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Thuy Vy Nguyen Bui

Professor Koning
English 113B
03/08/2014
The Americana at Brand: Luxury Illusion
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon when my group of friends drove down to Glendale
to enjoy our evening together. When we turned onto Range, right in front of us was a big street
with full of people walking on two sides; most of everyone was heading to the Americana mall,
which also our destination. The mall was standout by the big Eiffel Tower built on top of the
building, gathered all the eyes contacts even if we were standing far away. We were greeted
kindly by the ticket man at the parking valet; he led us to our parking area. While walking down
to the first floor, the entrance of the mall, we looked down at a lot of people walking around the
mall, enjoying a beautiful, bright blue sky, shopping as if they can have everything they want;.
However that American dream is bringing them to a democratic space.
Located on Americana Way, in the center of Glendale area, Americana catch a lot of
people attention and is a perfect place for people to come easily .As my friends and I look around
Americana, we saw many people going in and out, having fun with their friend and family at
Americana mall makes us wonder, why this mall is a democratic place? While many people
think the Americana mall is just a place for entertainment, my group and I started to look deeper,
inside the purpose of this mall, we could see that they have created a fantasy illusion of being
outside of reality, a simulacra illusion of the industrial revolution and leading to the
consumerism.
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The Americana has put a lot of effort in decorating the place so that it catches customer
attention. Arriving on the first floor of the mall, my eyes moved towards the Asian God statue
along with Asian Lunar New Year decoration, that Americana had paid a lot of money and had
made a beautiful illusion of me being in my home country. Having an illusion of being special at
this mall is one of the purposes of getting customer that the Americana wants. Americana
appeals to the international customers and tourists, they welcome everyone around the world.
The Americana understand different people from different countries and culture. As an
international Asian student, who came to Americana for the first time, I feel like I was meant to
be here since it cares about my culture event. With not only the decoration that interested the
customer but also its architecture.
Continue with the idea of making fantasy illusion, Americana then make it happened
using its amazing architecture. Walking inside the shopping area, I noticed that there is a big
water fountain built in the center of the mall. While having a big water fountain in the middle of
the mall, not only to let people enjoy the water fountain show after every one hour but also
leading the customer follows the flow, flowing down and around the shops area. I heard soft,
classic jazz music in the background, it was not so loud and not so low either; everyone can feel
relaxed and follow the music, while they enjoy shopping. Continued looking around the
architecture of Americana, I noticed that right behind the water fountain there was a large grass
area, where they has a sign with polite words, that people have put their effort on taking care of
the grass for people not to step on the grass. We noticed that Americana paid a lot of attention on
decorating the trees, by cutting them nicely and having Christmas lights hanging over all of
them, and they even spray painted the grass so it would look green and fresh. With so much
effort in decorating the place, Americana created a fantasy natural place for the customers to
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view, thinking that they are walking inside a fancy place where they can be fancy as well for
buying more things.
Moreover, Americana knows how to hold onto customers by making a fantasy illusion of
time, too. As I noticed, I did not see any clock that was place inside the mall. The customers
could not tell what time to leave but since it is an outdoors mall, we know the time period by
looking at the sky. However when the sky is dark, Americana can still hang on to the customers
by having beautiful, fancy light decorations, that can only be see at night and even the water
fountain shows have color lighting in it; holding you back from leaving the mall. Without
knowing the time, Americana can also keep customer in their certain places. For example,
watching a movie at the Pacific theater can take the customer out of the reality follow the plot of
the movie and also, the theater was build at the back corner of the mall. By following the flow to
the theater so the customers then have a chance to walk past the stores; this can makes them want
to buy more things as they view. Watching a movie is can also take them out of the reality follow
the plot of the movie. With more than 75 stores and more than 10 different places to eat, most of
the customers I asked, they said they really like this environment where they can find to do some
of things that they want and to spend their free time.
By making a simulacra illusion Americana give their customer a lot of services, can lead
them to think that they belong to this fancy place and the mall is serving them. While staying at
Americana, I was amazed that I could log-in into Boingo network wireless. Based on the article
Caruso Affiliated Taps Boingo wireless for premier Wi-fi In Shopping Center: Elite Venues
The Grove" and "The Americana at Brand" Expand Shoppers' Digital Experiences through
World-Class Wi-Fi by Katie O'Neill, who worked for wireless network provider, Boingo, said
that Americana sign an agreement with them in 2011 that provide free wireless network for
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customers who are staying in the area of the mall. Having access to the wireless network,
customers will be able to contact the outside world, update information and will not miss out any
event from the social media site using any smart technology devices; for instance: phone, laptop,
tablet, etc, while enjoying shopping at the shopping center. Boingo also said smart phone users
compare prices, locate stores and search for discounts while shopping; they can also buy movie
ticket online as well. With free service given, what Americana has is the love from the customers
and also being promotion by the customer and every time they access the network, it gives the
mall an amount of profits as well.
Also, with all of the fancy decorations, the water fountain, the natural plants, free
wireless network service, restaurant and more shops were open, Americana had made the
customer think that they are being cared for. They just had everything for the customer to make
them feel comfortable and this is why the mall was successful in making people have a simulacra
illusion of the Industrial Revolution. It was in 1970, when the Industrial Revolution happened,
people started to think more about class, it is hard for people to see who is in the higher class and
who is in the lower one. Back thern anyone could find a job since there was no experienced
worker test; everyone have money. So Americana giving customers a feeling of being in higher
classes, being serve and being in a luxury shopping centers with beautiful decoration. The
services, event that Americana created, made customers feel special; like how I felt when I first
came to Americana and saw that they set up an Asian event decoration. What I got from some of
the customers, most of them said that they dont come to Americana often; however this is a
place that they would want to use as a luxury place to celebrate important and special events.
Another example of having a simulacra illusion of being in a higher class is that they are
being protected by the Americanas security. While I was in Americana, I noticed that there are
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no homeless sitting or walking around, this is also a role that the securities take to make sure
homeless should not be there. Talking about the security, Mike Davis also mention about the
Fortress in his article, Fortress Los Angles: The Militarization of Urban Space, he mentions
how security system works to keep the poor away from the wealthy people but not so obvious;
for instance when Davis talked about how Frank Gehry, an architecture [creating] a genuine
public space, extending into the community, or to choose the security of a defensible enclave
(Davis, 168). The same for Americana, the architecture design for this mall is to fit it securing
system; there are fence placing around the mall and there are only two entrances for people to
move in and out of the mall. One of the securities told us that they do not allow any personal
service inside the mall, for example, survey taking; since this mall is private property he said.
As I noticed there were two securities walking inside the mall and there were security cars were
running around the area outside the mall too. With the amount of security given, the people who
shop at Americana have a safe feeling of being inside the mall; they are being protected. The
customers think that they are in higher classes and so special to be protected; they dont need to
hide their purse or wallet and dont need to worry about being stolen from someone else.
With being in a fantasy and simulacra illusion from the decoration and service, people
who came to Americana has a feeling that, this luxury place is for them and they tend to
consume luxury things, too. Living in American dream where people think that they are allowed
to buy anything they want, as long as its their money and they are not wrong. However this lead
them to buy things that is unnecessary for their every day live. Americana were able to catch
attend from the tourist and as what I saw when I was at this mall is, there are a lot of Asian
people who shopped a lot from high and expensive fashion branches. Customers were able to
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enjoy the beautiful environment that America has but a lot of effort in keeping and in exchange
the customer want to shop. Being in a fantasy and simulacra illusion, customer then thinks it is
alright for them to shop at a fancy place like Americana because they have many service that
serve them so they build themselves in a higher class level. It was not only from having the
decoration and service that customer want to consume more at Americana but also from how the
mall keep the customer inside as long as they can. From having more than 75 shops and places to
eat as I mentions, the mall get more chance in having customers walking around, especially for
family that has children, they tend to spend more on food and movies. And as I noticed, since
this mall is a luxury place, people tend to wear more formal clothes to show which class they are
standing in. Coming to a luxury place, everyone know that they will pay for something even if
they dont need it or might be able to find it somewhere else cheaper; increasing a purpose for
them to buy luxury things.
Americana is consuming itself and wasting sources by putting a lot of effort and money
in opening even and paying for the decoration and services. For example, base on an article
called "Caruso Working Quickly to Restore the Magical 100-ft Tree at the Americana at Brand"
publish by Leisure & Travel Week, mention that Americana had carefully prepared a Christmas
background to let their customer to enjoy the spirit of the holiday. Due to the accident when an
extreme Santa Ana wind has blow down 20ft trees at this mall, Americana had pay for another
fee to make sure that Victors Custom Christmas Tree to re-attach the fallen tree before the
holidays comes. Moreover, the amount of money that Americana paid for the water fountain and
every holiday event shows how much Americana has consume and waste in order to get their
customer attention and this also makes the costumer feel comfortable being in this luxury place.
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In conclusion, the Americana at Brand is a democratic place where people gather together
to enjoy the beautiful environment and in exchange is to consume the malls products. The mall
put a lot of effort and money in creating a fantasy and simulacra illusion that make the customer
feel comfortable around a place that is meant for you and leading you to consuming things that
you dont need. This mall is an implication, a significant place where they welcome people from
every races, gender and classes to come enjoy their service. With the safety that Americana mall
provide makes their customer feel free and special not to worry so much about anything but just
to enjoy shopping and playing at the mall with their family and friend.











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Works Cited
"Caruso Working Quickly to Restore the Magical 100-ft Tree at the Americana at Brand."
Leisure & Travel Week, (2011): 43. March 08, 2014
David, Mike. City of Quartz: Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space
Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space. New
York: Hill and Wang. 1992. 168. March 08, 2014
Katie O'Neill, Caruso Affiliated Taps Boingo wireless for premier Wi-fi In Shopping Center:
Elite Venues The Grove" and "The Americana at Brand" Expand Shoppers' Digital
Experiences through World-Class Wi-Fi Boingo. 2011. March 08, 2014