Had to double check to make sure no other community uses the name ‘Castleton’ for their mall when it was on the right side of my Twitter feed. Nope, it was the mall near our house during our brief 10 months in Indiacrapolis. Admittedly, the Temple of Kapitalism was one of the few bright spots when we lived there along with a White Castle and oddly, a couple killer hobby stores. From the pictures I saw, the place definitely got a makeover but in the Eighties, it was a great hangout. There was an Aladdin’s Castle, a multiplex movie theater (when having a choice of three or four movies was a lot), a WaldenBooks or B. Dalton, a decently priced Camelot Music and Spencer’s; Hot Topic pushed them out for good posters or music stuff. Another crown jewel of Gen X teens? A Farrell’s! Sadly, I think it’s the restaurant chain responsible for making your birthday unbearable with the staff wanting to sing and draw unwarranted attention to your table…and age. It was also where I got my first taste of how much working for crap wages sucked. Thanks to St. Reagan, I only made a mere $3.35/hour and even in the mid-Eighties, it didn’t buy crap. Good thing I was 16, in high school and lived with my parents. I got to keep whatever was left after Uncle Sam and the Northern Kentucky Gubmint. The Farrell’s I worked for was in the greatest location too, the south end entrance next to Aladdin’s castle, a savings and loan after it (where I kept my dough until North Dakota) and across from the movie theater; guaranteed minor biz rushes weekend evenings.
Regarding the shooting, I’m not completely surprised. Forty years ago, there were frequent killings closer to the place’s so-called city center; Indiacrapolis is more like a giant, super boring suburb with no real city. In those neighborhoods were the usual things associated with murders: poverty, crap schools, etc. How it spread closer to the posher northern areas near Carmel (their Hindsale, IL or Potomac, MD) can be blamed on the state’s terrible gun policy which is also the source of Chicago’s problem. It’s a major reason why I will argue to the end of my life, Indiana is NOT part of the Midwest, it’s a weird pocket of the Hillbilly South (KY, WV). With a few exceptions around Chicago and maybe its university towns, the bulk of the state is out of step with Midwestern politics and attitudes. Why else would a pair of unfunny dicks called Bob & Tom be considered entertaining morning radio?