Comments (0) Best Strip Mall - 2010
Northline Strip Mall
Here in H-Town's funkier regions, strip malls, those much-maligned supposed harbingers of sterility and bland suburbanism, sure can have a hell of a lot of grit and soul. Take this doozy on the northside, just across the street from the site of the former Northline Mall. The actual strip looks to be about 50 years old, and it's a one-stop for just about all your H-Town needs. There's 'cue and CFS at the arched-roofed Hungry Farmer, ghetto Chinese at the rugged little red-roofed China Inn, and a shop where you can buy or even rent a boomin' system for your ride. Best of all, there's one of the last outposts of the once-mighty Soundwaves music/surf chain, and unlike the Montrose location, the Crosstimbers outlet does not force its primarily blues/soul, hip-hop, zydeco and gospel inventory to contend for shelf space with boogie boards and ding repair kits, so it's that rarest of things: a living, breathing record store. That's one reason that in looking at this delightfully run-down and lovably cheesily constructed strip from across the street, you could convince yourself it's any year between 1975 and 2010. Timelessness like that is often in too short supply in this ever-changing, ephemeral megalopolis.
