Old School Columbia

I just finished making my way through this great book COLUMBIA, by Barbara Kellner (Arcadia Press, 2005.) This was no great reading accomplishment on my part as the book is only 128 pages and there are no more than five sentences on any given page but the book is from the Images of America series and that's what you get - lots of images. Usually you'll see these books on subjects that are at least 100 years old. The town of Columbia, Maryland is only in it's 40's, so the pictures don't date back too far but they are all very fascinating especially for someone like me who grew up in Columbia. My family moved to Columbia in 1977, when I was three years old and I lived there (or a neighboring town) until I got married in 2003.

Many of the photos in this book are of things that no longer exist, but I vividly remember. Columbia is filled with many works of modern art in public spaces. Growing up there, you just take it all for granted but now looking back I realize how much all that art gave Columbia it's character. This piece to the right is called Celestial Serenade, it was installed at the Oakland Mills Village Center. The same village center with the previously mentioned cartoon machine. We spent quite a bit of time at that shopping center. There used to be a cool old fashioned hardware store there that went out of business the second a Hechingers opened in Columbia. Also at the Oakland Mills shopping center, they used to have a display at Christmas time of a big gingerbread house with Raggedy Ann & Andy inside it. That was awesome. See...this book opened up all kinds of memories!

I also love all the pictures of The Mall in Columbia. Nowadays, the mall has the same 50 stores that every other mall has plus 145 more that I'll never have the need to shop in. Over the years The Mall in Columbia has had some really cool stores and quite a bit of funky charm back in the early days. This photo here is from the mall's opening day in August 1971. It was on a Sunday and stores weren't allowed to be open on Sunday's but almost the entire population of Columbia showed up to walk the mall and see what was in store for them. I like this photo because it shows the original main entrance to the mall. Today there are 400 entrances to the mall and I never know which one to go into. Back in the day it was simple, you parked in the parking garage, went in through the main entrance between Bunn Penny and Beefsteak Charlie's and there you were at the fountain. It was easy to find your way around.

Anywho, if you lived in or near Columbia or if you're just a nerd, get your hands on a copy of this book. It's a great trip back in time!