Love or hate? I’m not sure, but this daggy shopping centre holds a strange fascination for me. It’s both utter nothingness and fond nostalgia. Reminiscent of the dystopian moment a time traveller from the future might return to in a movie, perhaps just at the point before hyper-capitalism ran the world into a Cormac McCarthy-type state.
I like how there are lots of old people sitting on benches or in those 90s-style shopping centre lounges, sometimes socialising with their friends, other times without apparent purpose. You just don’t see that in Northcote’s hipster cafes. Is it just that they feel it’s not their turf? Or is there a more concrete reason?
Similar small-ish and soulless malls found at Oakleigh and Brunswick, and no doubt elsewhere.
I’m not sure if it’s soulless or not. Saying it had a soul would be going too far. But it has something.
I don’t go to hipster cafes in Northcote (or most other places for that matter) unless on the rare time I’m with someone else who ‘needs’ to. I do end up @ Northcote plaza on the odd occasion – though rarely to buy stuff except for the even less occasional bakery or supermarket product. Mostly I just enjoy the ‘dystopian moments’…
I think The Plaza, inexplicably, does have a bit of soul. I like the way it brings together the different Northcotes: the old Greeks, the yuppie families, the hipsters, the dinks, the junkies all cross paths. And with its eclectic mix of trashy $2 shops, bad hairdressers, twin Coleses, excellent delis and a great old school CD shop, in the end it’s unavoidable for just about everyone.
Having lived in Northcote for nearly 15 years and seen it evolve from a nothing place to uber-trendy, The Plaza increasingly seems an anchor of authenticity.
It’s hard to connect with pretentiousness (ie. the vibe of the Northcote hipster cafes). Saying that, I still make the trip to one of them once in a while for Sunday brunch (use of the word brunch indicates my own pretentiousness).