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Wingnut

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Blog Entries posted by Wingnut

  1. Wingnut
    First off, sorry for not posting a dead mall blog in May. I've been super busy lately. Anyway, the choice for June's mall was an easy one. Even though it closed July 1, 2015, I haven't been inside Granite Run for over a year. My last visit was May 30 of last year which was also Modell's (a sporting goods chain) last day there. There weren't many tenants left by that point, a dozen at the most. But amazingly, the fountain was still running as were all the escalators. In fact, I made several visits in the mall's final months and I was also there for Chick-fil-A's last day. Ironically this was the very first Chick-fil-A to open in Pennsylvania.
     
    The collapse of Granite Run Mall came as a surprise to me. Unlike other malls which closed in recent years, I saw no early signs of major trouble. There were anecdotal reports of vacancies around 2007 so I paid a visit. But it was still pretty well occupied with all the standard mall chains. I guess the recession which took hold the following year is what did the damage because by 2011 Simon walked away from the property, turning it over to its lender.
     
    The next year or two saw an increase in offbeat and unusual tenants including a short-lived dinosaur museum. Sadly, I never got to visit it. They also did this weird "I'm beautiful on the inside" campaign to try and drum up business. The mall would change hands a couple more times as foot traffic and stores continued to decline. Finally it would up in the possession of Toll Brothers which specializes in suburban residential developments who announced a new mixed use complex of apartments and stores would replace the mall. Granite Run was originally scheduled to close at the end of 2014 but interior access and occupancy lasted six additional months. Two of the three remaining anchors, Sears and Boscov's, will be retained as standalone stores. But the third one, JCPenney, closed in April of 2015 so Toll decided to raze it as well.
     
    Here is Dan Bell's piece on GRM during its last months of business.
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyOMm1tvJng
     
    And here is footage of GRM being razed. It's still hard for me to believe it's going, going, gone!
     

     
    Finally here's some drone footage of the mall in mid-demolition with a big hole where JCP used to be.
     

     
    Again, of the many malls around Philly, I didn't foresee this one getting the ax. 10 or 15 years ago, GRM was in better shape than Springfield Mall which is about seven miles up US 1. Springfield had lost one of its anchors, had no food court, no mall restrooms (customers had to use the department stores facilities if needed) and nagging vacancies. GRM looked more vibrant at the time. But rather then let it die, Springfield's owners, Simon and PREIT, undertook a major renovation. They also brought in Target as a new anchor. The effort paid off and today Springfield is a success story while GRM is being bulldozed. Oh well, at least Springfield has light rail service. :/
  2. Wingnut
    While there's a seemingly endless variety of feline oriented content on Youtube, there are three guys I keep going back to again and again.
     
    The first is The Mean Kitty. His cats Loki and Sparta never cease to keep viewers amused with their endless antics. This one where he offers to sell one of his cats as an April Fools' prank serves as a great introduction for those new to the series. "Middle part!"
     

     
    This next one is probably my favorite of the three. This is Steve Cash and he created The Talking Kitty series. Sylvester, an ill-tempered all black shorthair, lives with a younger cat named Gibson, a black lab dog named Shelby, and a couple of humans although Steve's fiance almost never appears on camera. The thing about Sylvester and Gibson is that their on camera personalities are almost identical to two of my cats! In Sylvester's world, all cats can talk but many have not mastered speech. Dogs on the other hand can only speak with the aid of a special collar (based on the movie Up). In this clip, Shelby girl is wearing hers.
     

     
    And finally we have N2 the Preppy Kitty. Sadly N2 is no longer with us as he succumbed to cancer at age 14 last year. But his spirit lives on through these videos. Most cats hate or tolerate having clothes put on him. But N2 honestly enjoyed it and even seemed to show off for the camera as you can see here.
     

     
    For the record, I've tried putting clothes on my cat and less than a minute later they've either pulled it off or walked out of it.
  3. Wingnut
    The sports world saw the departure of two legendary arenas this year. The Metrodome in Minneapolis and Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Both edifices are steeped in legend and lore. Both spent most of their lives hosting both baseball and football games (in recent years the SF Giants and Minnesota Twins moved into new baseball only parks). Both have countless memorable moments. But due to time and space constraints, I'm going to share just one from each here.
     
    If you're a fan of American Football, you may have heard about The Catch. This incredible play took place at Candlestick Park. The Dallas Cowboys were facing the San Francisco 49ers with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9TuFoh7bYc
     
    Candlestick Park: 1960-2013
     
    The unlike the 49ers, who won five Super Bowls during their tenure at Candlestick, the Vikings never made it to the Big Game during their stay at the Metrodome. Instead, it was the Minnesota Twins who brought two championships to the Twin Cities during its lifetime. But instead of a great moment in baseball, here's an infamous scene from 2010:
     

     
    The Metrodome: 1982-2013
     
    Both facilities are scheduled to be demolished soon. By the end, they had both fallen out of favor with the NFL and MLB which now largely insist on football or baseball only homes. They were showing their age and fans too were ready to move on. But while they may not be missed, they will always be remembered.
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