I just wrote a long comment at All Things Girls Can Tell, which I automatically realized may be the only time I’ve ever actually brought my academic training to bear on South St., where I worked slavishly for over two years at TLA Video on 4th St.
To me South St.‘s decline represents the acquiescence to the Reagan Revolution in that its transformation from sleazy dive outlet in the 70’s to corporate-riddled outdoor mall in the late ’90’s/early ’00’s to its present day strip mall ghost town status says so much about how consumer habits have changed and how they practically affect an urban landscape. Without getting too Clusterfuck Nation about it, it also demonstrates how business improvement districts can micromanage eclecticism into oblivion.