I think the old Cinderella City Mall in Denver was better off before they tried to fix it up

3 comments

3 Comments

josephl671mo agoMost Upvoted

It's like places get too obsessed with "improvement" and lose the soul. Old malls had that weird mix of stores and faded carpet that just felt real. Now every new renovation tries to make it all shiny and sterile, same generic chain restaurants and white walls. They sand down all the rough edges and end up with something that could be anywhere. That old Cinderella City probably had some charm in its datedness, like a worn-out bar you actually want to hang at versus some fancy cocktail lounge.

the_sam1mo ago

Got a buddy who used to work security at a dying mall back in the 2000s. He'd tell me about this old arcade in the basement that still had those sticky floors and the smell of stale popcorn. Place was barely hanging on with maybe fifteen stores open, but he said the regulars treated it like their living room. One janitor had been there since the 80s and knew every nook and cranny, would point out where the old water fountains used to be. They closed it down in 2012, gutted it, and now it's a mixed use development with a Target. My friend says he never feels that same sense of place when he walks in there now, just a clean box with a grocery section.

vera_murphy1mo ago

That part about the old arcade with sticky floors and stale popcorn smell really hit home. I had a favorite diner like that, worn down but it had character, and when they remodeled it to be "modern" it just felt like any other clean, boring restaurant.