Even the name is purgatorial.

Las Americas Premium Outlets, a Spanish name for an American place.

At first, it beckons like a promise: “Las Americas,” familiar-sounding and soft and feminine. Then Premium Outlets,” tacked on the end like a consumerist afterthought. The Spanish and English parts of the name seem to stand in opposition to one another.

The mall is 20 minutes south of downtown San Diego, in San Ysidro, literally butted up against the Mexican-American border on the US side. The fence that marks the back of the parking lot doubles as a deterrent against illegal immigrants. There may not be a more appropriate publication for a story about Las Americas than this one, as Last Exit could also function as an appellation for the mall. For shoppers coming from San Diego, the exit to the center is in fact the very last off-ramp before the border.

Lately, stories about Tijuana have highlighted rampant illegal immigration, drug violenceand apparent lawlessness in the border town. But at Las Americas, the scene is almost the opposite. Its neat and orderly shopping area offers the first glimpse of America life for those traveling from the south and the last glimpse of it for those coming from the north. As both the Mexican and American economies come under unprecedented pressure, so too does this mall, which sits on the border between the countries. These days, the gloss of the designer stores lining the palm-shaded walkways is marred by signs blaring, “Ridiculous Savings! Up to 80% Off!”

To see what the mall might represent for the larger mixing of cultures in Southern California, I drove down from my home in central San Diego on a sunny, warm afternoon in February. On the drive south, the 805 freeway from San Diego climbs a small rise before dropping down toward the mall. As they reach the top, drivers can suddenly see Tijuana spread out in front of them. It can be a startling sight, because the lazy, airy layout of businesses and homes on the US side of the border stands in striking contrast to thefrenzied construction of buildings packed close together on the Mexican side. A Mexican flag the size of a house rises from the melee. One recent study found the average person on the Mexican side of the border earns about a quarter of the income of the average person on the US side. But the dramatic change in the landscape says more about the US’s relationship to Mexico than newspaper stories and sociological studies ever will.

The exit to the mall is Camino de la Plaza, the street name posted on the same rectangular green signs that mark all highway off-ramps. But below this one, a bright yellow sign has been added, the words LAST USA EXIT printed in big, bold letters. The sign itself is impartial, purely informational and informative. Still, with what we know about Mexico and especially Tijuana, it reads like a threat. I wish it were not this way. But this is the way it is.

The co-mingling of cultures visible from the freeway does not disappear at Las Americas. Call the mall’s phone number for information, and an automated voice recording picks up: “For information in English, press one. Para informacion en Espanol, oprima el dos.” In the Adidas store, clothing racks are divided by gender; the signs for men’s clothing read both “Men” and “Hombres.” Likewise, “Mujeres” appears alongside “Women.”

Malls, like sporting events, are one of the few places in America where a real mix of races and social classes exists. This is perhaps even truer at a place like Las Americas. Its 125 outlet stores, selling discount high-end merchandise, create a space for, paradoxically, affordable conspicuous consumption. The rich shop for brand names because they can afford to; the poor do so because they cannot. Stores like Coach, Polo and Kenneth Cole are iconic around the world, but because the merchandise that fills those stores at Las Americas is often slightly flawed, or on clearance, said merchandise is able to simultaneously maintain its high-brow status and become accessible to those who’d usually lack the means to obtain it.

On that warm afternoon, the clientele at Las Americas was largely White or Hispanic, and visitors spoke Spanish as often as – or more often than – English. Yet hints of greater diversity are not far beneath the surface. The two young black men who shopped together dressed in dark, baggy jeans, crisp t-shirts, Nikes, and New Era hats with stickers still affixed to the bills – the Kanye and Lil Wayne version of American hip-hop – seemed testament to that budding diversity. Just as more Mexicans will continue to migrate north, both legally and illegally, it is just as certain that Americans from other parts of the country and world will continue a dispersion that is erasing the racially-divided places within the US itself. And the shopping mall will continue to be one of the first places where these migrations are visible.

Yet for all the things that make Las Americas unique, many more things make it similar to almost every other American shopping mall. A large fountain is stationed amongst some of the stores, slightly tacky and overblown – the kind shoppers are accustomed to at such places. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway all have locations at the mall. Palm trees line the concrete walkways, an adornment that’s almost required for shopping areas in Southern California, and non-offensive pop music plays softly over the sound system. Shoppers carry over-sized bags full of items they’ve bought as they peer at one of the many the large directories with maps of all of the stores. An enormous parking lot wraps around the buildings, the sheer number of parking spaces giving an indication of the kind of money that must be spent here.

Like most malls, there are expensive things – diamonds, watches, designer clothes – and inexpensive things – one kiosk sells imitation sunglasses, advertising with small signs that read “Compare our prices to Gucci, or Prada, or Louis Vuitton”. There is a food curt. There are several ATMs, a place to rent baby strollers, an information center.

Here is a little bit of what we know about Tijuana: Violence in the city is at or near record levels. In one week in October last year, 54 people died in drug-related killings, and more than 400 murders were reported last year in Tijuana alone. This month, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a warning to would-be spring breakers, urging them to avoid Tijuana and nearby areas. That came about a month after the State Department itself released a statement urging travelers to avoid areas of prostitution and drug dealing in Mexico. As in many border towns, poverty is a way of life, and it seems it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future for the majority of the 1.5 million people who live in Tijuana.

Here is a little of what we know about the United States, as it relates to the border: A newly elected president has given very few concrete details about what he will do when it comes to the Mexican-American border. The United States will, of course, continue to guard the area, and crack down on immigrants and traffickers. The American economy, already in ruins, is still better in most ways than the Mexican economy, but the current decline has no end in sight. Some predict that a loss of revenue for Mexican businesses in Tijuana – a result of the violence and upheaval – will also have negative effects on nearby businesses in San Diego. Likewise, violence in Mexico can spill across the border. Tijuana.com, the site that provides information on the San Ysidro-Tijuana border, calls it “the world’s busiest port of entry.”

And a shopping mall almost literally bridges these two worlds.
Late in the afternoon, I walk into a jewelry store to look around. Female employees speak quietly to each other in Spanish behind the back counter, laughing, smiling. I look at one ring, a mammoth piece covered in diamonds, on sale for just under $7,000, marked down from $28,000. I ask one of the women why so many items in the store are being offered for a fraction of their original cost.
“Because,” she says with a smile, pointing to brightly colored signs hanging from the ceiling and reading the words printed on them aloud, “we have ridiculous savings!”

I smile in return, silently wondering about an American economy that has slumped so violently that stores like this one are forced to hawk merchandise for up to 80 percent off.

I ask her where she’s from, and she tells me she’s from Ensenada, Mexico – a town south of Tijuana, but still only a relatively short drive away – and I ask her what brought her to the States.
“Life,” her co-worker interjects, before she can answer.

“Life,” she agrees, nodding.

I say that she is not very far from Mexico, that earlier I walked around the parking lot and looked over the fence at the border and watched the Border Patrol trucks slowly cruise back and forth. Both women smile.

“Just don’t take the wrong exit,” the co-worker says to me in the voice people use when they are being sincerely helpful.

As I leave the mall, I cannot help but feel slightly nervous as I navigate several confusing intersections, careful to follow signs pointing back to San Diego. This far south, the border pervades every aspect of life, and every street sign points either toward or away from it. “Mexico Only,” one sign reads, “No USA Return.” The phrasing is oddly ominous and foreboding. I am overly cautious, a bit scared. I wish it were not this way. But this is the way it is.

Paul Coover graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and sociology. He is currently living in his hometown of San Diego and coaching track and field at a local high school.

Nick Morris is a photojournalist with The Image Group Photography in the San Diego, CA area and contributes to The North County Times on a regular basis. He’s also worked for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, San Jose Mercury-Palo Alto Daily, Blackpool Magazine, Riviera, 7Sky and numerous other publications.

Copyright Last Exit 2009

 

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Reader Comments [3]

1. 1.  

   Thank you for an interesting look at this border center. I’ve visited and not taken as close notice as this at the disparities mentioned here . . the merchandise glaring while poverty prevails on one, if not both sides of the border. The allure of all we come to yearn for posted just next to what we know as troubled regions of the US and northern Baja California. I enjoyed the quotes, and the reflections on the visit – no answers, just questions. Yes we have hopes for our new government, but specifics will hopefully be coming soon.

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