Victor Gruen

Victor Gruen had a dream. America was too suburban. All these little towns spread out, all these people with no place to go...

The mall. Gruen came up with the mall. A central place where all these suburbanites can congregate. Can walk around, can talk to others, can eat, can shop! It was to be a socialist paradise, but in America!

And Gruen's dream became a reality. He designed the first shopping mall, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Soon, his creation spread through the country, state by state, suburb by suburb... Malls were everywhere. Gruen's vision was achieved. It was a socialist paradise!

Yeah, not so fast.

Socialist paradise? Make it capitalist paradise. Gruen HATED what the mall became. He called them "bastard developments".

That'll teach you to have dreams...