The Daily Mall Reader

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GOLDEN NORTHLAND:

Pioneering shopping mall marks a faded 50th

Detroit Free Press - March 22, 2004

(Excerpt) Detroit's population was at its peak of 2 million, the suburbs were becoming home for thousands, and women still shopped wearing fitted dresses with gloves, hats and pointy-toed stilettos.

In 1954, Ford Motor Co. introduced the Thunderbird, and General Motors Corp. rolled out the Corvette. Dean Martin's "That's Amore" and Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" streamed from car radios.

And in Southfield, retail history was made.

Northland Center turns 50 today. The mall rose to prominence when it became the nation's first regional shopping center. What now seems a common sight -- an island of boxy buildings surrounded by oceans of parking spaces -- pioneered at 8 Mile and Greenfield.

Read the full article here.