Doug Hovelson Photography
Macy’s American Icons window displays bear looking into.
It’s time to update the world on what’s going on with Macy’s window displays at its big Nicollet Mall store in downtown Minneapolis. It’s the American Icons series, featuring Ralph Lauren apparel — and a host of references to other American icons such as the open road, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and mid-20th century America. These are windows well worth looking into — as I discovered while strolling the Mall, camera in hand, recently.
Styled All American look at Macy’s.
An all-American look at Macy’s, complete with references to artist Jasper Johns, as part of the American Icons series of window displays at the Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis store.
The enduring appeal of denim, with artistic notations by Jasper Johns (the American flag), and a sign for Route 66 — America’s highway — for the American Icons series — it’s a series, after all — of window displays at the Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis store.
Macy’s goes with the red white and blue theme for summer style promotion, in Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis store.
Iconic America, with denim, at Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis store.
Sunglasses are so cool at Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis store this summer.
Windmills at rest
Dusk settles over a wind farm in southwestern Iowa.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Cruising The Mall
Highway and heavy way to cruise Nicollet Mall.
Afternoon cruise on Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
Sneak Peek – New Minneapolis McDonald’s
Workers toiled into the evening recently in preparation for opening of new McDonald’s on East Lake Street in Minneapolis. The new store was built on the site of an older store, torn down earlier this summer to make way for the new and much-modernized store. Judging from the looks of it, McDonald’s is going for a more diner-friendly atmosphere inside. The façade includes a limestone motif that reflects an architectural style common to the surrounding neighborhood. Interesting…
Newlly built McDonald’s on East Lake Street in Minneapolis, nearly ready for business. Built on site of old store.
Close Encounter With A Mac And Cheese Pizza Lover
A clean, well-lit place, McDonald’s Minneapolis Dinkytown restaurant, a popular place near the University of Minnesota campus.
Recently I was offered a taste of macaroni and cheese pizza.
It happened, oddly enough, at the Dinkytown McDonald’s, near the University of Minnesota East Bank campus in Minneapolis. Odd since pizza doesn’t appear on the menu at McDonald’s.
A young woman, nicely dressed in casual summer attire, seemingly benevolent, made the offer to me as I sat, hunched over a laptop computer and bag of fries, in the late-night gloaming of the restaurant.
“Have you ever had macaroni and cheese pizza?” Startled, I looked up. There she stood, soft drink in hand, smile on her face, awaiting my response.
“Never,” I said. “I didn’t even know such a thing existed.”
“You have to try it. It’s great!” she gushed.
Sounds barbaric, I thought to myself. What I said was, “It sounds pretty good.”
“It’s so good!” she said.
Maybe she’s right, I thought. Macaroni and cheese, still within the pasta family after all.
But mac ‘n cheese. On pizza. Well, why not? At least it wasn’t something like carmel corn and anchovies.
Could be a joke, I thought. No harm done if it was, but maybe she was just joshing me. Didn’t seem like it though.
My interloper radiated nothing but good will. She obviously wanted to share her knowledge about the special delights of mac ‘n cheese pizza with me, a guy some few decades older – wiser? It’s debatable — than her. Sitting by himself. Late at night. In a solitary booth in a McDonald’s in the middle of a big city. Gazing intensely at a glowing computer screen. Whooaaa!
Maybe she thought I was friendless and bereft. Or a philosophy professor searching out clues to the universe online.
But it wasn’t to be.
Nice as she was, she couldn’t induce me to head off down the street for a slice. I wasn’t hungry, for one thing. She might have been slightly tipsy, too – which could explain her enthusiasm for sharing her food tips with strangers. It was getting nigh on to midnight. A time when a lot of the college kids take a break from the nearby club scene to drop into McDonald’s to recharge.
My young food confidante now settled into the booth just behind me, joining her two friends. Then she called my attention to the slice of pizza plopped on a paper plate on the table before her. Macaroni and cheese topped pizza it was, unmistakably. “See?” she said, stabbing a wayward finger toward the plate. “Doesn’t it look good! You have to try some. Oh, if I just had a knife I’d cut you a piece so you could try it!”
Fearing for her good mood – she seemed on the verge of turning crestfallen — I hurried to make things right.
“That’s okay,” I assured her. “You don’t have to do that. It’s your pizza. You eat it.”
Did my brow furrow over as I now studied the improbable scene? I don’t know. I wasn’t looking into a mirror after all. All I saw was the pizza, the three young women, one looking at me expectantly, the other two kind of peering at me anxiously, probably hoping their friend hadn’t recklessly engaged with a werewolf.
“Hmmm,” said I, eyeballing the cheese-sodden slice admiringly. “It does look good.”
“You have to try it,” my newfound foodie friend implored. “It only costs about $3 a slice at Mesa.”
Mesa, it turns out, is Mesa Pizza Dinkytown (open well into the early morning hours most nights), located just down the street from the McDonald’s.
“I’ll give it a try the next time I want pizza,” I assured her.
Satisfied, she turned back to her friends and the task at hand of devouring the pizza. I settled back in with the computer – was I really writing, or was I actually looking up the baseball scores on ESPN.com? I forget — wondering at the wonder of it all.
Mac ‘n cheese pizza. Not the worst idea of all time, surely. Maybe a traditional favorite in, say, Palermo or Naples. Ha ha, I laughed to myself. An exuberant young woman interrupting my commune with cyberspace to urge me on to give mac ‘n cheese pizza a chance. What a hoot!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Macy’s Makes The Grade
What’s cool for fall colors and clothing – Social Studies for the younger set, featured in Macy’s Department Store window display in downtown Minneapolis.
Fall fashions at Macy’s on view in window display of downtown Minneapolis store. The department store retailer is making a fashionable statement about fall colors with its Social Studies-themed displays this year.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Mary Tyler Moore Stands Tall On The Mall
Mary Tyler Moore, goddess of smiles.
No need to worry about anybody clamoring to take down Mary Tyler Moore’s statue on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. She’s as exuberant as ever, although a bit over-dressed for a hot July day. If only Joe Paterno would have learned that everything you need to know in life you could of learned from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Sign O’ The Times Ahead At Macy’s
Macy’s window display “Social Studies” heralds back-to-school retail season – at the downtown Minneapolis Macy’s
Colorful window display at the Minneapolis Macy’s in mid-July, the youth look for fall.
Abreast with the unveiling of the new fall fashion themes at Macy’s is the news today that retail sales in the U.S. slowed across a broad swatch of industry segments recently. Seen as a sign of economic downshifting – again! Retail sales fall – Reuters.
Humpty-Dumpty II, also known herein as the American economy, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Every loud bang in the global economy sends HDII scrambling for cover. Incoming! What’s to be done? Stick to your knitting, amp up the emphasis on vivid colors and dramatic imagery, shoot for the youth market — the kids will be alright — they still need to make brave fashion statements no matter what the economic situation. Can the kids put HDII back together again? We’ll see.
Meanwhile, enjoy the creative merchandising show from retailers like Macy’s.
[Editor’s note: the writer not once mentioned Lady Gaga in this fashion-forward piece.]
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