Something old, something new

I've come to the realization that Americans SouthernersGeorgians people in the specific area I live in, don't like old stuff. Now don't get me wrong, they love old cars and pick up trucks, especially when they can let them sit in their driveway, just in case they need them "for parts", but they don't really seem to care for anything else that's less than, say twenty years old.

Take furniture for instance. In our area, there are no real antiques stores. That's not to say the people who live here don't like antique dressers and cabinets and whatever else they can get their hands on, but you just can't buy it around here. Of course there are stores that like to call themselves something like "sellers of fine antique furniture", but the furniture they sell is far from antique, at least by my, possibly snooty European standards, which hold that something can only be called antique if it's at least seventy, but preferably hundred years old. Anyway. Whenever you drive through our town, and you see a sign that advertises antique furniture, you're going to find one of two things.

Your first option is that you'll drive through a neighborhood filled with old gas stations, shady looking hole in the wall eateries, and boarded up stores, to find a run-down little building, with shutters hanging off their hinges, bulging at the seams with piles and piles of old rusty garden furniture, beat up side tables from the seventies, and any other knick-knacks you might find in your grandmother's garage. It might be quaint, and cute, but it's not antique.

The other option is that you're going to find yourself in a part of town filled with stores selling beds, appliances, floors, and walk into a store that sells furniture that has been "distressed". In other words, brand-spanking-new tables, chairs, cabinets, and dressers to which a frustrated employee took a hammer and banged in a couple of dents and dings to make the pieces "look" old. Again, call me a snob, but that's not antique. That's just banged up.
What's so interesting to me, is that many, many, many people around here will hand over hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for this "distressed" furniture. Maybe it's me, but if you want furniture to look old, you could just buy it new, and use it for a couple of years. It will look old, and it will be a lot cheaper.Or better yet, give it to me, hand me, oh five bucks, and I'll "distress" it for you.

But I digress.

Just last week, husband-dear and I went to a local film festival. We decided, in the spirit of appreciating our community more, we would get in our car, drive a good ways, pay ten bucks each, and watch very confusing, and at times disturbing, movies. We had a blast, and not in the least because the film festival was actually held in the downtown area of a nearby city, which happens to be absolutely gorgeous. Well, it was absolutely gorgeous. Like many other southern cities, this one is an old, antebellum town with a decent-sized downtown made up of buildings stemming from the 1880s through the 1910s. There are wide sidewalks, beautiful and unique architecture in every single building, and a sense that you've just stepped back in time. There are little walkways arched by cherry trees, fountains, and narrow alleys. The detail on the buildings is absolutely awe-inspiring, as is the fact that every one in four buildings is either boarded up, or starting to crumble to pieces, or both. Local merchants told us that they've been trying to revitalize the downtown area for years now, but to no avail. The locals just don't care to come downtown, even though it does have a fair smattering of stores and theaters.

What makes this situation even worse, is that north of the city, the chamber of commerce has erected an outdoor mall called "Riverside crossing". We've been there too, and guess what? It looks just like the downtown area. The stores are set into fake building fronts with tons of details, pretty rooflines, while the incredibly wide sidewalks are interspersed with little bronze statuettes of children playing, old-fashioned streetlights, and a fountain. There is no dirt, no grime, and everything just breathes newness. Riverside crossing, of course, is the place to be right now.

And here's my question: why? Why would people prefer the fake over the real deal? Why would some developer come up with this idea in the first place, "Oh, I love the downtown area! Let's recreate it and draw in shoppers", and then be right too? I can understand why people might prefer an indoor mall over outdoor shopping, as shopping outdoors in the summer is nothing more than cruel and unusual punishment. But both the downtown shops and Riverside Crossing are outside. Yet the Crossing is hopping when it's 100F outside, while the downtown area is deserted.And if it keeps being this deserted, eventually all those old buildings are going to fall apart. Or be torn down. I guess that leaves more room for yet another Walmart. Who knows.

I'm probably just getting old. But I don't get it.