Lloyd Center Mall (Portland, Oakland: high crime, school, to live in)

[sweetana3]

We were tourists in Portland this fall (we are from the Midwest) and loved it. We walked to the mall and it compared favorably to all those we have. I thought Portland was pretty fantastic. Could not believe how wonderful the farmers market was and the Saturday market. People were so friendly. We took the light rail all over and then the streetcar. Great area.

[khyron]

I have to chime in with all the people pointing out that there's nothing at all "wrong" or scary about Lloyd Center mall. I remember when we first moved in and I was asking around to find a Qwest/CenturyLink kiosk (because I wanted questions about DSL answered more directly than a confused phone drone) several people implied or outright told me Lloyd Center was the "ghetto" mall (in varying degrees of laughter or seriousness). We went there and were like "holy crap look at this place, it has an ice rink, a massive food court and an entire third floor of office space."

Perhaps folks from the Portland area don't understand that in most of the country now the big giant shopping malls look like Mall 205 on the inside (vast empty hallways, every other stall empty, sketchy loitering, no customers). Maybe Lloyd Center looks downscale to someone used to King of Prussia or the Mall of America, but I certainly don't see any huge difference between it and say, Clackamas Town Center other than size.

[Nell Plotts]

The Lloyd Center Mall was one of the first malls in the USA which is why some may think it is 'dated'. Frankly it is a wonderful place to shop if you want to visit chain retailers. Close to the city center, not far from the MAX (which arrived later), and dry(!). Many of the offices on the top level are physician's offices. The 'walkable' shops & restaurants to the north are actually the result of gentrification, the mall enabled the Broadway/Weidler(sp) couplet to revitalize and the mall is what brought about the office developments in the area.

[wanderbygrace]

Originally Posted by khyron

I have to chime in with all the people pointing out that there's nothing at all "wrong" or scary about Lloyd Center mall. I remember when we first moved in and I was asking around to find a Qwest/CenturyLink kiosk (because I wanted questions about DSL answered more directly than a confused phone drone) several people implied or outright told me Lloyd Center was the "ghetto" mall (in varying degrees of laughter or seriousness). We went there and were like "holy crap look at this place, it has an ice rink, a massive food court and an entire third floor of office space."

Perhaps folks from the Portland area don't understand that in most of the country now the big giant shopping malls look like Mall 205 on the inside (vast empty hallways, every other stall empty, sketchy loitering, no customers). Maybe Lloyd Center looks downscale to someone used to King of Prussia or the Mall of America, but I certainly don't see any huge difference between it and say, Clackamas Town Center other than size.

In regards to your 2nd paragraph, I think the problem facing most downtrodden malls are their surroundings & location. Back where I'm from (Ohio), every closed or dying mall that I can think of is in an area that is in a downtown that rolls up the carpet at night (e.g. Columbus City Center) or is in a generally depressed area (e.g. Rolling Acres Mall or Randall Park Mall). Malls that have high visibility, are in a higher income area, and/or have a special attraction seem to do much, much better, understandably. I'm sure management helps, too.

Of course, Wal-Mart & other mega-retailers/superstores didn't exactly help things, either.

Personally, I prefer Clackamas Town Center, but only because I live a lot closer to it, and my wife works there. However, I RARELY shop at malls, so I don't even go in CTC too often. I've been to Lloyd Center a few times now (both before and since I moved here), and have never had an issue w/going there.

[davemess10]

Originally Posted by wanderbygrace

In regards to your 2nd paragraph, I think the problem facing most downtrodden malls are their surroundings & location. Back where I'm from (Ohio), every closed or dying mall that I can think of is in an area that is in a downtown that rolls up the carpet at night (e.g. Columbus City Center) or is in a generally depressed area (e.g. Rolling Acres Mall or Randall Park Mall). Malls that have high visibility, are in a higher income area, and/or have a special attraction seem to do much, much better, understandably. I'm sure management helps, too.

Didn't the mall in Tower City center fold though? Granted Cleveland is a pretty depressed area, but the mall was right downtown.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

The Lloyd Center Mall was one of the first malls in the USA which is why some may think it is 'dated'.

Not to mention it was the largest mall in the world when it was built, and was a pretty huge tourist attraction for Portland at the time. I have about a dozen postcards of the mall from that era. It's interesting to see how the outside really hasn't changed very much, but the inside is a totally different story.

[wanderbygrace]

Originally Posted by davemess10

Didn't the mall in Tower City center fold though? Granted Cleveland is a pretty depressed area, but the mall was right downtown.

No, it's still alive and doing quite well. There was one point in the early 90's where it wasn't doing so good, but a combination of the resurgence of the Indians (late 90's) and Cavs (00's) (their two facilities are connected underground & many park under the mall to go to games), coupled w/the entire downtown becoming more popular at night w/the addition of the Flats and other entertainment/dining choices, has helped it along quite a bit. Also, it's a major hub for the Rapid Transit, so you have a lot of traffic with that.

And now with the casino(s) (not sure if it's one or two) being built downtown (Ohio voters recently approved casinos in the state), I believe actually next door to it, it'll likely become even better off.

While much of Cleveland is not a fun place to be, downtown is definitely coming along, nicely.

[davemess10]

Granted it's been a couple of years since I've been downtown (still visit my parents in the Cleveland area every year), I have to disagree about the Flats. Mid-late 90's was it's heyday, and it's WAY worse now. Tower city, I'm not sure about, but I had heard from a few friends that it is definitely not the place it was even 10 years ago.

[wanderbygrace]

Originally Posted by davemess10

Granted it's been a couple of years since I've been downtown (still visit my parents in the Cleveland area every year), I have to disagree about the Flats. Mid-late 90's was it's heyday, and it's WAY worse now. Tower city, I'm not sure about, but I had heard from a few friends that it is definitely not the place it was even 10 years ago.

I would agree that the Flats' best times (at this point) are in the past. Mid to late 90's sounds about right (I know it was hopping in the late 90's for sure). As far as TC goes, it always seems busy when I'm there, and that's not always during events at Prog/the Q. And as said, the casino should help. Personally, I think Cleveland's downtown nightlife as a whole has gotten a lot better since the roughly the late 80's in general. Far more to do after 5pm. Admittedly, though, my frequency downtown scaled back w/every passing year as I got older and had more kids,etc...lol.

What part of town are your parents from?

[madpraxis]

Odd...I worked there many...er..MANY MANY moons ago running a store (as see on tv, may the owners burn in their choice of hells). I never had any problems there. No sketchy people hanging out in the garbage docks in the back. Nothing. The bike cops where always nice and friendly, and so where the security. I don't ever really recall any shady goings on when I rolled up at the crack of dawn, nor when I rolled out of there after closing up. I always enjoyed that mall actually, even though I never really go mall shopping.
The mall manager at the time was a very nice lady who's name I can't recall, but she was always concerned about making sure the store displays looked good and that people enjoyed their time at the mall.
I think the stupid 'gang' crap that has been going on in that area has led to some of the recent 'omgwtfbbq' about that area....but really, if you are at the mall you are not going to encounter any of that stuff which goes on in the wee morning hours, when it actually happens.

Ha, and white towns...I'm white...I grew up out in hillsboro around the time when there where no english words, just spanish, on the store billboards out there