Passage V

Now I've Seen the Mall

[1]

[1]Austrian architect, Victor Gruen had a vision for US retail stores. [2] Another problem was that the distances between retail stores forced shoppers to drive, not walk. [3) A native of Vienna, there was a downtown filled with pedestrians near the place where Gruen had grown up. [4]He loathed the flashy signs that stretched mile after mile along the streets in the 1950s. [5] There, whether looking for a gift or some fresh air, people could more readily interact with neighbors and friends.[6] This type of casual, friendly shopping experience was what he sought to bring to America. (63)

[2]

His chance came in 1952 when he was hired to design a shopping center in Minnesota. Gruen conceived of an 800,000-square-foot structure that had two levels of stores encircling a roofed central area. Arranging the stores to face inward, Gruen created a mostly blank exterior and he created an interior where businesses could advertise. Although the space between stores was indoors, the air temperature could be controlled to ensure that customers wouldn't be bothered by the elements. There was a cafe, a fountain, an aviary, and even a small zoo. Southdale Center was revolutionary. [A]

[3]

Reporters from across the country flocked to the 1956 grand opening of Southdale, and 75,000 customers came and saw the many stores and parking spaces. The design dazzled reporters. The convenience delighted shoppers, Businesses found the profits thrilling. Southdale Center's layout became so successful that many of them soon sprang up in cities all over the United States. [B]

[4]

Gruen, however, grew increasingly dismayed. (72) He had envisioned Soutbdale as one part of a larger planned community with houses, apartments, schools, and offices, but his community was never built. [C] The popularity of malls, while minimizing urban sprawl, encouraged it; stores and paved parking areas multiplied in US cities and suburbs. [D] Disheartened, Gruen eventually returned to Vienna later on, only to find一just south of the downtown he remembered so fondly一a mall.