What I find so fascinating about Northland and other malls of this era are that they were designed as havens in the event of a nuclear attack. In addition to being a shopping fantasy for customers in that era, the designed was created to make these customers forget about the constant threat of nuclear attack which was of primary concern during the Cold War. They were located outside of the central city by 8 to 10 miles - this was the blast radius for atomic bombs of that vintage. They featured fall out shelters, food shopping, mail, near hospitals, etc which could make them self contained villages in the event the center city was attacked. This article on Victor Gruen is fascinating about this background:
http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/1...ican-malls.php
Here is a map of the northland fall out shelters and information on the role it had in civil defense:
http://www.michigancivildefense.com/...outhfield.html
It is true when people say that Northland was more than a place to shop. It's really a part of history that will soon disappear.