Yesterday's Posts
Spanning the globe, to bring you the constant variety of views about Victoria Gardens. Credit goes to Plosh for bringing some of the pieces together.
From the Inland Empire Report, back in October:
Well, the wife and I made the rounds at the new Victoria Gardens Mall in Rancho Cucamonga and I must say I’m really impressed....The 2 lane streets that run through the mall brings back fond memories of my childhood in South Carolina....I can honestly say that Rancho Cucamonga is now “The Beverly Hills” of the Inland Empire....
From the Ontario Empoblog, later in October:
The advantage of Victoria Gardens is that it is mostly outdoors.
The disadvantage of Victoria Gardens is that it is mostly outdoors. (It does rain here at times.)
The place is a bizarre juxtaposition of the modern and the (justified and) ancient. Murals of soda fountains and fake 1900-era building fronts are mixed in with Apple stores.
Best news - a Yard House will open Monday. Now if some restaurant features NTN, I'll be very happy there.
A slightly different view emerged from the mind of the Inland Empress by November:
...It's a glitzy, dumbed-down attempt at New Urbanism, the architectural religion that worships walkable downtowns and front-porch Americana....
Andrew Blum, in Slate, addresses the shortcomings of the general phenomenon:
At lifestyle centers, the most discernible theme is urbanism itself. Their developers recognize that "shopping" is only one urban entertainment among many, like eating at restaurants, people-watching, open-air concerts, or looking at art. More incredibly, lifestyle centers do all the things that urban planners have promoted for years as ways of counteracting sprawl: squeeze more into less space, combine a mix of activities, and employ a fine-grained street grid to create a public realm—a "sidewalk ballet," in Jane Jacobs' alluring phrase. The irony is almost too perfect: Malls are now being designed to resemble the downtown commercial districts they replaced. What sweet vindication for urban sophisticates!
Not quite. Lifestyle centers are privately owned space, carefully insulated from the messiness of public life. Desert Ridge, for example, has a rigorous code of conduct, posted beneath its store directory. The list of forbidden activities includes "non-commercial expressive activity"—not to mention "excessive staring" and "taking photos, video or audio recording of any store, product, employee, customer or officer." "Photos of shopping party with shopping center décor, as a backdrop," however, are permitted.
This is our public realm? Lifestyle centers aren't any worse than malls as gathering places; in fact, they're a lot better-designed, successfully capturing most of the pleasures of walking down a city street. And yet, if it's crossed your mind that, as a society, we're getting a little confused about our right to freedom of expression, then lifestyle centers are a fair target. There's something a bit unhealthy about faux public places designed to attract rich people and make them feel comfortable. (At least the traditional mall didn't try to hide the fact that it was a shopping center.) The lifestyle center is a bizarre outgrowth of the suburban mentality: People want public space, even if making that space private is the only way to get it.
For a variant on the Victoria Gardens theme, take Brea Downtown, at Brea Blvd. and Birch St., Brea CA 92821. Unlike Victoria Gardens, Brea Downtown allows real traffic through the area. However, there's an urban planning feel to the affair:
minimum operating hours
Monday through Saturday
10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P M.
Sunday
12:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Movie theatres and restaurant hours vary.
Merchants are encouraged to maximize business opportunities by mirroring theater & restaurant hours, especially weekend nights.
merchant hours policy
Shops are to open precisely at or before published hours.
Stores are not allowed to close before published closing hours unless approved by landlord and Brea Downtown Management....
technical & janitorial
If requesting technical or janitorial services for clean-ups or disturbances in the common area, please call the Management Office at 714.674.0801. When the Management Office is closed, please contact the Police Annex directly at 714.990.7625.
Most in-store occurrences are the store's responsibility, including theft, light bulb replacement, plumbing issues and window washing....
deliveries
All deliveries are to be made before 10:00 A.M. or after 9:30 P.M. Any variation in the delivery schedule must be communicated in advance to the management office....
Banners & signs
To maintain a professional, top-quality image, temporary promotional banners on storefronts are not allowed. instead, we recommend laser-cut lettering affixed to glass or other surfaces, window decals, or professionally printed signs. Handwritten signs affixed with tape are not permitted under any circumstances. In addition, A-frame sidewalk signs are not permitted, and 22" x 28" sign holders must be kept behind lease lines. These create unsightly visual clutter as well as liability and trip hazards....
code of etiquette
Brea Downtown abides by generally accepted rules of behavior for public places. Please report all infractions to the Brea Police Annex or by calling 714.990.7625 if you witness:
• Skateboarding • cruising • illegally parked cars • vandalism
• breakage • personal emergencies • suspicious behavior
Well, at least Brea Downtown doesn't have traffic calming. Not yet.
OK, so I agree that these places are antiseptic and (in the false sense of the word) fascist. (I say false because, while it's a government-business partnership, business still calls the shots. In a true fascist state, the businesses are subservient to the government.) Point taken, but so what?
- I'm not depending upon MegaMall to be my church - I have a church.
- I'm not depending upon MegaMall to be my social matchmaker - I'm married.
- I'm not depending upon MegaMall to entertain me - actually, I take that back, depending upon where the next NTN locations are set up. But obviously such entertainment can be found elsewhere.
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