We may not have been the first generation to experience malls or the last but we are definitely the generation that Made them iconic. What malls do you remember that really stick out in your mind or meant something to you?

We had so many miles in our region there must’ve been at least 20 within easy driving distance… About an hour or so… But I’ll give you the top three that really stick out in my memories…

1… beaver Valley Mall, Beaver Pennsylvania. I am told by my parents that this was the first mall I ever visited, and it definitely is the first mall I am aware of in my memories. It was a two level mall and what really stands out to me is that in the atrium/mezzanine openings they had tall two story birdcages made of iron bars with a vast ray of tropical birds living there. Tons of parrots macaws and others. it was definitely a key attraction and probably went a long way to keep kids from constantly complaining about having to walk from store to store for what seemed like back then hours and hours.

2… Myrtle Square, Mall, Myrtle Beach SC Overall this was a rather plane and small mall that we visited while we’re on vacation. The one thing I remember most about it is the central atrium was one giant clock… Around the border of the Dome skylight were 60 lights or so that went up to mark the hour and minutes. I know there was a big number 12 but I can’t remember anymore if it had numbers at each hour or just at the 3, 6, and nine slots. I also think that there was a secondhand series of lights that clicked around the dome but I’m not sure if that was an accurate memory or not.

Underneath the clock dome where gigantic fixtures in the shape of gears Springs and other clock parts. I don’t remember if this was some kind of intentional designated playground but I do know that climbing on these clock parts was a popular activity. Another fond memory is that there was a magazine new stand store in one corner of the mall with comic books spinner racks, and it was there that I learned as a seven-year-old in 1977 that the Star Wars comic book had gone from being a movie adaptation miniseries to a regular monthly title!

3… monroeville mall, Monroeville Pennsylvania. Another early two level mall, it’s not the two levels or the ice-skating rink in the center that really makes thismall stand out in my mind. It was this mall’s appearance in the 1979 zombie movie “Dawn of the Dead.” My parents had done an extremely good job of making sure that I understood that movies and TV weren’t real, but then they took me to a movie that didn’t take place in some far off almost mythical place like New York or Los Angeles but in a mall that I regularly visit it! It now has a distinction of the only horror movie that ever bothered me to this day I still have trouble eating pastas and things like chili or beef con Carne because it reminds me of the blood and guts the zombies were eating in that film.

All right! Tag you’re it!…