Totem Lake Mall 1973 Vintage Women’s T-Shirt

Totem Lake Mall in Kirkland, Washington was built on reclaimed swampland north of town by the Pay N’ Save Corporation. Lamonts was the first to build in 1973 and a small interior mall was built around it in 1974 along with an upper strip mall. Featuring such stores as Ernst Hardware, Pay N’ Save Drugs, and Thriftway Market, the mall was an initial success but slowly it started to fade in the 1990s. Most of the original anchor stores were replaced and then closed. Totem Lake was arguably one of America’s most unfortunate retail environments and while it’s now long gone and replaced with something far less sad, long-time eastside residents know the real Totem Lake Mall had actual totems and a full-on Native motif to go with them. This design is taken right from the old wood carved sign that graced the front of the mall and has been long gone for years, so whether you have fond memories of that weird little candy store hidden in the furthermost corner of the upper mall or the spending the day at Turbo Tube in what was easily one of the weirdest ‘waterparks’ the world has ever known, this throwback Totem Lake masthead is for you.

Like all our designs, this one is treated with our signature ‘relic-ing’ process which includes our own secret recipe of hand-painted chipping, cracking, fading, and just the right touch of yellowing to ensure that it looks the part of a true vintage imprint.** We lay these works of art down on premium Next Level 3900 Premium Women’s tees, aka ‘the boyfriend tee, one of the softest, best-wearing women’s t-shirts available today. We utilize state of the art direct to garment (DTG) printing which allows us to create a vintage effect that simply can’t be accomplished with other printing methods. In short, these shirts are everything you’ve dreamed of and more – it feels soft and lightweight with just the right amount of stretch making it both comfortable and flattering while the feminine fit and shorter sleeves add a special touch to this classic missy cut tee.

Not sure what size is your best fit? We recommend taking one of your current t-shirts, laying it flat and measuring it. The measurements in the chart below are taken with the shirt laying on a flat surface. To get the length, measure from the high shoulder point down to the bottom of the shirt. To get the width, measure approximately 1-inch below the armhole, across the chest, from seam to seam. The Next Level 3900 is a fitted women’s t-shirt, so if you are looking for a roomier fit, we suggest going up a size or with the unisex Bella + Canvas 3001 we print our men’s t-shirts on as they are the same super soft ring-spun cotton that feels like an old favorite. While our tees are all made using premium, pre-shrunk, ring-spun cotton, there can be some shrinkage depending on your personal wash and dry cycles. With that said, if you’re on the fence, we always suggest going up a size.

*Heather colors are 90% ring-spun cotton and 10% poly. **Due to the nature of the printing process and different sizes of shirts offered, imprint position and scale may vary slightly from the product images, but we do our best to be as accurate as possible.