Malden Square loosely refers to the area near the
Malden Center train station on the north end of the
MBTA Orange Line in
Malden, Massachusetts
The Square seems ideally suitable to be a downtown area bustling with people and activity. To get there from the train station, you have to cross the street from the elevated patform, come upon the giant red brick building that houses
City Hall, and walk up its lengthy staircase to reach a small
plaza. The plaza's location at the top of the building allows you to see the
trains entering the station and hear the steady beat that sounds like someone is hammering iron to a rhythm. To the left of the
plaza stands an imposing gray concrete structure that forces you to tilt your head upwards until you can encompass its whole height within your view. It is a senior citizen apartment complex whose residents occasionally come out and sit on the
benches on breezy, quiet days. They often bring their
grandchildren who run around while they themselves sit and read newspapers, occasionally looking across the street to see the row of attached train cars pull away with their glimmering orange stripes. The trains make a high-pitch neighing sound of a
horse as they pull away, except for the more gentle and whimsical ringing sound of the
commuter rail that is reminiscent of tinkling
church bells.
Away from the train station and down the street is the Pleasant Street Mall, housing several
hair salons,
Irish pubs, and
discount "dollar stores" (where everything is sold pretty much for under five dollars.) There are also several
restaurants, a croissant, coffee, and sandwich place, a
Vietnamese restaurant, and a newly opened
Haitian one. Walking by and glancing through these eateries' transparent glass
facades, your eyes have to roam around before they find a person inside. Sometimes, you''ll spot a young couple sitting at a table furthest away from the door, other times the whole interior space is darkened and you realize that the eatery is only open in the mid-afternoon for the lunch hour. If you look through the facades of the hair salons, it much the same. You'll notice the hair stylists walking around and tidying up the place, moving some objects, cleaning the floor or the furniture. Yes, once in a while you can see one or two clients leaning back in their chairs and getting their hair sheared by scissors. But that is a rare occurence.
There is one time this plaza comes alive and that's the Friday before
Halloween weekend. Parents walk along with their costumed kids and accost the owners of the little shops. These proprietors hand out candy to the children while sitting on a chair right on the
sidewalk space in front of their stores. Others stand inside the store, by the front door or next to the
cash register, where they reach into a large
glass jar to hand each incoming trick-a-treater a handful of colorful, wrapped
sweets. On that day, the street mall is so bustling with activity that you have to weave your way through crowded groupings of pedestrians to make your way through.
On other days though, you'll most likely see only two or three people, perhaps a
suit and tie wearing worker along with a white lab-coat medical staffperson, both of whom are making their way hurriedly past the shops as they rush to reach the T station. This place may have its moments a bustling downtown center of activity and shopping, but most of the time it serves merely as a
pedestrian walkway for commuters to
Boston. It wasn't always like that. The street mall was once home to Jordan Marsh, an upscale clothing
department store... so there must been quite a few
shoppers in the area back then. The retailer ended up relocating in the 1970s and took its shoppers with it to its brand new location in a nearby town. The current clothing stores, bargain-oriented
Sparks and some inexpensive shoe stores, aren't trendy enough to draw in as many customers.
The local government is not indifferent and does plan to do something about this lackluster street mall. They hope to make it a more central place in the life of the town. Already,they have contracted with an
architect to bring down the red brick
City Hall building so that commuters who use the train station will be more motivated to walk over to the mall because they won't have to climb that long long stairway.. And besides, the theory goes that the height of buiding itself blocks the view of the mall from the station so that people are less aware of it. The government also hopes to move an outpatient clinic to the location and build
graduate student housing for students of universities located in
Boston.
These are all worthy steps in making the downtown a more vibrant place of activity, but the place has been
stagnant for so many years, that it's honestly hard to believe that these "improvements" can make a difference. It remains to be seen if either the newly arriving
graduate students or visitors to the outpatient clinic will warm up to the local merchants.