“When you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall” (a pun on “seen them all”) is the classic mall joke. “When you’ve seen one downtown renovation you’ve seen a mall” was cited in the Amarillo (TX) Globe-Times in 1968. “You know those downtown shopping districts where they ban cars, put in benches, plant flowers and all that? Well, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen a mall,” the Changing Times (The Kiplinger Magazine) published in 1974.
“If you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall” was published in The Oregonian (Portland, OR) in 1985.
Similar jokes include “If you’ve seen one bear attack, you’ve seen a maul” and “Once you’ve seen one rugby joke, you’ve seen a maul.”
18 April 1968, Amarillo (TX) Globe-Times, “Globe-Timers’ Notebook,” pg. 1, col. 8:
Says Robert Wylic, Amarillo College publications adviser: “When you’ve seen one downtown renovation you’ve seen a mall.”—MIKE PRICE
Google Books
February 1974, Changing Times (The Kiplinger Magazine), pg. 2, col. 2:
You know those downtown shopping districts where they ban cars, put in benches, plant flowers and all that? Well, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen a mall.
6 February 1976, The Daily Standard (Sikeston, MO), pg. 2, col. 6:
You know those downtown shopping districts where they ban cars, put in benches, plant flowers and all that? Well, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen a mall.
29 July 1985, The Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Putt-ering about” by Jonathan Nicholas, pg. B1, col. 1:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall.”
Google Books
My Little Bit of Nonsense
By Charlie Walker
Wakefield: C. Walker
2000
Pg. 22:
When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
13 March 2003, Salina (KS) Journal, “Cryptoquip,” pg. D6, col. 5:
Yesterday’s Cryptoquip: MIGHT I GUESS THAT ONCE YOU’VE SEEN ONE LARGE SHOPPING CENTER, YOU’VE SEEN A MALL?
Twitter
Chris McElroy
@chrismcelroyseo
When you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall.
3:47 PM - 17 Sep 2008
Google Books
The Laugh-a-Day Book of Bloopers, Quotes & Good Clean Jokes
By Jim Kraus
Grand Rapids, MI: Revell
2012
Pg. ?:
When you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall.
The Chattanoogan (Chattanooga, TN)
Roy Exum: A List For A Lexophile
Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - by Roy Exum
(...)
15. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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