The Collapse Of This Strip Mall, In River Edge, NJ, Is, Like David Byrd's 1971 "Follies" Poster, A Metaphor For The Collapse Of America!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  I was born in 1954, and, because of this, for better or worse, I was a strip mall kid.  No, I did not hang out at them, like some cheap tramp, but, when I was small, there was one near my grandmother's house in North Brunswick--it was called, as I recall, the Brunswick Shopping Center, but it was a strip of stores that covered a lot of ground.  I can still recall the pharmaceutical convenience store, called Sun-Ray, which years later, became Rite Aid.  I liked the name Sun-Ray, better.  Next to it, there was a cheap pizza parlor where the crusts always smelled burned--I can conjure up this odor in my mind, to this very day.  E.J. Korvette's, the store we most frequented, was where many, who, back then did not yet have air conditioning units, went to cool off.  As I grew older, around 8, I was allowed to go off on my own, telling my parents I would be in either the "toys, books, or records," in that order, so they knew where to look for me.  Can you imagine an 8-year-old doing this now?   This was years before the kidnapping of Adam Walsh, or the disappearance of Etan Patz, when the world seemed a little safer.  That, or maybe adults were just more naïve.  Or lucky.  Actually, I think it was a combination of all three.

                                   Bracketing the stores together, at each end, were two super-markets--A and P, and Grand Union.  I loved the outdoor facade of the Grand Union, an Art Deco looking half sphere, with lines, and tinted glass, suggesting some kind of indoor area.  It made the store look larger and more lavish than it actually was.  We always went to the A and P, because my parents always parked the car closer to there, than the Grand Union.

                                    During the Summer, in  back of Korvette's, seasonal products would be sold, like picnic seating equipment or cylindrical pools.  If out there, you could see the Landis Ford car dealership, which looked classy in its way, and whose theme song I recall--

                                      "Landis Ford is the place to go.
                                       For the automobiles that steal the show.
                                       You get the best deals in town, by far.
                                        (Honk! Honk!)
                                        Go to Landis, for your new car!"

                                     I was young, and it was magic!  So, when I read about the collapse in River Edge, it mirrored perfectly, for me, the collapse of one of the key symbols of my childhood, mirroring, as in "Follies," the collapse of America.

                                        The populace has grown up, possibly become more sophisticated.  But are we safer?   Are we more self-aware?

                                          I wonder, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!