Time passes quickly. It is shocking to me that I’m only a few years away from 50 years old. It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was 38 and still considered myself young. The reminders are everywhere. Kids born in the year 2000 are now 23 years old. They were born five years after I graduated high school. The last Terra Nova high school game I went to was 12 years ago. It was a homecoming game but they did not have a king and queen. Instead the kids from each grade did a loop around the track. The cheerleaders were right in front of us and I remember wondering where they would go to college or if they would go at all. Those ‘kids’ are now 30 years old.
I’m now old enough to remember places that are now gone and not in the memories of 20 and 30 year olds. I was reminded of one of those places this week after she posted a few pictures of a decrepit mall soon to be torn down (if it hasn’t been already).
Westland Mall is, as the name implies, located on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. With NAFTA and the hollowing out of manufacturing over the past 23 years to Mexico and China the area has seen a steep and sad decline. This is the area where I went to high school and thus the area of Columbus I knew best. Now it is one of the worst areas in Columbus with the infamous Sullivant Avenue, only a few blocks from my high school, occupied by drug addicts, prostitutes and derelict housing.
Back in the ’90s the west side of Columbus was doing just fine. I remember many wonderful stores such as Camelot Music (where I bought my first music tape – Run DMC, Raising Hell), Hechinger’s home improvement (where my neighbor Terra worked), a cinema which I forgot the name, Krogers (where Sonya who was two grades above me and I had a crush on worked) and my favorite, Toys “R” Us.
*Side note about Sonya: She was a senior and I was a sophomore. She sat next to me in typing class and would always flirt with me. A decade ago I learned from one of her classmates that she flirted with everyone. I wanted to date her so bad and would even buy her lunch sometimes. She played the lead (Sandy) in the musical Grease and I remember the director let her smoke a real cigarette on stage. I didn’t go to all the plays but was sure to buy a ticket to Grease. After she graduated I called her a few times and was ecstatic when she agreed to go to lunch with me. I showed up, nobody answered the door and I was crushed. I looked her up a few years ago and saw she had just left Krogers for CVS. I sent her a note on LinkedIn letting her know she owed me a lunch for all the ones I had bought her. She never responded. I find that very few old acquaintances respond if too many years have passed. I spoke about this with my dad and he has had similar experiences with his generation. This is a big surprise to me and I wonder if I just have a better memory than most.
Back to Toys “R” Us It is sad that the kids of today will never know the joy and wonder that walking into that store would bring a kid. My most vivid memories are looking at the Sega Genesis games behind the glass wishing I could buy just one. They were expensive, around $40 – $50 dollars and so it was only on the very rare occasion my mom said yes and to me it was like winning the lottery. I’d take that game home and play it for the next month. I can even still remember the smell of the packaging.
Westland Mall replaced my favorite shopping venue as I entered high school. This is it as I remember it although it was bustling with people. Part of the excitement as a teenager was checking out the girls. Nowadays teens sit on their computer checking each other out virtually through social media. In my day it was in real life, but I don’t recall ever having the courage to talk to any of them.
I still remember my last visit to Westland but not the year. I think it must have been around 2004 but I could be well of the mark. It was in decline at that time and somewhat dangerous. I remember a rough looking kid with a smaller kid in tow. The rough looking kid was twitching his hand and said “I’m about to show you some shit boy,” as they walked into Sears. Not 15 minutes later they were both rapidly walking away from the store with two undercover security guards quickly following. One undercover guard tackled the rough looking kid and the kid screamed “Get off me man, I didn’t do shit,” while getting his head slammed on the floor a few times. The younger kid looked on in a state of bewilderment. With that, we decided not to visit Westland anymore.
It was about a decade prior to that that happy memories were made. I remember going into the music store specifically with the intent to buy Guns N’ Roses posters to decorate my room. My best friend at the time came with me and I was dismayed when he said he wanted Guns N’ Roses posters too. As a kid, the bands you like, shoes you wear and sports you play create your identity. It was fine that my friend liked Guns N’ Roses but I didn’t want him to decorate his room the same as mine and God forbid he takes the last posters when I was going to the mall explicitly for one purpose. Couldn’t he buy other band’s posters? It seems very silly to me know but I remember feeling that way.
Another memory is getting my ear pierced at a small stall in Westland. in the early ’90s there was a short lived fad for guys to piece only their left ear. You couldn’t piece the right one or that meant you were gay. as I write this I had to physically feel my earlobe for the two grown in holes to confirm the “non-gay” side was the left. I got a small gold hoop for the bottom piercing and a small emerald (my birthstone) for the top. I remember the amazement of looking at all the gemstones and gold in the glass showcase (along with gold chains, also in fashion) and the ability to buy even one making me feel like I had status. The fact that I had two piercings in the left ear made me fashionable and cool.
I don’t remember when I stopped wearing the ear rings but imagine it was my junior or senior year. Boys were not allowed to wear earrings in my Catholic high school and with wrestling I rarely had time to wear them anyway. I do remember when I stopped wearing my gold chain and that was in Vietnam. It just seemed safer not to wear it as one does not want to be too flashy so as not to draw even more attention to yourself which you get anyway just for being a foreigner.
I remember Westland Mall as being a place of wonder. Money was always tight so when I could buy clothing from Sears, or really anything at all was such a treat. I remember walking in and being intoxicated by the smell of perfume and cologne, Nike, Air Jordans, Starter Jackets, all things that were well out of our budget. Now, I’m able to buy pretty much whatever I’d like but I wear the same type of Costco cargo shorts and a hoodie. Out of the ten or so hoodies I own I wear four at most: two Bishop Ready (my high school) black/blue hoodies sent to me by my mom how bought them at a fundraiser, or one of two karate hoodies, one reserved for times when I may venture outside the house, another one that is not to leave the house.
I opt for comfort and practicality over fashion these days. My self confidence used to come primarily from what I wore where now it comes from my accomplishments and experiences.
Regardless, I have wonderful memories of Westland and wanted to get them down as anyone around twenty probably doesn’t have any memories and the memories of those that do will all fade away. After all, who remembers what was there before Westland? I would imagine only those who are 80 years old or over.
Here are the pictures my friend posted which show what it became. Again, I’m not sure if it is even still there or has been torn down.
When I look at these pictures I think about how indoor malls have gone out of fashion. About a decade ago I was reading about how the new style was outdoor shopping areas popping up all over the country. Well, the future is unpredictable and with COVID, shopping online became the norm. Here in San Francisco the big news is how the Westfield shopping center, once the pride of the Union Square area is now defunct with Nordstrom pulling out. There is no foot traffic with work from home, theft is rampant, and the area feels generally unsafe. In fact, I too feel a bit wary when there are too many teenagers concentrated in a certain area. I just read in the Columbus, Dispatch about a youth getting shot and dying at an upscale shopping area in Columbus. Making the trek to the mall just doesn’t seem worth it anymore when you can buy whatever you need online.
Time passes quickly with change as the only constant. I wonder what places I frequent now will be gone in twenty years? With the increasing dysfunction of government and the immediate threat of another Trump presidency, I wonder if the United States in its current form will still be around? Will we still have democracy? Will McConnel, Feinstein and Pelosi still be running congress while in a hospice bed on life support? With climate change, what will have burned down (Lahaina), or have been washed away (New Orleans)?
Only time will tell.
Picture from the Columbus Dispatch on 10.31.2023. Soon nothing will be left of Westland Mall at all.
