Viv and I went to Pacific Place this weekend to see the movie “Arrival.” I liked it a great deal and found it respectful of Ted Chiang’s original work. I don’t think that Vivian liked it as much as I did. we had forgotten that this was the last shopping weekend before Christmas this year so when we arrived the mall was a zoo and it was impossible to get anything to eat except for hotdogs at the movie theater. After the movie went to the Mexican restaurant on the top floor of the mall which is currently called Mexico, and which has previously been several other also-Mexican restaurants since it opened sometime in the 1990s.

The mall felt tired, and over, and the restaurant moreso, just worn out and finished. There weren’t any vacancies in the shops, although the top floor restaurant space that has only ever had mayfly restaurants in it remained vacant. There were, however several shops that were not high-end national chain stores. I wonder if this represents a longterm change in shopping, a local matter, or something else.