existed that I had visited---but, to me, they were pretenders to the Oxford/Neshaminy thrones.

Of course I eventually discovered the Franklin Mills Mall, and the sprawling King Of Prussia Mall (apparently having opened about a decade before I was born, and the largest mall in the country)... but they escaped my notice at a younger age.

[Hedji]

No discussion of malls is complete without a clip from Dawn of the Dead. "Looks like a… Shopping Center… one of those big, indoor malls!"

Irondequoit Mall in Rochester, NY opened in the late 80s, and it was a gorgeous 2 story proto-mall. It was like something from Mallrats. Just a beautiful, thriving place filled with the smell of Cindy's Cinnamon Rolls. When I was 17 I got a job there at a Tuxedo store, the only male working there. It was great.


Here it is when it opened.


And now it looks like this:

[PNGwynne]

Rolling Acres...Akron, OH.

KB & Rizzi Toys, and adjacent Children's Palace & Toys R Us. Got some of my first Megos there--oh, it was heaven.

[megalomaniac001]

Westroads in Omaha. I remember going there with my friends to try to pick up chicks. They got the girls, but I had the car!

[jacsfc]

Westroads in Omaha was mine as well. I was just there with my boys on Saturday.