Today was the funeral of the Lloyd Center.
Historically, what was once Oregon’s largest mall had slipped into an era of decline first induced by the internet and mass shopping, and then double-tapped by the pandemic. And though the last few years had stores continually shutter, rents in the mall had plummeted too, enabling a bunch of indie stores and pop-up businesses to occupy about a third of the storefronts. The place was also used as a meeting point for many clubs, because sometimes the rent was just that cheap, free, or even not required: bridge, chess, zines, and many others made this moribund corpse their home.
It was the decaying essence of nineties capitalism, but it was also a good home to community and bootleg scrappy folks trying to get by. And it had a kickass ice skating rink right there in central Portland.
So today was Lloyd Center’s last day open. People as far as the eye can see, thousands and thousands. The food court was descended upon by anyone who could snatch a table and sell some art they brought with them. Adorable queers of all the stripes, as far as the eye can see. Concerts, dance parties, skateboarders, a stand-up comic shouting herself raw about how Dave Chapelle is a hack, lines for a hundred meters for the last caramel corn and the last burger joint, ice skating by anyone, tours of the mall, anyone with a sharpie had started marking up the place, and photographers everywhere, including yours truly.
For this one last day, with not a single anchor store affixed to the mall, and with the largest store in the mall being a local graphic novel shop, Lloyd Center was alive, pushed along to the anarchistic fray that it would have eventually become in the end.
The picture I present before you here is my attempt at bringing some futurism to the place, a carefully angled and composed shot that took me about a half hour of waiting until all the people were in the right position, while I stood there patiently. Here we have some sci-fi renaissance, envisioning this space as a sort of utopia that it will never become.
I hope you enjoy it.
This work means quite a lot to me.
I know a lot of people hate indoor malls, but I personally like them for a couple of reasons:
They serve as a third space where you don’t need to spend money just to hang out.
Unlike a park or outdoor area, it’s a cool and comfy place, especially with the worsening heat and climate.
Unlike a pub or bar, it encourages walking.
An actual complete and proper mall can save you from multiple trips, driving around, and wasting gas, if it has many of the things you need and have to do, all in one place.
Especially in Portland when we get so much rain, it’s a way for people to get together and exercise
Yeah, well said. I agree with you, there are not enough indoor malls and 3rd places
It’s strange to see sentiment on malls shift from “soulless shrines to decadent consumerism” to “the last real third space”
For me at least, I’ve always had this opinion. The problem is that malls in the US are terrible. Compare that with malls in Asia that are almost like their own cities. Condos/apartments attached to them, a green area (park or garden) at the rooftop or in the middle section, a clinic, hardware store, grocery store, and an actual variety of shops that cater to almost everything.
a mall near a hub, of transport and school works great. but if its like randomly out of the way, it will die eventually. i find the indoor stores too niche to get many customers day to day.