Southgate Mall

The lost plastic fountain of youth

Is nostalgic reminiscing a natural by-product of old age? Does it happen automatically to everyone or is there something like a “nostalgia chip” we’re all born with that gets detonated at a certain age, say at age 50?I’ve lately been indulging in nostalgic reminiscing, so I’ve wondered if it’s just a consequence of pushing 60 (I’ll be 59 in December this year) or if it’s something I can’t control because my “nostalgia chip” was set off. I wonder as I sit here contemplating my old fartiness if, 20 years from now, I’ll be looking at myself at this age and chuckle “That silly young whippersnapper.” (Use of the word “whippersnapper” is a definite sign that you’ve wandered off into olden times)

As much as I like pondering the idea of a “nostalgia chip” as part of our biological makeup, there is probably a more reasonable impetus for my recent musings. It probably has something to do with an invitation  I received a few weeks ago to my high school 40th reunion. Added to this is a part of a conversation I had when Michelle and I were visiting some friends a few days ago.

We had mentioned something about the Wal-Mart store on S. 27th St. For anyone outside of Milwaukee, WI this has no meaning but suffice to say that S. 27th St. is 1 of the main hubs in the city. I always refer to this particular Wal-Mart as the “Southgate Wal-Mart” because it stands on the ground where a shopping mall from my youth once stood.

Southgate Mall was built in 1951. This means that even my parents had gone to this mall when they were young and in high school. The high school they attended was just a few blocks away and within easy walking distance. I know this because I attended the same high school.

The mall was a bit different when my parents were trekking over there during their high school careers. For one thing, it was an open air mall, not enclosed the way it became in 1971. There were also many stores I had never heard of like Kresge’s, Samsons TV & Appliance, Household Finance, Luber’s Green Market, Ritz Hat Shop. There were also a few that lingered on into my adolescence like Spic & Span cleaners, Kinney Shoes and Southgate National Bank. Gimbel’s department store was added in 1954 and was still there when I frequented the mall.

Southgate Mall was more than just a place to go and buy stuff. It was a hangout, a place to meet your friends and a place to go for lunch if you were an upper classman and allowed to go off campus to eat. Whether you returned for your afternoon classes or not was entirely up to you.

The layout of the mall was perfect and of a sort that I much prefer. One long line heading north and south, Gimbels anchoring the north end and the south end opened out onto the open air end of the mall, leading to the Southgate National Bank. The floor was covered with a flat, indoor-outdoor type of carpeting in about 10-yard wide swaths of differing colors and designs. You could measure your progress through the mall by the next plastic molded bench located in the center of the aisle.  Each bench had a like-colored trash barrel at the ends of the bench. The trash barrels also had sand-filled ash trays on top. They hadn’t invented second hand smoke yet, so you could still fire up a butt while you shopped or waited for friends or just wanted to relax.

    

You could get everything you needed there! I’d usually enter from the north end through Gimbels. If I was hungry, I’d stop at the Buddy Squirrel Nut Shop and get a pound bag of Swedish fish or something. If I felt like I needed something nutritious for lunch instead, I could walk down a ways to the Woolworth’s restaurant and get a cheeseburger or 1 of the hot dogs endlessly turning on the glass encased rotisserie or get a jumbo soft pretzel and cup of cheese sauce if I really needed a sodium rush.

It was so convenient! Everything was there, you didn’t need to go up or down any levels, just start at 1 end and go to the other. You didn’t even need a mall map, but they had 1 installed smack dab in the halfway point and in between the main entrance of the mall and the molded plastic “natural” waterfall and pond (which always smelled weird and mildly chlorine-ish).

If you needed a new pair of jeans, you went to the Wooden Nickel store. If you needed cigarettes or tobacco for your pipe, you went to the smoke shop right across from Woolworth’s. If you needed other clothing, home furnishings, toys, sporting equipment, etc. you could get it at Gimbels. If you’re walking around and think “Oh crap, I forgot to get a card after buying that sweater at Woolworths!”, no problem. Walk down to the Hallmark Store and your friends, family and loved ones will know you cared to send the very best. If you’re ready to make that commitment to that certain someone, head on over to Stone’s Jewelers where you’ll find the best deals on engagement rings or other jewelry designed with the express purpose of getting husbands out of doghouses.

  

Southgate Mall was more than just shopping. For me, it was a place for first experiences, as well (relax, I’m not working blue here, still family friendly!). It’s my earliest realization of my mom working outside the home. I remember waiting for her to finish her shift at Woolworths while we shopped or cooled our heels on those benches. It was the place where I tried frozen sherbet for the first time. I can still see that freezer chest in the Woolworth’s restaurant, where my Grandma Smars was the manager, containing the big round cartons of ice cream on display. It was the place where I got my first “real” job, working at The Record Shop, right next to Woolworth’s. This was a perfect job for the 17 year old version of me, being a musician and in a band, with all those vinyl albums, the cutting edge technology of 8-track tapes and then later the even more cutting edge technology of cassette tapes! There are many times I wish I would have taken better care of those promo albums we were allowed to claim after they had run their course of promotion in the store (I had the very first U2 promo album “Boy”, released as an EP!).

      

I think what I miss most about that place was the simplicity. It felt like a small town gathering place in the middle of a big city. There was a feeling of community there, especially since you saw friends and family there every time you went or if you knew most of the small shop managers on a first name basis. Oh hell, I can’t lie. What I miss most about Southgate Mall is my youth!