Downtown in the Seventies. The decline isn’t too obvious in this picture; everything looks nice and neat and occupied. That car could use a wash, but never mind. If you know something about small downtown history, though, you can see the problem: it’s been reoriented into a pedestrian-friendly mall, with undulating streets and canopies and trees and flowerbeds. Just the sort of thing to keep people from going to the climate-controlled malls, eh?

To the left: a view from 1975. Note the welcoming, well-used plazas.