It didn't work, either. Broadway is now straight again, with angle parking just like in the old days. In a way the malls on the edge of downtown saved the physical part of downtown - with no economic pressure to build, nothing was demolished. Many of the buildings constructed after the 1893 fire still stand. The trees planted when they made the downtown mall took root and grew, grew tall.
Downtown now slumbers behind a thicket of leaves, a forest of wood and stone.
Empty second-floor windows. Forgotten names on the cornices. History is asleep.