Getting to the shopping part of the mall, things start to get a bit more alive -- literally, in the case of the palm trees that still line the corridor, now having grown enough to pop their heads up into the second story! Though I found
these old pictures showing them at basically the same height they are today, which makes me slightly suspicious of whether they could be fake -- they would be really good fakes if so, however. (And if you're interested in that neon sign in the background of one of those pictures,
here's a closeup -- I wonder when that got removed and the exterior sign changed to just refer to the mall rather than specifically mentioning the food court.)
That Riverfront Cafes arched sign reminds me of the famous Rivercenter Mall sign in San Antonio, TX on the famous (at least around here) San Antonio Riverwalk! The Rivercenter sign is not in neon, but still. the similarities are obvious! Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scubagrl/3908388039/
ReplyDeleteWhile I would expect to see palm trees here in Houston or on the Albertsons Florida Blog, I wouldn't expect to see them in the Northwest! I guess that same oddity came up at that Hispanic supermarket in the old Grocery Palace Albertsons. It's possible those trees are fake given the uniformity of all the trees down the corridor. At least they are convincing fakes if that is the case. It's interesting that the indoor planter design was still in use in the late 1990s! It seems like that would have been a bit out of fashion as earthtones gave way to white and grey designs of the 1990s, but I guess not.
Cool!
DeleteYeah, it is a bit surprising to see them in this mall. It seems like indoor plants hung around a bit later in the Northwest than in some other areas (up to the early 00s in some cases), but palm trees are definitely a weird choice! It does go with the somewhat greenhouse-like aesthetic of parts of the mall, however.