#sadmall

I was out this end of town and my son came for a visit and said he stopped here and how bad it was. So I popped inside to check it out since I have not been here in a long time. It is a GHOST TOWN on a Friday afternoon. So sad. This used to be a happening place and it was always crowded. #yorkgalleria #yorkpa #pa #sadmall #emptymall #ghosttown #roboace #roboacescom (at York Galleria) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9H3vDplcPI/?igshid=1ill006gxeoue

Did you know there's a big ol' sign on the side of the road in Dunwoody letting everyone know that Everything Will Be OK? It is totally there! A friend alerted me to its presence a while back, and I figured that Tophat Theodore up there--who was custom built by yours truly to look like he'd just stepped off the set of a Lord/Miller-directed rap video or maybe the prom scene of 21 JUMP STREET--was about as good a fit as I could ask for to deliver this dose of positivity to y'all on a Friday evening. 😺 So WHY is that sign there? It was originally part of an exhibit by local artist Jason Kofke. EVERYTHING WILL BE OK, he painted. I assume he meant it. What is that building, though? It's one of the outbuildings on a piece of property originally owned by the Spruills--one of the founding families of Dunwoody. 👴🏻 Ol' Man Stephen Spruill owned a LOT of land in this area (a bit North of Perimeter Mall, if you don't know the spot)--like hundreds of acres. He married a lady named Mollie Lee Carter in 1889 and moved into a log cabin behind his grandparents' house. 🏡 They had 11 kids (because what ELSE was a young couple gonna do in 1890s rural GA?) and moved into the big house in 1905. In 1971, the Spruills sold off a big chunk of the aforementioned land to developers for The Mall to happen. Perimeter Mall has avoided #SadMall status thus far, though I am sorry to report that the DQ in the food court does NOT offer Reese's Pieces Blizzards. Such a rare treat. 🍦 What's in the Spruill house today? An arts center! The Spruill Center for the Arts offers classes in drawing, painting, ceramics, "woodturning", metalsmithing, and all kinds of other good stuff. Maybe you should check it out? You could learn some FIBER ARTS or ENCAUSTIC PAINTING (wtf?) The Spruill Center is a valuable part of the community, just as the family itself is a big part of Dunwoody's history and the EWBOK sign is a big part of people getting cheered the EFF up on their way home from work around here! What makes YOU feel like things will be okay? For me it is listening to ATLIENS again, or maybe VAN HALEN II. They're both good. I also enjoy a quality donut from time to time. #WeLoveATL #LEGO #Dunwoody (at Spruill Center for the Arts)

Now that Marvel's ANT-MAN™ has opened & done reasonably well, I'll assume that some of you have seen it. Did you recognize any #ATL spots in it? I didn't see many. I think the exterior stuff was mostly shot in San Francisco. There was at least one major #Atlanta location, though--The Georgia Archives Building served as PYM TECHNOLOGIES! Of course I had to get a shot of cranky old Hank Pym, FKA Ant-Man, at the spot! 🐜 This building, designed by A. Thomas Bradley & referred to by some as "a large ice cube," was built in 1965 to house the records that had outgrown their previous homes in the State Capitol & in the A.G. Rhodes house (is that Rhodes Manor? Hmm.) Georgia maybe wasn't too good about document preservation back then, btw--pages were occasionally used to light the furnace in the Capitol, some say. 🔥📃? No fault of Lucian Knight, I'd imagine. He founded the state archives in 1918, and sounds like one heck of a historian/ journalist (at The CONSTITUTION)/ human in general. RIP, Mr. Knight. The tower here was outgrown by 2003, though according to the state, the main reason for the abandonment of Pym HQ was a gradual sinkage due to vibrations from the nearby highway! WHAT?! Sounds like a potential HEIST in effect, if you ask me. Whatever the reason, the archives have since moved to a new building in Morrow. You can visit them if you'd like (Tues-Sat. only, and you have to be at least 16 years old.) 🚭📴 What's in these archives, anyway? A letter from George Washington! Laws dating back to 1755! A copy of the charter that formed the colony of Georgia in 1732! The EVER-ELUSIVE signature of Mr. Button Gwinnett! (He signed the Declaration of Independence, and was later rewarded by having a #SadMall take his name.) Oh, and if you didn't recognize this location in the movie, it may have been because they CGI'd a bunch of water in where the highway passes by. Watch for the shot approaching a big building low across the water, and that's the one! 🏢 PS-it's probably not the best idea to go ride your bike around a place like this while they are actually still filming there. I mean, I heard. From a guy. Me. The guy that did that was me. 🚴🏻✌️ # #WeLoveATL #LEGO (at Georgia Archives Building)

For better or for worse, it has begun! @visitsacramento no more #SadMall @sacramento_ca #Demolition #Construction

#sadmall