Picture-A-Week 2018 - Week 16

Pictures taken between Monday, April 16 and Sunday, April 22.

Bald eagles at the nest. There will be chicks by next month.

https://photos.shutterfly.com/full/73843223012

Let's try this one....

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/services/mediarender/THISLIFE/022024841406/media/73843223012/medium/1524281839/enhance

Let's try this one....

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/services/mediarender/THISLIFE/022024841406/media/73843223012/medium/1524281839/enhance

Can see this one.

Nice!

Dave

Since 1968 our local mall was bookended by two major department stores with a third in the middle. Another major and a second level was added in the mid-’80s. It was renovated again in the ‘90s and the building in the photo became a Macy’s. Sometime in the last ten years or so, Macy’s moved to the other end land left the building vacant. After a few years without a tenant, the decision was made replace it with a dine-in theater complex and a new batch of restaurants. Big machines and massive destruction are like a magnet to my inner five-year-old. Demolition is well underway, so I had to shoot some photos. I struck photographic gold with a gigantic pile of twisted rebar as a foreground.

The End Of An Era

Dave

Let's try this one....

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/services/mediarender/THISLIFE/022024841406/media/73843223012/medium/1524281839/enhance

Great picture.

Glad you got a better link as the original one took me to my own pictures on shutterfly.

Since 1968 our local mall was bookended by two major department stores with a third in the middle. Another major and a second level was added in the mid-’80s. It was renovated again in the ‘90s and the building in the photo became a Macy’s. Sometime in the last ten years or so, Macy’s moved to the other end land left the building vacant. After a few years without a tenant, the decision was made replace it with a dine-in theater complex and a new batch of restaurants. Big machines and massive destruction are like a magnet to my inner five-year-old. Demolition is well underway, so I had to shoot some photos. I struck photographic gold with a gigantic pile of twisted rebar as a foreground.

 

The End Of An Era

 

 

 

Dave

Sadly malls and major stores are disappearing from our area.

2 malls have been torn down and a third one is going up for Sheriff's sale in June. Chances are it will be torn down as there are only a handful of stores left.

Sadly malls and major stores are disappearing from our area.

This one has struggled on and off in the last 20 -30 years, mostly from newer venues opening up within easy driving distance. This latest move with the introduction of the fancy dine-in movie theater complex will probably give it a few more years of prosperity. One of the problems with malls is that the push from 10-15 years ago by all the name brands to have a shiny, visible storefront in every mall has resulted in so many closures as companies find they can sell online and don't have to lose money on half of their locations just to be "visible".

Like I said, end of an era.

Dave

Out of curiosity Dave, which mall is that? Our local remaining mall (Boca Raton Town Center) has stayed alive mostly by going heavy-upscale, making it more a destination for those with the money - lots of restaurants and bars, valet parking everywhere, very high-end designer retail stores, etc. Plays well to the money crowd in a rich town. We lost most other 'malls' in nearby towns over the past 15 years, some becoming more outdoor type shopping areas rather than indoor malls, others either sitting empty or barely surviving on the last few retailers. Some were torn down for other things to occupy the space - everything from condos to movie theaters.

Here are some wildlife and bird shots from Saturday out in the wetlands - mixing it up with birds, mammals, bugs, and reptiles:

A green heron flying in to a location, and loudly protesting to any other birds in his space:

A rather stunning looking green bee - usually I see the yellow ones, but this green one landed on a small flower a few feet away and I had to go closeup for him:

A pair of Florida cooter turtles, lounging out on a downed palm tree just out of the water:

A marsh rabbit, chewing some of the scenery:

A nice, 4-foot-long corn snake, working his way up the side of a palm tree:

Out of curiosity Dave, which mall is that? Our local remaining mall (Boca Raton Town Center) has stayed alive mostly by going heavy-upscale, making it more a destination for those with the money - lots of restaurants and bars, valet parking everywhere, very high-end designer retail stores, etc. Plays well to the money crowd in a rich town. We lost most other 'malls' in nearby towns over the past 15 years, some becoming more outdoor type shopping areas rather than indoor malls, others either sitting empty or barely surviving on the last few retailers. Some were torn down for other things to occupy the space - everything from condos to movie theaters.

It's a 50-year-old venue about 35 miles east of LA in the "Inland Empire". It was the first major mall in the area and has fluctuated from thrive to a little better than survival over the years. We now have several other places like you described aimed at the affluent shopper and I think adding this new theater complex with it's $18 tickets and craft beer and wines at your side as you sit in a power recliner is a move to compete in that arena.

This is about the third major renovation and it always worked in the past. The storefronts are almost all full even with thirteen of the fifteen teen-oriented clothing stores having mercifully gone the way of the Dodo.

Dave

This one has struggled on and off in the last 20 -30 years, mostly from newer venues opening up within easy driving distance. This latest move with the introduction of the fancy dine-in movie theater complex will probably give it a few more years of prosperity. One of the problems with malls is that the push from 10-15 years ago by all the name brands to have a shiny, visible storefront in every mall has resulted in so many closures as companies find they can sell online and don't have to lose money on half of their locations just to be "visible".

 

Like I said, end of an era.

 

Dave

I see the demo, and imagine the Barnes and Noble right next to it thinking "is this my fate in a few years"... Develops into an ironic composition when I think of it in that sense.