Life or Something Like It

Old and sad...

The trip to Dallas was pretty uneventful if you call driving around the countryside and almost taking someones passenger-side door off uneventful.

I'll start with the "Crackhead Couple" story. Now, I don't really know if these people were on crack. But, if they weren't they should tell everybody they were. We're driving down the road (I've taken over the driving at this point because Tina had had all the stress she could take for one evening) and this car flies up past us on the left side. Didn't really pay much attention to it because most people fly in the metroplex. Most people, however, don't stop in the middle of a busy street, fling open their door and proceed to try to exit the vehicle. "Crackhead Couple" win the prize of the evening - "One leg crushed and a missing passenger-side door gets you a six-week hospital stay. The good news is your remaining leg is fully functional!" Thank goodness they were driving next to the conservative driver from 'da backwoods' who successfully managed to navigate around them without incident. We see a man yelling and screaming at the woman trying to flee with his arm around her neck. Crackheads, if you're gonna fight... do it in the privacy of your own home where you can break and endanger your own shit.

Now, we set out Sunday afternoon to search for the testing site. Let me just say MAPQUEST SUCKS and so does the testing center for not providing accurate directions or a sign on the damn building. We drove 20 miles out of the way to find out we were where we needed to be in the first place. I guess my Bat(man) eyes were supposed to pick out the 9101 on the side of the building at 70 miles per hour. Anyways, we find the building finally and figure out how to pull into the stupid ass parking lot with only one damn entrance. We pull back into the hotel parking lot and Tina says, "I think I want to go back and make sure we can find it again." I say, "I got this, don't worry about it!" We end up going back. But I nailed it on the first go-round on trip number 2! Yay me! I-Hop is next on our hit list. Dallas is a big city, right? The Richardson area has a bunch of shit, right? Where in the hell is an I-Hop?? Where in the hell is Prestonwood mall? It used to be right here! Driving all over Coit Rd, Arapaho, Belt Line, Preston Rd, no I-Hop and no Prestonwood. I pull into a convenience store to ask for directions. Uhhhhh... duhhh... durrr... I don't know... I'm not from here. Dumb ass. We drive a little further and I pull into a Blockbuster, maybe we'll have better luck here. Bingo! We are directed right to an I-Hop not 2 minutes away. And Prestonwood? Prestonwood Mall is no more, I learn. I couldn't believe it! I didn't believe it. I drove the directions she gave me to where it USED to be and couldn't find it. While Tina was taking her test I tried again in the daylight to find it. All I found was a big Super Walmart. Still not believing, I had to do some internet research. The once prestigous and elaborate mall with an ice skating rink and a million memories was gone. It's a sad, sad day folks. It was built a year AFTER I was born. I shopped there. And ate giant cookies there. And took ice skating lessons there. How can something so huge and massive just disappear? Here's some of what I found out.

In 1982, Galleria Dallas opened with Macy's, a beautiful Marshall Field's, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The next year, Bloomingdale's opened at Valley View. The expansion and opening soon began to take its toll on what was the prestigious Prestonwood.

Additionally, by 1994, the mall was a notorious hangout for teens, drawn by the large food court and the skating rink. It became extremely difficult for customers and mall managers alike.

A renovation announced in 1996 never materializes, and many stores have the original interiors of their openings. In September 1997, JCPenney closes its anchor; Mervyn's closes as well. When a new mall in Plano is announced, Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor announce they will relocate. By 1999, they are the only two stores left in the center.

The year 2000 brings a new owner to Prestonwood: Goldman Sachs' Archon Group, for whom I worked while this deal was closed. Despite the bloodbath in the telecom industry, an ever-confident Archon announces it will make Prestonwood into a telecom center called Genisus Dallas North. The plans never fully come to fruition, as half of the center is complete, half is not. By October 2003, Archon announces that it will no longer pursue Genisus Dallas North and Prestonwood will be replaced by an open air center that has still yet to be built.

Neiman's and Lord & Taylor soldiered on-- but the nail in the coffin was the hit and run death of an elderly woman shopping at Neiman's in 2001. No one else wanted to go there afterward. By summer 2004, Prestonwood Town Center was completely gone.

What happened? Well, the usual traffic snarls around one of the deadliest intersections in Dallas wasn't helping. The teens didn't help. The downsizing of stores, of which JCPenney was first, was the beginning of the end. It appears to be a number of things, but it was a sad sight to see.

So, there you go. A little bad press, some bad ass kids and a deadly accident can kill a business. Even one as big as Prestonwood. I feel old... and sad...

posted by tanyamoniq @ Tuesday, December 05, 2006