Felix (@felix@wandering.shop)

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What happens when a mall dies? In my latest newsletter, I visit two of San Francisco's moribund shopping spaces -- the former Twitter building, and the former Westfield mall. What I find is very liminal. https://buttondown.com/thehypothesis/archive/inside-the-dying-malls-of-san-francisco/ #sanfrancisco #urbanism

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These are two pictures of empty mall spaces. One is an empty rotunda, whose shopfronts are covered in butcher paper. The floor is fake brown marble. The other is a forgotten hallway, most of its doors and windows covered in paper. Only one sign remains etched on the glass: "Brow Savant." The text reads: As I ascended toward the blank spaces where Nordstrom once ruled, I found a glorious unbranded emptiness that future archaeologists will no doubt describe as “ceremonial chambers” or “special use spaces.” The mall seemed to degenerate into absurdism as I continued to ride the escalators up. Twinkling strands of gilded holiday decorations fell from the distant, illuminated ceiling, past five dark levels of unfilled retail space.

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@annaleen This made me laugh out loud:

> [...] a glorious unbranded emptiness that future archaeologists will no doubt describe as “ceremonial chambers” or “special use spaces.”

Seriously, it's fascinating to compare those historical buildings with local counterparts, like the Unirea and Victoria stores in Bucharest, respectively. Or to contrast with modern malls, for that matter.

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