Atlanta, Georgia
urban form comprised of elements distinctly suburbantags
relative to items observed and noted within case studies
car sales
Northeast Plaza – An informal car dealership has sprung up on the south end of the parking lot, in front of El Rey de Todos. Several trucks and cars with handwritten for sale signs are perused by several men.
waiting
Northeast Plaza – Several men read auto listings while waiting on their laundry
shouting
Northeast Plaza – "Fuck you n***a!" a man screams into his phone while walking through the breezeway. The conversation abruptly turns cordial.
talking
Northeast Plaza – "You know what i'm sayin'" a man says to another in front of Goodfellas Pizza.
exercising
Northeast Plaza – A family emerges from Bodyplex, covered in sweat while a man, still inside and on a treadmill, watches them
driving
Northeast Plaza – Cars zip around with drivers looking for spots or exits
eating
Northeast Plaza – The crowds at Ryan's and King Buffet pour in for lunch
Blasting
Northeast Plaza – The sound of reggaeton that emanates from Discos Mania is not unlike those that emanate from many of the cars in the parking lot
Hooky
Midtown Promenade – The kids at nearby Grady High School find ready refuge in Midtown Promenade from the stress of the classroom. They zip over Monroe Drive with stealth and find shelter in the Midtown Arts Cinema or the aisles at Trader Joe's. Perhaps they sit at Starbucks, sip on their coffee and think of their classmates as "suckers."
Yoga
Midtown Promenade – Walking past Stillwater Yoga I happen to peer through a opening in the studio's curtains. A class is in session and I see bodies slicked with sweat and deeply exhaling. Something unsettles me as I watch these people so conscious in their own bodies. I quickly move on.
Scootering
Midtown Promenade – Scooters deftly ride upon the sidewalks and find parking on the sidewalk by Apres Diem.
Drinking
Midtown Promenade – From roughly 6pm to very late in the evening, people throw 'em back. Walking along the strip mall's sidewalks the smell of beer and fried foods hangs heavy in the cacophonous air.
Conversing
Midtown Promenade – "I'm breaking in front of everyone!" a man exclaims as he purloins a cigarette from his companion's pack. He presumably hasn't smoked for some undetermined amount of time. From ultra-personal to super-mundane, conversations populate the patios of Midtown Promenade.
Carwashing
Belvedere Plaza – An ad hoc, open-air carwash is operating at one end of the parking lot. A loud pressure washer sits in the bed of a truck and men in red shirts wash and detail cars. How the chrome rims gleam on a cloudy day.
Littering
Belvedere Plaza – A young man hastily and carelessly discards a box for a cologne he's just purchased, Arctic Blue: For Men. The box settles in a crack in the curb.
Getting High
Belvedere Plaza – A man sits in his car with tinted windows. The windshield is not tinted and I can see in his hand is a rather large doobie. There are two police cars, with police inside, parked about 100 yards away. They may never know or they might not care.
Sexual Healing
Belvedere Plaza – A large truck rolls through the parking lot blaring Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." The music is not loud enough to drown out the driver, who is singing along with Marvin.
Arguing
Belvedere Plaza – Walking briskly past the dentist office, two people, a man and a woman, are engaged in a heated discussion. They continue their diligent walking pace, only their words increase in speed.
Making Nice
Belvedere Plaza – Breaking from his conversation, a man with glasses shouts "Ain't you a sight for sore eyes, glad I got four of 'em!" at a woman passing by.
Appealing
Belvedere Plaza – In the parking lot I'm greeted with "Sir, I'm just a man of God... could you help me out with some change." He's a man of no more than 19, clutching an almost new bible in his right hand and wearing big stove-pipe jeans and a hoodie.
Arguing
Center Point Plaza – A couple sits within a black SUV at the periphery of the parking lot. The raised tones and pitched inflections of argument can be heard over the din of construction and the whisper of the breeze.
Cobbling
Center Point Plaza – A man hands his shoes over to Bob, the proprietor of Bob's Shoe Repair. The worn soles will have to be replaced.
Eating
Center Point Plaza – Were it not for the two exquisite Indian restaurants at the extreme ends of the strip mall, Center Point Plaza would perhaps lose all relevance in people's minds.
Construction
Center Point Plaza – Men in hardhats filter in and out of the fence that encloses the cavity in the center of the strip mall. Backhoes claw at the asphalt and dirt on the northern edge of the strip mall.
Vast
Northeast Plaza – Walking Northeast Plaza end to end several times, I can't escape the vastness of the space. The variety of stores, atmospheric impressions, and activities make the space seem expansive beyond its concrete edges.
Desolate
Northeast Plaza – The vastness of Northeast Plaza and the large amount of vacant store fronts give it an air of desolation. The feeling varies from place to place in relation to the time. For instance, the area around Clinica Union is almost excruciatingly desolate after the clinic has closed.
Bustling
Northeast Plaza – The large variety of shops ensures that something is happening in one space or another within Northeast Plaza at any given time: traffic jams in front Mercado Del Pueblo in the mid-afternoon; the early-morning workout crowd at Bodyplex; queues of cars in drive-throughs at anytime; long-waits at the self-serve carwash on the weekends; revelers exiting Atlanta Peach Ballroom, Pool House and Funtime Bowl in the late-evening.
Edged In
Midtown Promenade – Atlanta landmarks stare down upon Midtown Promenade. City Hall East from the South, the skyline of Midtown to the West, Piedmont Park to the North. Yet the strip mall somehow feels distant. Ponce de Leon Avenue, just a couple hundred yards away by foot, is at least five minutes away by car.
Uneasy
Midtown Promenade – Immediately juxtaposed with the very mundane Midtown Cleaners and Tuesday Morning, two doors away from where I buy my soy milk at Trader Joe's, The 3 Legged Cowboy sits uneasily. I'm not sure what happens in there from 6pm to 2:30am on a random Wednesday or Friday, but I have a feeling that I may never know. And I think I'm ok with that.
Amazement
Midtown Promenade – The brass-work giraffes stretch their necks above the aisles at Richard's Variety Store overlooking an eclectic collection of goods: slippers, greeting cards, candles and incense, more brass-work animals, textiles... to name a few. This pastiche of goods is prefaced by carefully scrawled signs on the store's doors and windows. Taking it all in produces a mild feeling of the sublime.
Relaxed
Midtown Promenade – The din of casual conversation on the various patios coupled with the embrace of the warm southern clime creates a lax atmosphere in many parts of Midtown Promenade.
Bawdy
Midtown Promenade – As the alcohol flows and the sun goes down, the conversation that was once a subtle din finds a louder volume and is now mixed with loud music from the bars. When the bars let out at 2:30am the scene is markedly different than the Volvo filled parking lot during the day or the loafer wearing happy hour set.
Large
Belvedere Plaza – Belvedere Plaza is a long strip along Memorial Parkway. There are about 50 store fronts and several bends and nooks in the main structure.
Unwelcoming
Belvedere Plaza – The lack of sit-down restaurants may be one reasons, but the overall feeling in Belvedere Plaza is that it's a place I don't want to spend a great deal of time in. This is compounded by the fact that I'm a weirdo with a clipboard.
Lethargic
Belvedere Plaza – The Customer Service queue at Kroger Citi-Center is 15 people deep. The rolling eyes and sighs of customers have no impact on their wait. All of these people will most likely be served by the sole customer service representative that has been there all morning and is in no hurry.
Surprise
Belvedere Plaza – "Hold up," she says to the two men she's walking with with. Turning to me she exclaims "I used to roll at Little 5 back in the day and you got the hippy thing goin' on! You remind me of those dudes!" She continues "Lookin' good. You holdin' it down Little 5 all right!" I am suprised, flattered and manage a "Thanks!" We exchange high-fives. My day is made.
Alive
Belvedere Plaza – There is always something happening in Belvedere Plaza. Conversations everywhere. Construction. Shopping. The vibe is, well, vibrant. Despite the few empty storefronts, the sense is that people will be coming to this place for sometime.
Dangerous
Belvedere Plaza – Wary glances, quick moving cars with tinted windows, massive potholes, lots of cops... Belvedere Plaza's unwelcoming impression can often give way to a feeling of danger.
Emptiness
Center Point Plaza – Largely due to the huge cavity in the heart of the strip mall and the boarded, vacant store fronts, a feeling of emptiness is pervasive in Center Point Plaza.
Bizarre
Center Point Plaza – While it looks like any other dying strip mall, one gets the sense that it's the only place in the world where he can eat an Indian lunch, buy Serbian hip hop CDs, browse Diwali supplies, replace hearing aid batteries, secure a new filter for a 20 gallon saltwater fish tank and have his shoes repaired in one trip.
Sad
Center Point Plaza – The vacant store fronts, the gaping cavity, the tire tracks that intimate a hasty retreat, the ennui of remaining proprietors all imbue this space with a hefty sadness.
Specialized
Center Point Plaza – The amount of specialized retailers in Center Point Plaza gives the impression that these shops are very important for very distinct reasons.
cologne
Northeast Plaza – Close to the southern strip of the mall, many men pass by wearing strong cologne
cleaner
Northeast Plaza – The smell of cleaning chemicals is strong on the pressure washed sidewalks in the morning
naked mannequins
Northeast Plaza – Two columns of female mannequins, completely denuded, stand two-deep in the store front of Brookhammer Casual. The store is closing and everything is $5
live catfish/live tilapia
Northeast Plaza – In Mercado Del Pueblo's crisp, clean tanks, fish swim in crystal water under bright lights
black and mild
Northeast Plaza – Quickly passing the dentist's, a woman is smoking a Black and Mild. The air is sweet
urine
Northeast Plaza – The odor of urine is strongest at dusk by the Atlanta Peach Ballroom. Late night revelers evacuate their bladders on the sidewalk
fabric softener
Northeast Plaza – In front of the laundromat the scent of fabric softener can be smelled three rows deep into the parking lot
yellow and red
Northeast Plaza – All of the store fronts have yellow plaster and red bricks
hand-written signs
Northeast Plaza – Hand-written signs are everywhere from business, to light posts, to bulletin boards
The Dollar District
Northeast Plaza – One stretch of Northeast Plaza boasts a surprising variety of dollar stores: Family Dollar, 99¢ Mart, Dollar Tree.
Dogs!
Midtown Promenade – Dogs are everywhere. Parked in front of Trader Joe's, tied to patio rails at Apres Diem, F.R.O.G.S., or Mellow Mushroom. Dogs.
Obscured
Midtown Promenade – Next to Mellow Mushroom and behind Starbucks, The UPS Store and Nam restaurant sit quiet and unmolested.
Panhandling
Midtown Promenade – Throwing words like "brother man," "sir," "ma'am," and "hey," people bounce from person to person, from the parking lot to the sidewalk looking for spare change. Sometimes it's for "the bus," or "gas," or "food."
Purple Trim
Midtown Promenade – Strips of purple peek out from between the ruddy red bricks of Midtown Promenade's facade. They lend a (very) subtle intimation of Carnival.
Nikki Sixx
Midtown Promenade – Nikki Sixx's likeness stares at me as I walk to the bathroom in the Highlander. This painting boasts a hefty price tag and is totally awesome.
Vinyl Signs
Midtown Promenade – Vinyl signs hang from the railings of balconies and patios. They exist to communicate drink specials or let passersby simply know that such-and-such business exists.
Path to Ponce
Midtown Promenade – At the very edge of the back lot, a well worn dirt path can take pedestrians to an adjoining strip mall that sits directly on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
Fire
Belvedere Plaza – I turn a corner and a bright orange flame catches my eye. A young Kroger employee is taking his break in the Kroger club car and lighting his cigarette with a very strong lighter.
New York Style
Belvedere Plaza – A carryout joint simply named "China" boasts a large handwritten menu in its window. In a sign nearby the cuisine is proclaimed "Chinese Food New York Style." Thoughts of gloopy, cornstarch laden sauces and steamy white rice make my mouth water.
America
Belvedere Plaza – ...is a sandwich. There are several signs for American Sandwich Shop. My favorite is the one that hangs in the breezeway. The font used for "American" conjures images of strip malls past and delis I have known before.
Buffalo Wings
Belvedere Plaza – Several restaurants, American Sandwich Shop and China in particular, want you to know that they have buffalo wings and they are available for you to purchase.
Handwritten Signs
Belvedere Plaza – Several shops have handwritten signs in their windows. The most striking example can be found at Keep On Stitching. Large black and red marker strokes adorn hot, yellow neon posterboard.
Five-O
Belvedere Plaza – At the far west point of the strip mall, a fenced-in lot has 5 sheriff's cruisers, 3 marked, 2 unmarked, and a crime scene investigation van. The police presence is palpable in the strip as Dekalb County cruisers regularly zip through the parking lot.
Donate
Belvedere Plaza – With two clothing boxes, a books box, and a Value Village, Belvedere Plaza offers several options for people looking to donate unwanted goods.
Detritus
Belvedere Plaza – Most strip malls have a fair amount of debris floating around, but Belvedere Plaza has more. A small doll peers at me from the ground, it's soulless eyes asking me "Will you be my mommy?" I answer "No!" in my head, snap a photo and keep moving.
Pigeons
Center Point Plaza – Pigeons are everywhere. Perched atop light posts, they descend capriciously to the large, vacant portions of the parking lot, sometimes to menace pedestrians, sometimes to get a change of scenery.
Tire Tracks
Center Point Plaza – Jet black tracks streak across the usually vacant central parking lot.
Secret
Center Point Plaza – Behind Saravanaa Bhavan, hidden in the trees, is a worn sign for Po Folks. A vestige of the past that leafless trees feel no need to obscure. The sign reads Po Folks Seafood–Chicken and so-forth.
Contained above and listed are tags representing notes – impressionistic, performative and observed– relative to all case studies engaged.
Click a tag to discover more information as it pertains to said tag. To the right you will find brief explanations of the tag types.
Activities
24
quantity of notes taken relating to human activities.
Impression
18
quantity of notes taken relating to cognitive impressions.
Observations
28
quantity of notes taken relating to general observations.
208
All malls
The Perimeter, I-285, Atlanta's de facto boundary encompasses 208 strip malls. Case studies, of which there are four, are thusly denoted:
. All other strip malls, of which there are 204, are thusly denoted: 
.
meta malls
or malls within malls, the case of the super nodeDefying categorization conventions and not large enough &ndash nor thoroughly explored – to warrant case study pages of their own, it is at this juncture that the instances of the meta mall will be presented.
Meta malls offer many goods and services analogous to those in the strip mall within which they are encased. However, they are situated within large stores, within large strip malls. The meta malls encountered were located within Belvedere Plaza, Kroger Citi-Center, and Northeast Plaza, Mercado Del Pueblo.
They simultaneously presented the observer with a sense of being in a flea market or souk and looking at a painting with another painting of itself within the very same painting. Or encountering one of those Russian dolls in strip mall form.
Kroger Citi-Center - Belvedere Plaza
There are 13 little shops in Kroger Citi-Center. The bulk of the mini-stores are personal services and a couple are empty. Save the jewelry and the generically named “waxing” parlor, most of these stores have equivalents in the regular strip mall.
Stores by type
Personal Services: 9
69%Personal Goods: 2
15.5%Empty: 2
15.5%Mercado Del Pueblo - Northeast Plaza
Not including the food counter or hair salon, there are 9 little kiosks mingled with walls of tortillas, Central American cheeses and exotic cuts of meat (you can purchase whole goat heads). Many of the kiosks are just small tables. Some, like the phone card kiosk, are really bare and have single employees and meagre stocks.
Stores by type
Personal Services: 5
45%Personal Goods: 4
36%Other: 2
19%