Blog keeps the dream of Carolina Circle alive

One of the best stories (and they're all great) in Neil Gaiman's epic The Sandman comic series is the one taking place in ancient Baghdad, the most glorious city in the world. The city's ruler knows that such beauty will not last forever. He makes a deal with Morpheus, the series' protagonist: he will give Morpheus the city of Baghdad, if Morpheus will forever preserve the city in dreams. Thus, the Baghdad that once was will always exist despite whatever ruin might (and would) come to it.

That story came to mind when I found a blog this morning, run by a young man who's also dedicated to keeping alive a place that once was and now is not. About three months ago I posted a lil' essay about the Carolina Circle Mall here in Greensboro. At the time demolition was well underway but you could still see where most of the stores used to be. We drove past the site yesterday and there's now nothing but an empty lot with just a little debris left, and piles of material that are going to be used to build the new Wal-Mart Supercenter there. It was a great mall in its heyday though. Well, a 15-year old blogger named Billy has set up Carolina Circle City, an online chronicle of Carolina Circle Mall's life and times. It's a pretty neat place to check out if you're someone (like me) who has fond memories of the place, or if you're just interested in things like urban design and architecture. Billy has plenty of pictures of the site both pre-destruction and afterward, and he documents a lot of the stories associated with the place.

Nice work Billy: thanks to you, there will always be a Carolina Circle Mall, if only in our dreams...