A glance at the March 15 issue of The New Yorker: The history of the mall
Fifty years ago, Victor Gruen, a voluble architect from Vienna, invented the mall. His creation, just outside Minneapolis, has spawned thousands of imitators and has changed how America -- and much of the rest of the world -- goes shopping, writes Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for the magazine.
In the article, Mr. Gladwell describes how the first mall was different from shopping centers that preceded it. “Gruen had the idea of putting the whole complex under one roof, with air-conditioning for the summer and heat for the winter,” he writes. Other innovations included a cafe, a fishpond, trees, and a “21-foot cage filled with bright-colored birds.” The result was like nothing anyone had seen before.
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