Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 

On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Joseph and Nathan discuss one of the biggest culprits of car-oriented development in the mid-20th century: malls. The boys begin by surveying several malls in Chicago (900 N. Michigan, The Water Tower Place, Block 37, and Ford City Mall) before delving into the largest malls in the country (Mall of America, American Dream Mall, and King of Prussia Mall). They then discuss a multitude of mall brands, noting the mall goth feedback loop generated by Hot Topic and the toxicity of Bath and Body Works. They conclude by discussing the urbanist critique of malls and what should be done with dying ones. 

Links:

The Economics and Nostalgia of Dead Malls by Nelson D. Schwartz

The Great American Shopping Mall: Past, Present, and Future by Spencer Li

The Perfectly Optimized Building for Late Capitalism - Stewart Hicks

Opening of Minnesota's Southdale Center

99 Percent Invisible: Meet me by the fountain

How Malls Are Evolving In The U.S

What Is a Class A Mall?

Why Restaurants Have Become So Important To Shopping Malls

Water Tower Place ‘Past Its Prime’ As A Mall — But Mag Mile Recovery In Full Swing, Backers Say by Melody Mercado

The Only Thing To Do in a Dying Mall by Edward Robert McClelland

What is The Metropolitan? What to know about the new urban village in Phoenix by Taylor Seely

Meet the ‘Queen Spinner of Shell Shock,’ a local celebrity at MOA by Nicole Ki

Spencer’s Gifts existed back in the ‘40s as a mail order catalog that sold donkeys

Yankee Candles Levels of Abstraction

Mall Chicken Made Me Feel More American by Su Jit-Lin

Luxurydeptstore Instagram account

The Great Places Erased by Suburbia - Notjustbikes

What We Should (Actually) Do with Dying Malls - Chuck from Strong Towns

Artwork:

1990s aerial photo of Glendale Galleria and pre-Americana

Recorded on 6/22/2025