Springfield Town Center: a successful mall innovation still shows sutures in the skinsuit.
By this point in the Tweaking Twenties, it’s hard think of any time during the week that a shopping mall would ever be jam-packed, so Thursday at 7:30 pm is just as good of a time as any. For the Springfield Town Center, the image below is probably typical for a summer weekday evening. Not
Road trips on I-70: looking for quirky Americana? Any red dot on the map will do.
As someone who enjoys long road trips (perfectly fine if they’re solitary), I can never get enough of the small, often amusing telltale indicators of the cultural composition that distinguishes a place. The visual shibboleths, if you will. Venturing across Interstate 70, one of the oldest, longest, and most heavily traveled segments of the original
Billboard blight for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd: there’s nothing to promote when the commuters stay at home.
Just a few days ago, I left Manhattan for Astoria via the recently renovated Queens-Midtown Tunnel—not something I have ever done, but a route that I would think thousands of other people travel on a daily basis. Something tells me, though, that this routine experienced a staggering drop approximately one year and four months ago.
The old utility-pole-in-the-sidewalk predicament: do we have clearance…Clarence?
I’ve written as a guest contributor at the blog Urban Indy numerous times in the past. Although the blog is currently only marginally active, and I personally have not dabbled in the topic, other contributors have bemoaned the fact that pedestrian improvements in the very auto-centric city of Indianapolis rarely extend to persons with disabilities,
Crested Butte main street: a shopper’s oasis amidst the lingering retail drought.
More times than I can count, I’ve explored the country’s mismatch between the supply of retail-oriented real estate and the broader public’s demand. We just have too many shopping centers. And it’s always been that way. Even in the best of times—the peak of the suburban mall during the 1970s and 80s—our historic downtown storefronts
Marchwood Shopping Center: a granddaddy of suburban Philly retail, yet still in the prime of life.
It’s been a tough decade or so for the American retail scene, a condition I’ve explored numerous times in the past. Social turbulence, exacerbated by a pandemic and the erratic response to it, only further maimed an already hobbled industry, facing persistent pressure from online commerce. The fact remains that people just don’t go out
Flag elements meet fashion: a swimsuit that suggests pernicious patriotism?
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time I’ve covered flags and swimwear. It’s not even the second time. Judging from the tallies of the two topics, the count on flags vastly exceeds those of swimwear. I do love me some flags. As an (extremely) amateur vexillologist, I enjoy not just their origins in heraldry but
Dumfries, Virginia: less municipal oversight allows a dumber (but freer) subdivision design.
The larger and more densely populated a community is, the more byzantine and stringent its regulations become. This statement may not quite pass as a truism, but it comes close, especially in a country with a governing system as decentralized as the United States. Simply put, the principles that characterize individual liberty become harder to
Eagleridge Shopping Center: rockstar parking…in strip mall suburbia?
Salvaging the subject of strip mall soulfulness for a second study, I present a regional shopping center of no great distinction. Much like the suburban structures of the previous article, Eagleridge Shopping Center is unusually coy about its name; the massive sign facing Interstate 25 forces the title to the absolute bottom. Most people probably
A strip mall can house a tapestry of tenants. Including once-mighty churches.
About eighteen months ago I explored an isolated example of a trend that has become increasingly common: the vacating of old church buildings by their original founding congregations. In some cases, the old church benefits from monumental architecture, making it suitable for adaptive reuse, particularly as an events planning or catering facility that can capitalize
Recent Comments
Springfield Town Center: a successful mall innovation still shows sutures in the skinsuit.
By this point in the Tweaking Twenties, it’s hard think of any time during the week that a shopping mall would ever be jam-packed, so Thursday at 7:30 pm is just as good
Road trips on I-70: looking for quirky Americana? Any red dot on the map will do.
As someone who enjoys long road trips (perfectly fine if they’re solitary), I can never get enough of the small, often amusing telltale indicators of the cultural composition that distinguishes a place. The
Billboard blight for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd: there’s nothing to promote when the commuters stay at home.
Just a few days ago, I left Manhattan for Astoria via the recently renovated Queens-Midtown Tunnel—not something I have ever done, but a route that I would think thousands of other people travel
The old utility-pole-in-the-sidewalk predicament: do we have clearance…Clarence?
I’ve written as a guest contributor at the blog Urban Indy numerous times in the past. Although the blog is currently only marginally active, and I personally have not dabbled in the topic,
Crested Butte main street: a shopper’s oasis amidst the lingering retail drought.
More times than I can count, I’ve explored the country’s mismatch between the supply of retail-oriented real estate and the broader public’s demand. We just have too many shopping centers. And it’s always
Marchwood Shopping Center: a granddaddy of suburban Philly retail, yet still in the prime of life.
It’s been a tough decade or so for the American retail scene, a condition I’ve explored numerous times in the past. Social turbulence, exacerbated by a pandemic and the erratic response to it,
Flag elements meet fashion: a swimsuit that suggests pernicious patriotism?
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time I’ve covered flags and swimwear. It’s not even the second time. Judging from the tallies of the two topics, the count on flags vastly exceeds those
Dumfries, Virginia: less municipal oversight allows a dumber (but freer) subdivision design.
The larger and more densely populated a community is, the more byzantine and stringent its regulations become. This statement may not quite pass as a truism, but it comes close, especially in a
Eagleridge Shopping Center: rockstar parking…in strip mall suburbia?
Salvaging the subject of strip mall soulfulness for a second study, I present a regional shopping center of no great distinction. Much like the suburban structures of the previous article, Eagleridge Shopping Center
A strip mall can house a tapestry of tenants. Including once-mighty churches.
About eighteen months ago I explored an isolated example of a trend that has become increasingly common: the vacating of old church buildings by their original founding congregations. In some cases, the old
Recent Comments
Recent Comments
- on Cycle tracks in small towns: North Beach, Maryland has one, but does it really work?: “Bingo. For a locality, state and federal grants may pay most of the cost of a new installation. But then…maintenance…” Sep 27, 16:26
- on Cycle tracks in small towns: North Beach, Maryland has one, but does it really work?: “Maybe the real problem is the insistence on elaborate capital improvements (I have no hope for a Dutch system of…” Sep 27, 14:53
- on The oversized rabbits of Valdez, Alaska: from invasive specie to unofficial mascot.: “Funny, I’ve seen enough footage of people keeping pet rats (fancy rats) that, in the right context, they can be…” Sep 27, 07:46
- on Cycle tracks in small towns: North Beach, Maryland has one, but does it really work?: “I guess my point is this: even a big-city, big-budget, state-of-the-art bike trail suffers some of the same shortcomings as…” Sep 27, 05:44
- on Cycle tracks in small towns: North Beach, Maryland has one, but does it really work?: “This got me thinking about The Cultural Trail in your home metro. It is “combined use” in several places…but my…” Sep 27, 05:41
Recent Comments