The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 49
Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.
The redevelopment of White Flint Mall is still just a Gordon Gekko-esque dream on Rockville Pike. Property owner Lerner Enterprises has fenced off the site, on which only the Lord & Taylor portion of the mall remains standing, surrounded by its former parking lots. That hasn't stopped vandals from trespassing, as the graffiti and boarded-up windows testify. The vast majority of the mall site remains an overgrown patch of weeds and grass, as nature reclaims what was once Montgomery County's ultimate shopping destination.
There's no news on the Lerner website. White Flint Mall's legacy is such an afterthought for the company, that it has placed a photo of it where one of Landover Mall is meant to be on the site. Quelle horreur! Another summer where the property could have been converted into a drive-in theater has nearly passed into history without a single screening of Star Wars or The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
White Flint Mall still speaks to those who watch and listen for the signs. A god, an idol, has arisen among the former parking stalls of Lord & Taylor. Its head a golden sphere, its arms outstretched in a martyr's T-pose. Yet the arms are uplifted, reassuring us that in some other dimension all is well at White Flint Mall. The Singapore Firecracker Chicken and Mongolian Beef at P.F. Chang's are still better than whatever you're eating tonight in Montgomery County, the glass elevators still go all the way up to The Loft, Carrie is screening four months after its release on the March 7, 1977 grand opening night of The Movies, the mallwalking Soviet ambassador still has all the right toppings on his foot-long hot dog, and it still takes a good hour to thoroughly peruse the magazine racks at Borders.
But back in this dimension, redevelopment plans remain as moribund as Montgomery County itself. The Late Stage Capitalism Express is arriving at the White Flint, er, "North Bethesda" station. "All aboarrrrrrrrd! Next stop: The Dark Side of White Flint."
There's no news on the Lerner website. White Flint Mall's legacy is such an afterthought for the company, that it has placed a photo of it where one of Landover Mall is meant to be on the site. Quelle horreur! Another summer where the property could have been converted into a drive-in theater has nearly passed into history without a single screening of Star Wars or The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
 |
| An idol has arisen |
White Flint Mall still speaks to those who watch and listen for the signs. A god, an idol, has arisen among the former parking stalls of Lord & Taylor. Its head a golden sphere, its arms outstretched in a martyr's T-pose. Yet the arms are uplifted, reassuring us that in some other dimension all is well at White Flint Mall. The Singapore Firecracker Chicken and Mongolian Beef at P.F. Chang's are still better than whatever you're eating tonight in Montgomery County, the glass elevators still go all the way up to The Loft, Carrie is screening four months after its release on the March 7, 1977 grand opening night of The Movies, the mallwalking Soviet ambassador still has all the right toppings on his foot-long hot dog, and it still takes a good hour to thoroughly peruse the magazine racks at Borders.
But back in this dimension, redevelopment plans remain as moribund as Montgomery County itself. The Late Stage Capitalism Express is arriving at the White Flint, er, "North Bethesda" station. "All aboarrrrrrrrd! Next stop: The Dark Side of White Flint."
"This is a very special part of America. The highest part." - H.V. Waldrove of the Netherlands, after touring White Flint Mall in 1978
6 comments:
I wish they'd left alone the trees that sprang up in the field there. It was nice to see a bit of the built-upon universe being returned to the wild whence it started. I guess such an idea was simply too much for the new owners to tolerate, though. Nature in any form, even scraggly junk trees, must be felled and paved over.
Interesting how quickly nature can reclaim something. I always liked driving in the back before it got fenced off.
Shame, all this mixed use housing that TPTB say we need, yet all this is just going to weeds.
Learning
Bygone are the days when Borders Bookstore was the center of attraction. . .
Lerner has used their temporary open space by the Tysons Metro to hold events, including Cirque du Soleil and Fall festivals.
I'm baffled why Lerner doesn't take advantage of this huge open area to benefit the community until it's finally redeveloped.
Of course there's graffiti on the windows...SMDH
NoVa doesn't tolerate riff raff like we do. Anything public nowadays is wrought with liability.
Post a Comment