13 years old, couple bucks in my pocket on any given day in the summer, or holiday break from school in route to the Arcade. Pac Man? Space Invaders? Lunch, yes… Pizza. Then a walk thru the crappy toy store posing plastic animals doing awful things (I still do this). Running around the mall like a typical suburban mall-rat.

The oriental store with Chinese throwing stars for sale and knives so hideous Chuck Norris would kill you for embarrassing the Martial Arts masters who would never carry suck ineffective suburban trash. A store where you could buy smoke bombs 365 days a year for your inner Ninja. Mall Ninjas unite.


Doctor Pets, checking out cute girls who had no interest in you, but rather looked at puppies and kittens. Ducking into J Crew as your friends mom saw your acting like a fool and you were worried word might get back home at your lameness and insubordination in a public place was not tolerated.

The movies! Risky Business and Porkys were playing but they would not let us in. We bought tickets for War Games and Superman III and saw Risky Business and Porkys. Yeah. 13, we owned the world. Well, it felt like it when we were at the mall.
Had my first kiss in that theater while on my first date. What did she see in me?


Back to school shopping. Nikes. Jeans, Gap, Penny’s, May Co, Higbee’s and more major decisions; lunch again at the Food Court. Pizza of course…

Crazy stores, lame stores, record stores, Walkmans and skateboards. Tux’s for a Prom, Flowers for a Dance. A shirt and tie for a funeral. More new shoes. Christmas Shopping. Talking to girls. Wearing your school jacket with pride and hanging with your friends acting like you own the whole damn place

“Meet you at the Mall?” was a common question of my youth.




I walked thru the old Parmatown Mall today. It’s dismal. Depressing. A mere shadow of it’s past and like a old sick person it knows there are no better days in front of it.
The demolition company has all the trucks and machines park out front of the old May Company store. Like vultures poised to pick apart the carcass of memories that were the center of my childhood. It’s been in a state of decline for 25 years.

Glad I took a walk down memory lane today as sometimes it’s good to look back to see where your going. I recently heard someone say “Where your from, is where your at”. Made me stop in my tracks today as I shot this picture…