"Todur shopping center"

Really?

"Todur"--is that faux Tudor?

Hey, I hlebrose sanctumad to goggle lede!!

Yes, it is taken seriously as being the first "shopping center" in the country. I did my masters thesis on shopping center redevelopment and it was mentioned in several different sources related to the history of shopping centers.

AG -- growing up outside of Philadelphia, I was told that Ardmore was home to the first shopping center. It was called Suburban Square (at least 40 years ago when I was in high school).

Well, this Wiki Entry for Suburban Square should put that matter to rest.

Not that Wikipedia is a creditable, academic source but it should do for this forum...

REE - a quick Google search shows that Suburban Square opened in 1928 while Roland Park shopping center opened in 1896.

I don't have a dog in this fight, as the expression goes, but I do have several histories of what we might call "roadside America" and the relationship of transportation to commercial development, several published by JHU Press. "Main Street to Miracle Mile" by Chester H Liebs mentions Roland Park (dating it to 1907 when the lawn was replaced by the parking spaces), but the general idea of a shopping center involved locating them in the suburbs, outside of what was called the "taxpayer strip." By that reckoning, Suburban Square fits the more contemporary definition better. I believe Edmonson Shopping Center may have been the first in the Baltimore area of what we more normally regard as a "shopping center."

I like Petit Louis a lot, but I wish the bar were bigger and that dog-friendly, patio seating were available.

I've been told that the neighborhood organization is responsible for both the limited bar and the lack of sidewalk tables, but I don't know if that is true.

Consider -- Roland Park probably WAS "suburban" in 1896. Baltimore's urban sprawl began after WWII. In 1940, my parents bought a house in the 4600 block Walther Avenue, and that was considered "suburban." Heck, there were FARMS just a couple of blocks away!

Point to Dottie!

In 1896 Roland Park was more likely the country. I'm not sure suburb would be an appropriate term yet. Consider that The Johns Hopkins University moved from its downtown digs to the "country estate" that is now the Homewood campus in 1916.

What kind of crazy shopping center is when there ain't no automobiles in 1896? Crazy talk I say!!!

Roland Park Shopping Center

Roland Park Shopping Center is a single building strip of stores which opened in 1907 to serve the community, located at the corner of Upland Road and Roland Avenue. It has been credited by Guinness World Records as the world's first shopping center (though some editions of Guinness incorrectly date it to 1896). Since it had only six stores, despite it being an important milestone, larger shopping centers such as the Country Club Plaza (1923) in Kansas City, Missouri have received more attention as being "first," depending on what definition is used.[3][4][5]

"unsweetened butter"? Sweet butter? Unsalted butter? Or was sweetened butter expected, for some reason?

I was also wondering about "unsweetened butter". I'm wondering if maybe it was cultured butter rather than sweet butter.

That review made me hungry, I can't wait to eat there come winter break, hopefully on my parents' tab!

Duck confit with spaetzle ftw!

I wonder what the original shops were there? Any historians out there? What would be in a horse & buggy mall? Ye Olde Gappe? Baskin Robbins 2 Flavors? Tonics & Unguents R Us?

Curious pigs want to know.

Sounds great..makes me want to go eat there especially the onion soup

Why wasn't the review posted on Dining@Large like all of the other Sunday reviews?

ah, I didn't know anyone was paying attention; I'll remember to do it from now on

Because the Touchdown Kid has become hopelessly entrenched in tailgate culture. I saw him walking down Calvert Street at 8 a.m. in a Ravens jersey and a huge foam finger.

Now Richard, that is not suitable business attire. And don't neglect your job for your sports games.

There are still more tailgate stories. He has yet to check out the crying of Lot C.

Laura Lee, mixing football and Pynchon. How very, uh, Pynchonesque

Okay, I will confess I've never read Pynchon. Could someone enlighten me?

I tried several times to read Gravity's Rainbow, without success.

Pynchon has been a huge influence in my life. Everybody reads The Crying of Lot 49 as a freshman, but that's only because it's short. It's not full Pynchon. Skip it.

Gravity's Rainbow is probably the best of his books according to most people. It launches you into a post-modern non-reality reality that will hence be known as Pynchonesque. He takes Joyce and blows him into a billion pieces and uses those pieces to construct a magnificent post-modern technique that many currently celebrated novelists (who few read) adopted.

This is not some Douglas Adams crap-fantasy world. GravR is profound, profane, complex, aggravating, hilarious, and just plain amazing. It's as important to the latter half of the 20th Century as Ulysses was to the first half.

I found it entertaining and easy enough to read, but my brain is wired that way, I guess.

His first big novel V is less famous but is equally good if not better. With Pynchon you don't just suspend disbelief you have to dive head first into his world without flinching and be open to anything. It's not for everyone.

The easiest entry into Pynchon (but by no means the full magilla) would be a collection of short stories, I think called Slow Learner. Read the story called "Entropy". It's probably the best short story (I tend to hate short stories) I have read, except for Beckett's early stuff like "Dante and the Lobster". If you don't love "Entropy" then don't bother with anything else.

Like Joyce and Beckett, Pynchon is completely unfilmable. They are of language, not by langauge.

Owlie, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Remember what Dr. Bombay said? Red Bull is not food.

I read Lot 49. I liked it. Can't wait for Richard to write The Frying of Lot C.

Joyce is unfilmable? What CAN you mean? John Huston did a winning job with "The Dead".

Owl, thanks for the short course on Pynchon. I'm not sure I'll take up the challenge, but now I know where to start if the spirit moves me.

And I agree with Laura Lee that Joyce is not completely unfilmable. I didn't love Milo O'Shea in the cinematic version of Ulysses, but the film had its moments.

True, LL. Tis a fine movie and a fine story. What I meant was that the works that made JJ a giant of literature are unfilmable, namely Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. The Dead is a story from The Dubliners collection, written even before Portrait of the Artist. I question whether even the easy to read PotAaaYM is filmable since so much of its grace and luster come from the rhythm of the dialogue intermingled with stream of consciousness text. It's not filmic as they say. There is no movie that could be made that could even hint at the explosive effect that JJ's genius had upon literature. Something like Ken Russell's Women in Love would however give you clues to DHL's craft and legacy as a sensualist.

Wake me when they make Ulysses – Danny Devito IS Leopold Bloom, directed by the Farrelly brothers.

Dah, I'm not sure my tired old brain could handle Pynchon now anyway, I think it takes a young man's fervor and free time. My attention span can handle Family Circus and that's about it. Ha! Look, Timmy thinks toast is made from toes. Genius.

The longest thing I've read this year was a tweet.

I don't want people to think I'm a Pynchon or any kind of expert. I'm just hoping that the more info I dump out of my head, that maybe some space will be made for current inputs. Like where are my keys?!?

Owl, I just looked it up. The Milo O'Shea film of Ulysses was made in 1967 by Joseph Strick. Almost all the words in the film (dialogue and voice-overs) were taken directly from the novel. No need to wait for the Farrelly brothers (although remakes seem to be in again).

I once saw a bad VHS transfer of the 1967 movie but couldn't watch more than a few minutes, not exactly sure why.

Well, Owl, I won't force you to watch again. It has been decades since I saw it. My memory is that Milo O'Shea certainly was not MY idea of Leopold Bloom, but it was atmospheric enough to keep us watching to the end. It may have been filmed in Ireland--not sure if it was actually Dublin or not.

I can download it. I'll take another look, right after I vote for @owlmeatgravy in the Mobbies,

Woo Full Stop Hoo. Gorelicking@Large is hanging onto the top spot. Let's keep voting! Owlie, I voted for you too for best tweeter @owlmeatgravy. What do you win? Fabulous cash & prizes? A pony?

Thanks, Snarly Girl. Cash and prizes? I think the winners get a golden calf and the everlasting scorn of Yahweh.

There is a party at RA Sushi where there will be much tartling, no doubt. They also have a cash bar, which I believe means they will be giving out cash.

No ponies. B>(

This is becoming a classic D@L swerve, but not much else is going on right now, what with mobbie fever and all.

Dahlink, I'm downloading Ulysses and another version released in 2003 starring Stephen Rea called Bloom. I have an open mind but I'm not optimistic.

Here'something about adapting novels: the average double spaced movie script represents one minute of film time. That means that a two hour movie would represent maybe 60 pages of a book if it was all dialogue. So for a book that is half dialogue or narration that represents about 30 pages. I think that's why short stories make the best screen adaptations.

Owl, I will grant you that point. I haven't seen the Steven Rea "Bloom"--please report back.