As It Was

Years ago, my mom, maternal grandmother ("Gummy") and I were sitting around, talking, and the subject of what the favorite time of our lives was came up in conversation. I don't remember what mom's answer was, but Gummy (born in 1928) said, "Probably 1938/1939. that period right in there." She went on to say that she thought most people would, posed with the same question, give an answer that would fall somewhere in their childhood. That often seems to be the knee-jerk, default response most folks have about when they thought things were best. You know, the 'good old days.'

What I liked then, and appreciate now, about Gummy's reasoning was its honesty. She acknowledged the personal nature of her response. Of course she thought the world was better when she was ten. Everyone's life is different, but for many, being a kid, unburdened by the responsibilities of adulthood, can come with a unique level of happiness, even if it may only be apparent in hindsight. Now that I'm older, I can see what my grandmother was getting at. Asked the same question as we were discussing all those years ago, and I'd probably answer the 1980s (when I was a kid), or maybe the 1990s (when I was becoming an adult and exploring the world on my own for the first time). That's all subjective, of course. It almost always is.

I was reminded of that conversation by, of all things, a 2020 article on the Champaign History web site that I recently happened across. The piece is titled Market Place Mall, after the shopping center situated on the north side of my hometown of Champaign, Illinois. It delves into much more than just the mall, however. It's a sprawling, fascinating article by local historian and city planner, TJ Blakeman. He includes the impact that the opening of Market Place had on Champaign's downtown, and the city's efforts to keep the central part of the city relevant. He briefly talks about the attempts Urbana (Champaign's twin city) made to keep their downtown vital. And there's even a mention of Country Fair Shopping Center, where I spent many a summer's day as a youth.

I have an overall fondness for Market Place Mall. Or, at least, there is fondness for the memory of it. While its overall nature has remained the same, as have all malls (an indoor space with lots of various mini-stores - most of them chains - where people can shop, eat, drink and congregate), the face of the retailers have changed. Gone from Market Place are stores of my youth: Bachrach's, Musicland, Waldenbooks, Kinney Shoes, Bishops Buffet, Hardee's, Osco Drugs, B. Dalton Booksellers, the video arcade (whatever it was called), Sears, Bergners, and more. The retailers there now are fine, but I just don't go to the mall enough to be familiar with them (aside from Costco).

Blakeman's write-up even includes an embedded video of a CBS Sunday Morning segment from 1990. It's hosted by Champaign native Bill Geist, and refers to the closure of downtown Champaign's last remaining department store, Robeson's.  - Note: I'm not sure what we're calling Jos. Kuhn & Co., also in downtown Champaign, but I'd always considered it to be a kind of department store. Granted, a much reduced one. -  Geist's reporting is obviously fond of Robeson's, and not so much for Market Place (he ventures inside the mall for part of the segment). If you were born and raised in Champaign during a certain era, Geist's piece is like townie catnip. That said, his disdain for the mall couldn't help but remind me of that conversation between my mom, Gummy and I.

Geist is three decades older than yours truly. He admits that, in 1990, people meet-up with one another at the mall, not unlike they did at Robeson's, but the way he says it implies that it just isn't the same (i.e. not as good). And that, dear reader, is a judgment call. I'd argue that it's quite subjective. Not unlike my grandmother's (admittedly) impressionistic view that 1938/39 was the best time to be alive. And she knew it was a biased point of view. Perhaps Geist did, too. And, perhaps, I realize it, as well, whenever I pine for the halcyon days of the Decade of Excess, with its Michael Jackson and Hall & Oates, its Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, its boom boxes and cassette tapes, its Ferris Bueller and Indiana Jones, and, of course, its malls.

What, perhaps, was most fascinating for me to read about in the Market Place Mall article was the strife caused by businesses leaving downtown, of the stress put onto the roads by increased traffic and larger cars, of the razing of buildings and the controversy surrounding that, of the protests (both figurative and literal) surrounding the opening of the new mall, and of the Champaign and Urbana city councils struggling to come up with solutions for the problems they faced (some of them self-inflicted). I was just a kid during some of that, blissfully unaware of all of the tumult that existed in my community over various things.

That's what childhood's supposed to be about, though, isn't it? If it all possible, we are shielded from the discord of the world by those who raise us. There will be, for many, over half-a-century of adulthood to have to deal with problems and differences head-on. Why not let kids be kids, and enjoy life while they can - if they can? It's why going to the mall was always fun for me. It's why I have fond memories of it, even if now I more often enjoy perusing the local shops downtown. And it's why the 1980s was the best time to be alive.  *

* your mileage may vary