The New Religious Image of Urban America, Second Edition: The Shopping Mall as Ceremonial Center

2. From Bel Air to Lenox Square

020 From Be1 Air to Lenox Square Saturday Night in Be1 Air Thirty-five yearsago, Saturday night wasthemostcrowded and easilythe most memorabletime of the week in my hometown . All roadsled tothissmall ruralcommunity, thecounty seat of Harford County, Maryland. OnSaturday night, extra police were hired to direct traffic at the intersection of Main and Office Streets. There was no traffic light in those days. The influx of people and automobiles made this part of town a literal and figurative center of activity. People came here on Saturday night, ostensibly to shop. Most of them no doubt had a business reason for being in town. But a lot more than commercial transactions was taking place in Be1Air on that night. "Goinguptown," myfather used tocallit. "I'm goingtosee what's happening uptown." The spatial reference "up" had nothing to do with topography or terrain. It was a relatively flat area. "Up" had, apparently, a qualitative reference; it had to do with a different sort of space. "Uptown" as a metaphor was invariably relegated to Saturday night, when all the stores were open until 9or 10P.M. "Uptown" as a geographical space was a two-block-long business district along Main Street. The possibilities for shopping seemed endless. There were 18 . The Nno Religious Image of Urban America two barber shops, an ice cream store, two restaurants, two drug stores, three clothing establishments,one shoe store, a florist, an optician, a stationery store, a Woolworth's fiveand -dime, a fruit market, two home appliance stores, a furniture store, a luncheonldeli, a tavern, a discount store, a shoe repair shop, an auto applianceshop, a jewelrystore, an old hotel, a movie theater, a bank, a jail, and a courthouse. The business district was bound on one end by a car dealership and on the other by a National Guard Armory. All in all, it was not an unusual collection of shops and stores for an American small town in the 1940s. The "park" was the heart and center of this shoppingdistrict . Not a park in the usual sense of the word, this was a small area between the jail lawn and the sidewalk on Main Street. In thisspace, approximatelyseventy-five feetlongand ten feet wide, stood about six wooden, green-slatted benches undersomelarge, statelytrees. Thecourthousewith itsshade trees and fountain filled with flowers was directly across the street from the park. Veryclose to the park and on thesamesideof thestreet, in front of Preston's StationeryStore, were two stairways-one which led down to the poolroom and bar and the other to a barbershop. Sincethestairsdescendedhorizontallyalongthe sidewalk, twosturdy brassrailswere added topreventpeople from falling into the stairwells. On Saturday night, menI neversaw womenthere-would gather toleanagainstthese rails and socialize. Thesespecialspotswould attract thesamemeneachSaturday night. (Thepark benches were occupied occasionally by women.) On the rails or the benches they would catch up with the week's gossip, watch women go by, see who got off the bus from Baltimore (whichstopped right next to the park), argue politics, spin some grass roots philosophy, reminisce about thegood old days, and discusssports. The International League Baltimore Orioles (the NFL Colts did not The New Religious Image of Urban America . 19 exist then), the local semi-pro Susquehanna baseball league (which eventually produced the Orioles' Dick Hall and Cal Ripken, Sr.), and the hottest athletic activity in post-World War I1 Be1Air-night softball-were all welcome topics of conversation. Softball was played by a league of rather competent amateur teamssponsored by local businessesand for a few years the league was the talk of the town. Mind you, this was before television was a household item. "What's thescoop?" was a greetingoften heard when these men met oneanother. They were mostlyblue-collar workers, intensely hard-working and loyal Americans, for whom going "uptown"was the highlightof the week. There was a certain male bonding experienced here, although most of the men would have been perplexed to hear their relationships defined in those terms. Even though we had a variety of shops on Main Street, there wereobviouslyother reasonsfor beingin Be1Airon Saturday night. Purchasinggoodsbecamethecatalyst for acommunity celebration. For many, Saturday night in Be1Air was primarily a social event, a time when you went"uptown"to"see thesights."It meant meeting people and reconnecting with a group you had not seen for a week or so. Connection was not only reestablished among men whocame tothe park and the rails. It was also between store clerk and customer, cop...