As I mentioned in the "about me" recap above, I wasn’t that thrilled about the shopping centers my parents tried to drag me to when I was in elementary school. I did love going to the mall as a toddler, though, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the countless hours I’ve spent at those high, holy places of merchandise procurement from my teen years forward.
When I was in pre-school, I used to go visit my Grandmother at her post in the Men’s Department of Richards in Miami Beach’s 163rd Street Mall. I just loved seeing her in her stylish dresses and tasteful pins or scarves with that tape measure draped carefully around her neck. I also remember riding the carousel just outside of that mall and sitting on my Grandpa’s lap while he, in red suit with white fur trim, shiny black boots and faux beard, fulfilled his store Santa duties.
At age 13, I got my ears pierced at Ivey’s in the old Winter Park Mall, now Winter Park Village. I also spent many an hour there reading funny cards at the Hallmark store and checking out all the latest fashions at Casual Corner, 5-7-9 and Foxmoor.
During most Augusts in the 1970s, I spent some amount of time at the Park City Center in Lancaster, PA marveling at the sheer abundance of boots, winter coats and sweaters that it had to offer. Often my favorite outfit of the new school year was purchased at that mall as an early birthday present from my Grandma.
During the 1980s, I organized Hello Kitty paraphernalia on the shelves of a Pompano Fashion Square card shop and I greeted customers and put clothes on mannequins at both the Orlando Fashion Square Mall and the Fayette Mall in Lexington, KY.
These were all mall crushes though. The mall that had my heart was always the Altamonte Mall. In fact, my relationship with it predates most of my friendships.
The Altamonte Mall doesn’t have an Anthropologie. It doesn’t have a Williams & Sonoma. It doesn’t have a Pottery Barn and it doesn’t have Saks. What it does have is a lot of history. Much of my life has unfolded in or around that Seminole County shopping mecca.
The center court of the Altamonte Mall circa 1974
I started frequenting the Altamonte Mall in 1974, the year it opened. My Dad used to come up from South Florida every other weekend to hang out with my sister, my brother and me. We usually ended up spending some part of each of those weekends at the Altamonte Mall. My favorite things to do there during that era were: 1) Get a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins. 2) Stare at the pictures of the perfect girls on the Jordan Marsh teen board wall and wish I was one of them and 3) Try on cute outfits my mother would’ve never let me wear in a store that had actual car doors on hinges for fitting room doors.
I learned to drive in the Altamonte Mall parking lot. I hung out with friends at the Altamonte Mall Farrell’s as a teen. (See my October 14th post.) Long before the AMC 18 was ever built, I went on dates in the much smaller theater that used to be over near Sears. I worked at the Altamonte Mall in the late 80s/early 90s (as a “Personnel Manager” at what was then Maison Blanche). I ate Taco Bell at the Altamonte Mall Food Court the night before I delivered my son, in order to hasten his arrival. I shuttled a lot of kids to and from the mall over the years, specifically to and from the movie theater, and my child worked at the Altamonte Mall PAC SUN one summer when he was in high school.
A year ago, Hot Heads moved from the Altamonte Mall to the Seminole Towne Center. You would think, given the depth of the mall-patron bond I outlined above, that my allegiance would be to the mall not to the salon. You would think I’d simply start getting my hair done at that well known chain salon that’s not too far from those center court kiosks. You would be wrong. I love the Altamonte Mall, but sometimes love just isn’t enough. After all, this is my hair we’re talking about!
I’ve told the Altamonte Mall that we’ll remain friends. I even have plans to see it on Friday, as my friend, Carissa, and I will be meeting at the Barnes & Noble that afternoon. It won’t be the same though. I know it and the Altamonte Mall knows it. Sure, I’ll still carry those memories in my heart and sure I’ll always care, but if I’m able to scrounge up any money for Christmas gifts, chances are I’ll spend that money at the Seminole Towne Center after a visit to Hot Heads. If there is a birthday card to be purchased, the odds are good that it will be purchased at JerieAnne’s Hallmark near the Seminole Towne Center Dillard’s while I’m walking the mall showing off a new do.
Though this isn’t an easy break up, it is certainly amicable. After taking a gander at my newly coiffed hair this past weekend, the Altamonte Mall, took the high road and told me it understood and wanted me to be happy.
I had acquaintances in college who drove across state lines for White Castle burgers. I had an old boyfriend who drove eight hours once to see a B52s in concert in Atlanta and family lore has it that my uncle once drove from California to New Jersey for a piece of my Grandmother’s chocolate cake. (Well, there was a little more to that story, but you get the point.) If you find something you are crazy about, you do what you have to do to keep it in your life.
The Seminole Towne Center is twelve miles east of the Altamonte Mall. TWELVE MILES! I have friends who run that far before they go to work in the morning. A twelve mile drive is an infinitesimally small sacrifice to make for hair that falls the right way and for good highlights.
Below, please find a little song I penned to commemorate the important role the Altamonte Mall played in my life for so many years. (It might be more accurate to say that I just tweaked the lyrics of an existing song, Bruce Springsteen’s Fire.) It's my humble way of saying goodbye and thankyou to a mall that will always retain a place in my heart. Anyway, without further ado… I give you:
If You Say I Won't Miss That Mall, My Friend, You're A Liar
I learned to drive my car in the mall parking lot .
I ate some ice cream there … and lots of clothes I bought.
I interviewed teens …and told ‘em they were hired
And if things went south, ooooohhh…. said they were FIRED!
It had a hold on me, right from the start
A grip so tight I couldn’t tear it apart.
Watched movies there and window shopped like a fool.
When the temp was hot …the Altamonte Mall was cool
Bakers and Anne Taylor Loft, Ulta and Bebe
I really love those stores… love ‘em more than I can say!
Shoes, bags, jeans and makeup… so many things to desire.
This mall I’ll miss… this is making me a CRIER!
When pregnant and past due, I was real worrywart
To speed things along, I hit the food court
I ordered burritos so hot …. they made me perspire
And tacos with a sauce called… ooohh… FIRE
I found a salon I loved… a place that stole my heart
They didn’t just style hair, they were purveyors of art
They put my hair in foils and sat me under the dryer
When they took them out… ooohh, my hair looked hot as FIRE
Now I’m driving in my car, I turn on the radio
East on I-4 is the direction I go
Gotta get to Hot Heads. This root situation is dire
For a great cut and color, ooohhh… I’d walk through FIRE!
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