Otakon 2024 – page 3
Remember, kids, when you can’t come up with a punchline, that IS the punchline!
No, but seriously, I said last time that I was trying to play tour guide of weird, non-touristy locations around DC… but the problem is, I haven’t actually LIVED in DC for at least a decade, so a lot of the weird little spots I used to know about just aren’t around anymore. RIP that one Burger King with all the movie memorabilia. But another one of the spots we’d wanted to creep around and take dead mall pictures in was Mazza Gallerie, not realizing it had already been torn down. So instead we went down to Crystal City (hi, Anime USA!) to creep around in the shops down there instead. Apparently, the literally HAVE to keep the hallways there open even after the stores close, just to serve as a pedestrian walkway. And yeah, it was plenty liminal down there… sometimes.
Actually, it was harder than you’d think to get the shots for this comic, because even with the stores closing down, that “still a walkway” bit meant there was still a pretty decent number of people walking around down there. Heck, I’ve been in multiple malls down here in North Carolina that have way fewer people walking around in them, and they’re nowhere near as “officially dead” as this place.
Also, I couldn’t figure out how to make a comic about it, but we also dropped by Sonny Bono park and The Exorcist Stairs again.
AND YES, THERE ARE EVENTUALLY GOING TO BE SOME COMICS THAT ARE DIRECTLY CONVENTION RELATED. WE WILL EVENTUALLY GET TO THE FIREWORKS FACTORY.
I hate to see how much the old “Habitrail for Humanity” has gone, with all the Amazon construction going on above it, big sections had to be closed off and filled in to support the new buildings above, plus the loss of the US Navy and their contractors in the local offices drove away a lot of business. They are making an effort on the street-level shops, but it”s just not the same. I walk down there often now, it’s a 2 mile walk each way from my apartment so I get my cardio, but walking around on Crystal Drive in the heat is just not good enough. *Sigh*
Yeah, we walked one direction down through the shops, then walked the length back outside. The latter was significantly less enjoyable than the former… and only partially because it was so hot.
RIP Movie Burger King
Yeah, I’m legit sad I never got a chance to take a whole mess of pictures in there.
I used to go a meetup in the dead mall’s food court to play the Game of Thrones board game.
The subway was still open at the time so it was a great gaming spot.