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Lunchtime Photo

Published on 23 Comments on Lunchtime Photo

This is the Apple store at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles. The entire ceiling is mirrored so that you can more easily admire the sublime beauty of every product created by the legendary designers from Cupertino.

December 19, 2021 — Los Angeles, California

23 thoughts on “Lunchtime Photo”

    1. iamr4man

      The Grove is an outdoor mostly upscale shopping mall. There’s nothing particularly interesting about it except:
      It is adjacent to the Farmer Market. The “Farmers. Market”
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers_Market_(Los_Angeles)

      Next door is “Television City” where many of the CBS TV shows were filmed. Celebrities would walk over to the Farmers Market for breakfast or lunch. Nowadays they mostly film game shows and soap operas there.

      Maybe a quarter mile from there is the LA County Art Museum and adjacent to that is the famed La Brea Tar Pits. To my mind the Tar Pits is the best thing to see in LA.

      Also close to The Grove is Cantors restaurant. An old fashioned Jewish style deli. Highly recommended.

      2. DFPaul

        Y'know, it kinda depends on what the meaning of "nothing particularly interesting" is...

        The Grove, which is almost 20 years old now, was the very first shopping mall to be "outdoors" rather than an indoor place with several floors, hundreds of shops etc. Not sure if the google goes back that far, but it -- or rather, it's tremendous success, which no one was expecting at the time -- was HUGELY influential on mall design and construction around the world. You can search out articles from 2004 or so saying that indoor mall construction was dead because of the success of the Grove. Even in places like Boston, where the whether is hardly amenable to this type of thing, as I recall. As well, the Grove has a full-size trolley car which runs about 300 yards or so (in other words, such a short distance that it seems a bit ridiculous, to me anyway) which has also been hugely successful at making the Grove a "destination" for families. Little kids love that trolley car. Disneyland with shopping is the concept. It's really quite fascinating, and an insane success.

        1. DFPaul

          Oh I forgot to add... the developer, David Caruso, is now such a big deal in LA (he's chairman of the board of USC, among lots of other things), is now constantly talked about as a future mayor of LA. In fact, the LA Times treats it as if it's a foregone conclusion he will be mayor one day; it's just a matter of when he wants the job.

          All because of the Grove.

        2. Jasper_in_Boston

          Even in places like Boston, where the whether is hardly amenable to this type of thing, as I recall.

          Shoppers' World was an outdoor mall that opened in the Boston suburbs in 1951. As usual, what California thinks was their innovation was being done Back East decades before.

          And the weather in New England is perfectly amenable to shopping outdoors twelve months a year. A bit of chill in the air gives the holidays that Currier and Ives feeling. Plus, you know, ventilation is good.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopper%27s_World

          1. DFPaul

            Well, obviously my mall history is spottier than it should be!

            Thanks for all the corrections. This is a gap in my knowledge I am surely not going to work hard to fill.

            Let's just say that the 70s/80s/90s trend toward big suburban indoor malls surrounded by giant parking lots was brought to a halt and reversed by the success of the Grove's "Disneyland with shopping" idea.

            To that end there are a couple of interesting points about the design of the Grove worth noting:

            -- The parking lot is out of the way and not in view. Getting away from your car and mingling among the crowds is the point. (This is one of the many weird, and probably worthy of praise, ways in which the Grove successfully is a response to the atomization of American social life in recent years. It's the anti-online, the anti-car.)
            -- I read somewhere that a key point of the Grove is that each store has its own unique architecture. This is supposed to be reminiscent of ancient European towns or something. One way or another, feels less "planned", makes you enjoy just walking around more. I am always amazed at the Grove at how many people seem to be just walking from one end of the place to the other. It's not very big, after all.
            -- it occurs to me now the Grove responded to the Amazon onslaught in a very smart way by emphasizing the shopping "experience" and brand-name/expensive stuff where part of the point of buying it is to be seen buying it (as opposed to just looking for the lowest price online). That's why the Apple Store and Nordstrom's with its $1000 sneakers thrive there. The point is to let your friends know you can afford this stuff, which buying on Amazon doesn't do for you.
            -- Interestingly, pre-pandemic, the Grove became the key Friday night hangout for the more-money-than-we-know-what-to-do-with Oil States princelings crowd (who mostly live in Beverly Hills, next door, I think). They'd valet the Lamborghinis, see the latest Vin Diesel movie, then hang with their buddies in the "town square" while the womenfolk shopped in Nordstrom's. Will be interesting to see if that culture comes back post-pandemic.

            Oh and among my many misspellings, I said "David Caruso" (wasn't he an actor?) when I meant "Rick Caruso", who is the developer behind the Grove and lots of other malls and the heir apparent as mayor of LA, or so they say...

        3. Steve_OH

          The very first shopping mall that I ever visited was the El Cerrito Plaza, an all-outdoor mall that opened in 1958. You can see some historical photos here: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/12/01/west-county-flashback-friday-aerial-view-of-el-cerrito-plaza-in-1962/

          Most of the walkways were completely uncovered, but a few had a partial roof with large open skylights. A little over 20 years ago, the original buildings were torn down and it was rebuilt as a cookie-cutter oversized strip mall.

          Even earlier, in 1954, Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo was also completely outdoor. It met a very different fate: It was converted into an indoor mall in 1982.

          More recently, Easton Town Center in Columbus OH is a mostly outdoor mall (it has one smallish indoor section). It opened in 1999.

        4. Larry Jones

          @DFPaul
          Excuse me, but "...the very first shopping mall to be "outdoors" rather than an indoor place..."??
          How old are you? Lakewood Center (Lakewood CA) opened as an outdoor mall in 1951, and was enclosed 27 years later.

  5. DFPaul

    The most chi chi mall in LA in a way. Note all the indoor trees as well. Interestingly, when "smash and grab" robberies were all over the right wing media a few weeks back, it was the Nordstrom literally right next door to this which had its window smashed. Why did they hit the Apple Store with its gazillions-worth of small and easily resellable stuff sitting right there? Because Apple has security. Tells you something about the right wing media...

    1. Salamander

      Weirdly, we see this effect in the west also. Ranchers will do anything for predator eradication -- aka "slaughtering en masse" -- but as far as having guard dogs? Any kind of protection for their four-legged assets? Nada.

  7. Steve_OH

    Speaking of security, if you zoom in on the security guard in the front left, he appears to be eyeing Kevin with some concern. (As well he should.)

  8. Chondrite23

    Apple stores are really interesting. They have an ambiance that I can't quite name. Sort of cool, lots of stone and wood and glass. Not many chairs. Not really warm and inviting like an old library. On the other hand, very open with great lighting and interesting lines.

    I like the Apple Store at Fashion Island, Newport Beach. They have a conference room in the back to which you can sometimes gain access. The view is fantastic looking down the slope over the Pacific Ocean.

    The main Apple Store in San Francisco is really nice. Huge, two story sliding windows up front. The whole second floor is a suspended cantilever design.

  10. Martin Stett

    Woz was the soul of Apple. Steve Jobs was just a salesman gifted with the insight that you cannot overestimate the self-absorption of American consumers.
    This image indicates who won.

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