One of my links to the right - mallsofamerica.com - is like free pennies from heaven to me, who enjoys viewing places & people from an earlier, though not archaic, age.
Years ago, I attended an anniversary celebration of the local mall, Southland, and they had a photo display of what the mall looked like around 1970, the year of its opening. I was glued to that board for almost an hour, reliving memories. I used to enjoy the jaunts the family would take there: when the fountains were more dramatic, they had displays little kids could climb on, and a birdcage & fish tank to divert attention from the stores.
Southland has evolved; allbeit without all the wonderful little draws once associated with it. However, it still is running at near capacity, and it still draws its customer base. The same can't be said for certain malls, which have been abandoned and are awaiting the next step in their demise.
Exploring abandoned buildings & haunts has always been a hidden desire of mine, though I have the common sense to not actually do it. A link in the aforementioned site drew me to video footage of perhaps the most dillapidated & haunted mall in America: Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Ill., which still stands 28 years after its last major store closed. Known for its appearance in the movie The Blues Brothers, it is a fascinating tale of a mall gone terribly wrong, and now gripped by ghosts & myths of legend.
A video is due for release into the genre later this year, and the site posts a link to a portion of the video. It contains some of the most haunting images of old buildings I have ever seen; 28 years of building disintegration & disrepair, completely untouched. You get thrilling views of decay, and yet a helpless feeling as well, thinking about its story & the tragedies surrounding that story (of which there are many on its own site, listed below). The underlying music, a piece from supergroup Parliament/Funkadelic only adds to the eerieness. What a great piece of art the mall is, in its own way - even though it's broken art.
For some reason, I am just drawn to this video without question, and I play it often. It can be accessed through its own website below, with additional clips, photos, press, "tragedy timeline" & mall layout provided:
http://dixiesquare.com/
(The video from the mallsofamerica.com site can be found under the July 2006 archives, one-third down the page.)
