Australian central cities are not like in the US. They never have been. The city centre is the place for things like this to exist. Here, suburban strip malls usually decline long before the CBD itself does (usually. With exceptions)...
It's funny, by every objective measure, it seems life truly was better, freer, more equal (like actually), and openly less hostile in the 1990s...
What do we have now that's better? "The internet"..? Not sure that's such a net positive. Social media? Definitely not a net positive. Smart phones? Absolutely detrimental to humanity.
No, give me simpler graphics, the occasional decent film/tv show, good music and actual good shit, in an actually still vaguely cohesive society, over anything we have today...
But "muh nostalgia", and muh "rose coloured glasses". Oh yeah? Well a lot of this shit I didn't even get to experience myself, but I think I can clearly say that it was better than the dying, festering, rotting corpse we call "the West" these days...
Today marks the day where the flagship tenant for which the above shopping centre was built ups stumps and abandons the place. It's become such a shadow of its former self (both the company and the the centre) that it's like a sad ghost.
But tell me again how things are "better" now. Yeah, I'm sure...
Our CBD's main hub is basically 2 short streets that are pedestrian only and a central courtyard in front of the main trainstation. The broader city extends out a bit, and incorporates 4 streets, and all the sideways connecting them. They moved half of the trainlines up away from that main area, dropped an ugly as fuck lump of green snot sculpture in front of the main station, and killed the main courtyard. There were a series of malls connecting the two main streets, these were always bustling, with one of them being a massive complex. The others were far more simple, just roads with 10 or so stores. But then the main central one started shutting down, trying to kick out existing tennents to put in 2 big box stores instead. But the contracts didn't allow them too, there were 3 or so holdouts. And so for the longest time the whole thing was dead, just a dead mall you walked through to get to the other one with a couple of holdout stores still there (good on em too, fuck the owners of that mall).
And the whole cbd now smells of piss.
It's somewhere you used to make a trip out of, families would travel down and go to the city centre. There's nothing there to visit now, and it's not safe.
The nearby city had a very cool indoors fun park. Chearful, lots of fun for kids and teenagers. The family sometimes went there, it was busy, full of my people. That was 20 years ago.
They closed it down a long while to ''modernise'' it.
It's now ugly as sin, gloomy, not many people and the ''diversity'' can't behave with no parent in sight to dicipline them, making the place unwelcoming to civilized people.
Did I mention how fucking ugly it is now? It's looks like a ''special horror halloween edition'' that never goes away after the gloomy spooky event.
There used to be a random arcade in the middle of Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. That was pretty cool. Sort of the closest that I actually got to (on interstate holiday), because there was nothing like that where I grew up!
We had "Intencity" (which is still there), but that's not that interesting...
All those cool places are gone, now, though, sadly. Regardless of the city, it seems...
During the 90's Time magazine pointed out that even the staunchest lefty was pro capitalism. There were greenies eating caviar openly. Then the dotcom bubble made it even bigger. It seemed like money was everywhere.
The left on the USA said it was because left leaning Bill Clinton was in charge, and that he personally led the world to economic freedom. This created a really weird economic problem because a lot of baby boomers wanted it all for themselves. I had a mall near my highschool try to kick out all the teens, and only go for the upper class. The building and owner are still there, but the mall isn't. If you ever wanted to study money laundering, just go to Yakima and talk to people.
Seattle has tried to have the 90's feel, but it gets really weird. Imagine the city spending $30,000 on a street mural by graffiti artists. They're all over the city and paid for. The evil clown arcade had to move because the building was torn down for another skyscraper no one will use.
It's the left not understanding how the 90's actually happened.
This created a really weird economic problem because a lot of baby boomers wanted it all for themselves. I had a mall near my highschool try to kick out all the teens, and only go for the upper class.
Somehow mentioning this as a reason for malls dying gets me a lot of glares.
We were actually told in Higschool by our teachers to not go there at all. The problem was all the places to hang out were like that. There was a bakery that had a sign that said no students from my highschool were allowed at all. They defeated themselves, and we were blamed for it.
Malls in general are hard to watch die. The primary shopper is middle aged women, but the secondary are geeks. I know of a mall in Spokane that is alive and well because of the geek shops in it. The comic shop is the most frequented place in the entire mall. Likewise, I knew the mall from highschool was dead, because the Software Ect was now in a different spot in a completely different area.
You know what's funny about those geek shops? They were often the only ones that didnt have the attitude of 'spend or leave' towards their customers. Small wonder it was the place I most often saw the people browsing fixing displays or even outright helping eith stocking.
A little place in Ontario called Grand Bend used to depend wholly on a summer economy, based on a nearby provincial park and reserve Armed Forces base, both of which had the same name - Ipperwash. But the Kettle Point Indians stole it, and I heard their economy totally collapsed since then. It used to have a little amusement park down by the beach, but that closed ages ago.
And yes, they fucking STOLE it. The government had traded them Ipperwash for Kettle Point during World War 2, so that they could make the base as a training ground for tanks - CFRB Ipperwash consisted mostly of sand dunes with cedar scrub and a shit-ton of poison ivy, perfect for training tank crews to serve in North Africa for hunting Rommel. What do they do with it now? Probably fuck-all. At least the only wildlife there was bitey brown spiders (*and mosquitoes that can bite through anything). And there's a shit-ton of unexploded ordnance in those shifting dunes. Serve 'em right to come across some, they're fucking stupid enough to try to mess with 50 year old mortars. And the barracks are fire traps.
Ontario place was similarly nice, rides and a water park or just walk around the marina and nicely landscaped paths. Fatass ford sold it off for condos and lied to his constituents, I had friends in construction who helped install millions in new equipment and waterslides that never got used.
Underground gigs in basements/rooftops in city centres? Some places still have that free spirit.
Meanwhile they're trying to turn the London Trocadero, site of many nostalgic attractions from my childhood, into a mosque, because of course they are. What better a symbol of cultural conquest, than to Islamify a former site of sweet shops, waxworks and video games, in the heart of an entertainment district.
Australian central cities are not like in the US. They never have been. The city centre is the place for things like this to exist. Here, suburban strip malls usually decline long before the CBD itself does (usually. With exceptions)...
It's funny, by every objective measure, it seems life truly was better, freer, more equal (like actually), and openly less hostile in the 1990s...
What do we have now that's better? "The internet"..? Not sure that's such a net positive. Social media? Definitely not a net positive. Smart phones? Absolutely detrimental to humanity.
No, give me simpler graphics, the occasional decent film/tv show, good music and actual good shit, in an actually still vaguely cohesive society, over anything we have today...
But "muh nostalgia", and muh "rose coloured glasses". Oh yeah? Well a lot of this shit I didn't even get to experience myself, but I think I can clearly say that it was better than the dying, festering, rotting corpse we call "the West" these days...
Today marks the day where the flagship tenant for which the above shopping centre was built ups stumps and abandons the place. It's become such a shadow of its former self (both the company and the the centre) that it's like a sad ghost.
But tell me again how things are "better" now. Yeah, I'm sure...
1990's was the demographic, religious and political tipping points in many Western countries.
Same thing where I am basically.
Our CBD's main hub is basically 2 short streets that are pedestrian only and a central courtyard in front of the main trainstation. The broader city extends out a bit, and incorporates 4 streets, and all the sideways connecting them. They moved half of the trainlines up away from that main area, dropped an ugly as fuck lump of green snot sculpture in front of the main station, and killed the main courtyard. There were a series of malls connecting the two main streets, these were always bustling, with one of them being a massive complex. The others were far more simple, just roads with 10 or so stores. But then the main central one started shutting down, trying to kick out existing tennents to put in 2 big box stores instead. But the contracts didn't allow them too, there were 3 or so holdouts. And so for the longest time the whole thing was dead, just a dead mall you walked through to get to the other one with a couple of holdout stores still there (good on em too, fuck the owners of that mall).
And the whole cbd now smells of piss.
It's somewhere you used to make a trip out of, families would travel down and go to the city centre. There's nothing there to visit now, and it's not safe.
Ah Culcha's...
It's on the other side, but still...
That place gives me the creeps, even as a fellow Aus, lol.
And yeah, that area near the train station, even on the other side is just... Weird as shit.
They certainly mismanaged it!
The nearby city had a very cool indoors fun park. Chearful, lots of fun for kids and teenagers. The family sometimes went there, it was busy, full of my people. That was 20 years ago.
They closed it down a long while to ''modernise'' it.
It's now ugly as sin, gloomy, not many people and the ''diversity'' can't behave with no parent in sight to dicipline them, making the place unwelcoming to civilized people.
Did I mention how fucking ugly it is now? It's looks like a ''special horror halloween edition'' that never goes away after the gloomy spooky event.
I was a frequent Patron of the Myer Centre's Top Floor Amusement Arcade with the kids. Was a shame to see it go
There used to be a random arcade in the middle of Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. That was pretty cool. Sort of the closest that I actually got to (on interstate holiday), because there was nothing like that where I grew up!
We had "Intencity" (which is still there), but that's not that interesting...
All those cool places are gone, now, though, sadly. Regardless of the city, it seems...
Topps (or Top's, as its spelled here)? Yeah, it sounds awesome!
Sadly I missed out on that one...
This was the Adelaide one - IIRC it was called Dazzeland
During the 90's Time magazine pointed out that even the staunchest lefty was pro capitalism. There were greenies eating caviar openly. Then the dotcom bubble made it even bigger. It seemed like money was everywhere.
The left on the USA said it was because left leaning Bill Clinton was in charge, and that he personally led the world to economic freedom. This created a really weird economic problem because a lot of baby boomers wanted it all for themselves. I had a mall near my highschool try to kick out all the teens, and only go for the upper class. The building and owner are still there, but the mall isn't. If you ever wanted to study money laundering, just go to Yakima and talk to people.
Seattle has tried to have the 90's feel, but it gets really weird. Imagine the city spending $30,000 on a street mural by graffiti artists. They're all over the city and paid for. The evil clown arcade had to move because the building was torn down for another skyscraper no one will use.
It's the left not understanding how the 90's actually happened.
Somehow mentioning this as a reason for malls dying gets me a lot of glares.
We were actually told in Higschool by our teachers to not go there at all. The problem was all the places to hang out were like that. There was a bakery that had a sign that said no students from my highschool were allowed at all. They defeated themselves, and we were blamed for it.
Malls in general are hard to watch die. The primary shopper is middle aged women, but the secondary are geeks. I know of a mall in Spokane that is alive and well because of the geek shops in it. The comic shop is the most frequented place in the entire mall. Likewise, I knew the mall from highschool was dead, because the Software Ect was now in a different spot in a completely different area.
You know what's funny about those geek shops? They were often the only ones that didnt have the attitude of 'spend or leave' towards their customers. Small wonder it was the place I most often saw the people browsing fixing displays or even outright helping eith stocking.
It helps that everyone wants to work at a shop like that. You can tell the gamers from the airheads at gamestop pretty easily.
A little place in Ontario called Grand Bend used to depend wholly on a summer economy, based on a nearby provincial park and reserve Armed Forces base, both of which had the same name - Ipperwash. But the Kettle Point Indians stole it, and I heard their economy totally collapsed since then. It used to have a little amusement park down by the beach, but that closed ages ago.
And yes, they fucking STOLE it. The government had traded them Ipperwash for Kettle Point during World War 2, so that they could make the base as a training ground for tanks - CFRB Ipperwash consisted mostly of sand dunes with cedar scrub and a shit-ton of poison ivy, perfect for training tank crews to serve in North Africa for hunting Rommel. What do they do with it now? Probably fuck-all. At least the only wildlife there was bitey brown spiders (*and mosquitoes that can bite through anything). And there's a shit-ton of unexploded ordnance in those shifting dunes. Serve 'em right to come across some, they're fucking stupid enough to try to mess with 50 year old mortars. And the barracks are fire traps.
Ontario place was similarly nice, rides and a water park or just walk around the marina and nicely landscaped paths. Fatass ford sold it off for condos and lied to his constituents, I had friends in construction who helped install millions in new equipment and waterslides that never got used.
Underground gigs in basements/rooftops in city centres? Some places still have that free spirit.
Meanwhile they're trying to turn the London Trocadero, site of many nostalgic attractions from my childhood, into a mosque, because of course they are. What better a symbol of cultural conquest, than to Islamify a former site of sweet shops, waxworks and video games, in the heart of an entertainment district.
I just looked up the Trocadero thing... Holy shit!
And of course all the trendy hipster millennial articles are there to tell you why this is a good thing (according to them). Of course...
That was when Australian men were still leading the country. That is no longer true - the people who own you now do not care about Australia.
Dazzleland kicked ass
I have a good word for you: Anemoia.
Nostalgia for a time or a place one has never known.