Who remembers the Jackson Mall? (Pascagoula, Magnolia: 2014, apartment complexes, crime)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

My family and I would shop at the Jackson Mall in the mid-1970s when we used to pick up and drop off my older half-brothers and half-sister from the old Continental Trailways bus depot on Pascagoula Street (where the planetarium is now). I remember getting lost in the mall for a looong time. I remember the look on Dad's (RIP) face when he finally found me. I also remember eating a piece of rocky road fudge bought from a candy display at JC Penney, which faced Woodrow Wilson Avenue and had its old-style sign until it closed in the mid-1980s.

http://tinyurl.com/m8yv8o4

I learned that the old Jackson Mall had been built on the site of the old Mississippi Baptist orphanage. I think it was unusual for the Mall to be built in an older commercial/residential/industrial area instead of an affluent suburb like most enclosed shopping malls.

[GrandviewGloria]

When it was built, I believe that Jackson Mall was the largest mall in the South.

The location seems strange, today. But remember that West Jackson was, at the time, a very nice place to live. And Hanging Moss Road was THE place to live. North Jackson was very 'happening'. Frances Pepper was considered a traitor to leave Downtown and build her shop "way out North" (on Lakeland, between Belhaven and Woodland Hills). I think the location was considered to be close to the stadium, close to the two colleges, close to the Capitol building... Buses full of school kids would go to the mall, after trudging through the museums. People would shop there, when in town for games at the Stadium.

The Mall was reasonably close to the Zoo, to lovely Mynelle Gardens, to sparkling Lake Hico (even back then, Jackson was more optimism than substance), and to Hawkins Field, where, presumably, mink-stole-draped, bouffant-coiffed wives of docs, planters, and businessmen would alight from their husbands' little airplanes, and be whisked off to The Mall!, for afternoons of shopping! These women would fly in from all over the Ark-La-Miss (another fabulous concept).

And don't forget the proximity of the mall to Highway 49, which led into the Delta - back then, the place where the rich people lived. Three-ton Imperials http://www.fuselage.de/imp69/69imp_press01b.jpg and DeVilles http://www.stonewallvets.org/images/...uecadillac.jpg and Continentals http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/stati...0III-08-09.jpg would float in from the Delta, and all that Cotton Money would be spent in the fabulous new mall.

Well, the Kennedy/Johnson "Great Society" all but destroyed the plantation economy in the Delta. And the Vietnam War consumed a generation's-worth of money throughout the state, changing America's collective psyche forever. Government meddling destabilized neighborhoods, spelling doom for South Jackson, West Jackson, and Plain-ol'-North-Jackson (as opposed to Fashionable Northeast Jackson). And the need for private schools ate up most of the disposable income in the whole delta. Anyway, Delta People http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJXIPrUDtM considered Jackson to be a backwater full of ignorant, moralistic Holy Rollers, and NOT the place to shop. They preferred shopping in Memphis, Dallas, and Atlanta.

Government meddling (plus an avalanche of blacksploitation films glorifying anti-white violence and criminal lifestyles) suddenly made the conveniently-close working class neighborhoods dangerous. When conceived, the Mall was conveniently sandwiched between The Help and The Customers. It was a nice arrangement. The Help had nice new homes, on brand-new streets named for famous People of Color. The in-town Customers lived in Belhaven, Woodland Hills, and Alta Woods. Across State Street, Woodrow Wilson sported a well-planned public zone opposite the Medical Center, where sparkling new schools and other institutions were located. And the Mississippi Women's Club's tasteful brick Colonial-style building (complete with sacred Magnolia tree rescued by those women from the evil street-wideners), at the intersection of Woodrow Wilson and State, proclaimed that this area was the center of everything in Mississippi.

And don't forget the golfing at nearby Riverside Park, just down Riverside Drive! In fact, several golf courses and country clubs were conveniently near! Husbands could play, while the little women shopped! After playing a few links, and after a few highballs at the club, hubby could meet his happily package-laden wife back at the plane. This was how life was supposed to be.

But after Viet Nam (and 'Shaft' and 'Dolomite'), the Mall was positioned between The Crime and the ugly, depressing modern architecture of the Medical Center. A deliberate and well-organized campaign of "Block Busting" changed the color of the owners of the "fine brick dream homes" in the Hanging Moss Road area. The lovely apartment complexes in West Jackson became unlovely.

And then, for reasons I'll never understand, Metrocenter Mall was constructed amid the flimsy little new housing developments of never-very-fashionable Southwest Jackson. Metrocenter lived long enough to kill Jackson Mall.

But it's wonderful that Jackson Mall is now a Medical Mall. It's conveniently close to University Medical Center, and to the population most in need of its services. What a brilliant reuse! Everyone involved should be proud.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Until the 1950s, the country club used to be off of West Capitol Street.
From the late 1940s to 1967, Temple Beth Israel was at the corner of State and Woodrow Wilson.
I remember an Orange Julius in the old Jackson Mall.
I think the Piccadilly Cafeteria hung on until the bitter end.

[zblanton1]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I think the Piccadilly Cafeteria hung on until the bitter end.

The Picadilly Cafeteria in the Jackson Mall is still there & it's pretty good!

[Fearringtonflash]

This brought back memories! I was a librarian in Jackson (State Street) and lived downtown (Sterling Towers). In the early 70's there was still a number of good restaurants and stores downtown, as well as the malls. Only thing I didn't care for was the police helicopter shining its searchlight at night.

[golden eagles fan]

That Piccadilly's was not that good the last few times I've been there. That's why I stopped going.

[GrandviewGloria]

I had wondered how it happened. It truly is a wonderful thing, for those with limited mobility, to have access to an air-conditioned mall, between appointments, and while awaiting transportation. Here's some of the backstory:

Medical pioneer Dr. Aaron Shirley has died

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by Fearringtonflash

This brought back memories! I was a librarian in Jackson (State Street) and lived downtown (Sterling Towers). In the early 70's there was still a number of good restaurants and stores downtown, as well as the malls. Only thing I didn't care for was the police helicopter shining its searchlight at night.

Jackson police were using helicopters to search for suspects way back in the early 70s? I have worked downtown for over 8 years now and have odd hours that have me working at night a decent bit but I don't recall seeing a helicopter during the time that I've been in the downtown area. The only time that I see a helicopter is if UMC is moving/receiving a patient.

[zblanton1]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

Jackson police were using helicopters to search for suspects way back in the early 70s? I have worked downtown for over 8 years now and have odd hours that have me working at night a decent bit but I don't recall seeing a helicopter during the time that I've been in the downtown area. The only time that I see a helicopter is if UMC is moving/receiving a patient.

That's because crime was rising at a fast rate in the 1970s and reached a peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s when gangs were running rampant in Jackson.

Consider you not seeing a JPD helicopter with a searchlight a sign that crime has decreased dramatically since that time. JPD probably still has one, but granted they probably hadn't used it in the last 20-25 years.

[Tote-Sum Icee]

Well, dang. I'm late to the party. The Jackson Mall has a significant memory in my life. My Grandparents house was a block away and we'd see gradual progression of the Mall going up. My Grandmother called it the Monster so naturally I was afraid of it. Later I discovered she said Monstrosity and since I had no idea what that word was I went with Monster.

My Mother was raised in the orphanage that used to sit where the Mall was built on. She ended up working at Gayfers there. I remember going to that Mall often. The Karamel Korn store at the entrance is branded on my brain as well as the Orange Julius. I saw The Hindenburg movie at the theatre there and The Apple Dumpling Gang. Never ate at the Piccadilly. We were more of a Morrisons family. That area used to be a close community. I think the folks who grew up there referred to themselves as The Bailey Avenue kids. A tough bunch to be reckoned with indeed.

They used to have quasi flea markets in the Mall hallways too. My sisters bought a bunch of Beatles memorabelia at one. I got to sit on a water bed for the first time there. Very cosmopolitan.

That area has a lot of Jackson history to it. Livingston Park was just down the road from the Mall. Stores I remember were JC Pennys, Gayfers, Merry Go Round, I think Casual Corner was there? Oh and that damned Karamel Korn store. I crave it to this day.