Thank you, Westdale

By Joe Strathman

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As I drove by and saw Montgomery Ward building interred behind chain-link fencing, I realized the end must be near. Crossing slowly over rows of faded parking stripes while trying to avoid the potholes caused by years of neglect, I found my parking spot near Peterson's department store.

It's the same familiar spot where my family parked our station wagon when I was growing up. No matter how the landscape will change, this will always be Westdale Mall.

For the last several Christmases, I have taken one lap around Westdale to bask in all the sentimental memories of shopping on Saturdays with my family. The routine was programmed into all of us - my mother and three sisters would go shopping for clothes while my father would subject me to the usual regiment of watching him peruse books he would not buy from B. Dalton Booksellers.

For the unrepenting boredom, Dad usually let me stop at K.B. Toy & Hobby Shop where I could pick out a pack of baseball cards so we could call it even.

Without cellphones, Mom and Dad had to synchronize their watches so we could all meet at Bishop's around noon for lunch. For Dad, it was less about lunch and more about having a piece of hot apple pie!

Mom would often point out someone sitting at another table and somehow or another it would be a relative of a relative and all of us kids would get introduced. It still resonates with me.

Before there was a Best Buy, you could purchase electronics at Westdale. When Mom handed the checkbook to Dad, I knew something expensive that plugged into the wall was going to be purchased. One year it was our family's first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, from a place I remember as Computerworld. Another year it was our family's first VCR, an amazing top-loading J.C. Penney model.

With Westdale's imminent demolition (to make way for a redevelopment project), I knew that I could not wait until Christmastime this year. Although Westdale outlasted the Video Music Era, its fate will be the same. It was time for my final lap.

With each step, a dampened sound resonated between my shoe and the floor. As I passed vacant storefronts, flashes of vibrant signs and bustling shoppers from long ago had suddenly come into focus. There was Eby's Sporting Goods. There was Gap, not the big new one, but the original little one. There was County Seat, Orange Julius, Musicland, and many more stores.

When I came across Footlocker, the entrance still featured the coolest wallpaper ever made, emblazoned with duotone images of track stars. The faded images of runners evoked the memory of when Mom and I would go school shopping and make a lap around each level in the mall, stop at a half dozen stores, make a few purchases, and be out of there in 20 minutes. I believe our unofficial mall record still stands!

Westdale was the place where a rainy Saturday could be spent with family and friends. It was a place to create comical memories of accidentally buying two different-sized shoes and causing mannequins to fall like dominoes at The Buckle!

I liken Westdale to a childhood home. It doesn't matter what the outside looked like or how many nice things were inside, it was about the people who were there with me, the good times we shared together, and the memories that will persist long after the structure falls into disrepair and is torn down.

For all that, thank you, Westdale.

Joe Strathman of North Liberty grew up in Cedar Rapids. He is married with two children. Comments: joestrathman@gmail.com