My travels took me through Waterford Township and past a place I visited a lot during my childhood and into my teenage years.
And after years of being boarded up and deteriorating, Summit Place Mall had equipment in the middle and was being torn down.
It’s strange looking back now just because I spent close to 16 years working in a mall setting and I don’t go to the mall now.
But once upon a time, there was an excitement when my mom, my dad and I would go to the mall. Oh, what an adventure. Maybe we would stop by Sears and I could get one of my parents close enough to where they sold Frozen Cokes. Yes, my addiction for sugar started early.
Some memories pop up randomly like walking through Burger King to tables in the back, before it was in the Food Court and located by Hudson’s.
I have a lot of memories I can remember of Hudson’s – the Maurice Salad, a holiday hallway next to the store with a story you would walk through. Beauty and the Beast and Wizard of Oz spring to mind.
Through the years, weekend trips with mom and dad turned into after-school trips once I had a driver’s license in my wallet, car keys in my hand, and friends waiting by my Dodge Neon in the school parking lot. Then, off to the mall to walk around, shop and hit the food court where my best friend and I would go straight to Olga’s Kitchen. Many giggles, many chats and many just being a teenager.
I had my top favorite spots – Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and Suncoast – those three never changed. My tastes haven’t changed – books and movies. Though I spent a lot of time in the front of Waldenbooks picking out comic books and pre-teen magazines – yes, like the ones that had headlines like “Jonathan Brandis shares his chocolate chip cookie recipe.”
Within a few steps from Waldenbooks was Suncoast. I could spend a lot of time there as well – movies, T-shirts and posters. I bought quite a few movie posters there – they lined my bedroom walls with Christmas lights around their border.
Interesting fact – Who knows there was an elephant buried at Summit Place Mall when it was called Pontiac Mall? There is a news story from July 1972 if you want some history.