Found: Gimbels, the South Mall at Mayfair, Hiway 100 at North Ave., Waustosa 13, Wisconsin copyright the L.L. Cook Co. from an Ektachrome Transparency, 1959, 1961. |
Found:Office Building at Mayfair Shopping Center, Hiway 100 at
North Ave., Waustosa 13, Wisconsi copyright the L.L. Cook Co. from an Ektachrome Transparency, 1963. |
Anyone searching for consumer utopia unlike the old downtown streets of Wisconsin circa early 20th century? Three views of Mayfair circa 1959 when it was a shopping center--recently opened with 70 stores (Gimbels and Marshall Field and Company were the original "anchors") and not a mall like today with a blog--show a clean, tree-filled, uncongested, wide-open pedestrian space for shopping. Photographer Brian Ulrich has examined the demise and/or evolution of such places in the 21st century in his most excellent book: Is This Place Great or What (Aperture, 2011).
I remember ice skating at Mayfair mall as well as the babbling brook inside the mall. I had a joke related to a store at Mayfair. What did the bird say when if flew over K-mart? "cheap cheap" and what did the bird say when if flew over Gimbles? "expensive expensive"
ReplyDeleteIt seemed funny back then.