Gone

Last night, CS, joela and I re-started our regular Tuesday Night Out with the Boys, but with CS' change in work schedule, he wouldn't be able to make it to the restaurant until 8PM, leaving me with a few hours to kill. So I decided to spend that time efficiently by shopping. Besides, the $50 gift certificate from South Coast Plaza I'd received for Christmas was burning a hole in my pocket.

I parked beneath what was formerly know as "Crystal Court" but finally became incorporated after a foot bridge connecting it with the main part of the mall was built a few years ago. I browsed through the Borders, disappointedly searching their two-shelf gay fiction section for something interesting (in contrast, their Christina fiction takes up two complete bookcases), then rode the escalators to the third floor in order to use the foot bridge. In the main mall buildings, I noticed few shoppers -- which isn't too surprising for a Tuesday evening -- and very few boarded up or closed stores. Versace, William-Sonoma, Michael Kors, Abercrombie & Fitch all brightly lit with the doors wide open, bored salesman falling asleep behind the registers, and the occasional Japanese tourist chatting into a cell phone while dismissing dresses.

What a contrast to The Block. I arrived there about 7 PM so I could spend a little time browsing the shops before heading for the restaurant a few blocks away. I walked toward the Hilo Hattie's and almost stopped in my tracks when I noticed the darkened windows. Walking closer, I didn't hear the usual Hawaiian music softly wafting through the outside speakers and feared the worst. According to the sign taped to the door, the Hilo Hattie's had indeed closed. All the fixtures, the Hawaiian shirts, the boxes of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, the CD stands of specialty music -- all gone. That store had been at The Block since it opened, a huge mainstay of the shopping area. I headed for the Virgin Megastore. Shock again! Nothing in the darkened store. No shelves or bins filled with music and DVDs, no MGMT blasting through the speakers or skater punks rummaging through the t-shirts. On the other side of the mall, empty storefronts lined both sides, giving the entire area a creepy, ghost town feel. However, many shoppers with bag after bag walked along the shops, laughing and chatting into cell phones, moreso than at South Coast Plaza. And with the exception on one darkened, empty restaurant, all the food places were jam packed with customers. I wandered around in a dazed, zombie-like state, the reality of the recession really hitting home.

I returned to my car after 15 minutes, drove to the restaurant and sat in the parking lot letting it all sink in until joela arrived about 30 minutes later.