I’ve always been a sucker for shopping malls, even as a kid I thoroughly enjoyed going to the mall with the folks. Nowadays most shoppings centers are just loud, generic and boring. Where’s that sense of soul and character? Well fear not, Ultra Swank takes you back to take a look at some of the mid-century gems. Every mid-century mall needs three things; a water...

Originally developed in the 1930’s as a cheap alternative for small churches that could not afford a pipe organ, the electric organ became a fixture in millions of suburban homes during the 1950’s and 60’s. Along the way this all purpose instrument produced the melancholy soundtrack for countless soap operas, kept the beat at roller rinks and eventually was dipped in ‘acid’ and mutated into...

I recently found some more photos of my favorite shopping mall in southern Sweden – Väla Centrum. It was built in 1974 outside of Helsingborg and took its inspiration from American shopping malls of the time – meaning that it didn’t look typically Scandinavian or traditional, which I really love. It even had a bird cage with live canaries up until the circa the mid 1980s....

Time again for another visit to some various Swedish shopping centers, as they looked back in the golden days of consuming. This time featuring Stockholm and Gothenburg. Do not forget to listen to “Retro Shopping” volume 1 or 2 while looking at the photos for the perfect mood setter....

Väla Centrum is a shopping mall located in southern Sweden just outside of Helsingborg. This is the mall I grew up with. Many, many Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons were spent here as I took the car south going shopping with my family as a kid back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Väla Centrum was built in 1974 and was at its opening...

This is a cut from a educational promotion film that explains some aspects on why Täby Centrum was built. The film is in Swedish and narrated by the architect of the center who explains some particulars about it. If you look closely you will see the Domus sign in the background on the second floor of the mall. Domus was one of the typical anchor...

Time for another peek at past shopping experiences. This time we are leaving Scandinavia to have a look at some photos from an American shopping center. Since most of the mid-century Swedish malls and shopping centers took their inspiration from their American counterpart, I thought it would be a good idea to compare the design and architecture of them. This is Southdale Center Mall in...