Deadmall Tee

For Xennial teens in the ’90s, Northgate was where we ended up when there was nowhere else to go. It was the fallback plan. We wandered its halls with nothing to do and no one in charge—leaning on railings, circling the food court, playing arcade games, laughing at dumb things, daring each other to try new identities. It was ordinary, messy, and ours. Now the mall is hollowed out, replaced by condos and “revitalized” retail. The fluorescent-lit afternoons, the aimless friendships, the quiet little rebellions—those are gone.