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Post by Emig5m on Mar 21, 2021 21:58:00 GMT -5
I was 12 when my local mall opened brand new in 1989 and I was there for opening night and I remember being able to see the three huge spot lights that they had in the parking lot for the grand opening shining in the sky from 10 miles away! It closed permanently about a year ago with only a few stores remaining and is scheduled to be demolished in the upcoming weeks (it was already supposed to be in progress but got set back by all the snow storms over the winter, so it could be as soon as this week when demolishing starts). I was there today flying my drone because I try to stay away from people with my drones to avoid conflicts from Karens and what better way to stay away from people other than hanging out at abandoned places and the mall is a nice large and open abandoned area to fly. So while I was flying I noticed a work truck in the back parking lot by one of the rear entrances so after I was done flying my drone I drove over there and it just so happened to be the guy who has been head of property management for the mall since the mall was built (I guess they're preparing for the demo, cutting the gas lines to the mall, etc.) So I was talking to him about how I watched it get built brand new and was there for opening night and how I have so many childhood and teenage memories from the mall and everything else. After some chit-chat he actually let me inside the mall to have one last walk around to say my final farewells to 30 years of memories. It was a very warm tee-shirt day out today but inside the mall it was eerily freezing cold inside like a cave. Walking around remembering when this place was bright, alive, and crowded and hanging out with all my friends what an eerie, surreal, and depressing sight it was. It really hit me to think that some of my friends that I used to hang out with at this mall are now dead way too young because of drug over-doses and the rest has either moved far away or I just don't really talk to anymore. Why does it seem like the older that you get, the less you hang out with all your old friends that you grew up with? Boy do times change... Kind of a depressing day... R.I.P. to my local mall....mucho good memories.. I guess this marks the end of an era...
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Post by ForRealTho on Mar 22, 2021 8:25:09 GMT -5
I was 12 when my local mall opened brand new in 1989 and I was there for opening night and I remember being able to see the three huge spot lights that they had in the parking lot for the grand opening shining in the sky from 10 miles away! It closed permanently about a year ago with only a few stores remaining and is scheduled to be demolished in the upcoming weeks (it was already supposed to be in progress but got set back by all the snow storms over the winter, so it could be as soon as this week when demolishing starts). I was there today flying my drone because I try to stay away from people with my drones to avoid conflicts from Karens and what better way to stay away from people other than hanging out at abandoned places and the mall is a nice large and open abandoned area to fly. So while I was flying I noticed a work truck in the back parking lot by one of the rear entrances so after I was done flying my drone I drove over there and it just so happened to be the guy who has been head of property management for the mall since the mall was built (I guess they're preparing for the demo, cutting the gas lines to the mall, etc.) So I was talking to him about how I watched it get built brand new and was there for opening night and how I have so many childhood and teenage memories from the mall and everything else. After some chit-chat he actually let me inside the mall to have one last walk around to say my final farewells to 30 years of memories. It was a very warm tee-shirt day out today but inside the mall it was eerily freezing cold inside like a cave. Walking around remembering when this place was bright, alive, and crowded and hanging out with all my friends what an eerie, surreal, and depressing sight it was. It really hit me to think that some of my friends that I used to hang out with at this mall are now dead way too young because of drug over-doses and the rest has either moved far away or I just don't really talk to anymore. Why does it seem like the older that you get, the less you hang out with all your old friends that you grew up with? Boy do times change... Kind of a depressing day... R.I.P. to my local mall....mucho good memories.. I guess this marks the end of an era...
Funny I don't live in Alaska anymore but when I was a kid in elementary school in the mid-80s early-90s my siblings got their first jobs at a place called the Northway Mall. When it opened in 1980 it was the biggest mall in Alaska. It was absolutely packed full of national chains zero vacancy a constant stream of people in and out and the mall itself had 3 anchors and was surrounded by stores not inside the mall proper. In the mid 1980s other large malls started being built and even in the 1980s they said the mall was going to start slowly dying. By the late 1990s it had started to become really ghetto there was actually a Grillz store(yes we have gangsta hood shit in Alaska this always surprises people Anchorage was founded by criminals similar to Vegas we have streets named after murderers and prostitutes) The only thing keeping the mall going was that it was the closest mall to the military base about a 5 minute drive. Then a place called Tikahtnu Commons was built literally up against the base, they tore down an area that was just trees and built this huge sprawling complex full of stores up against the fence that protects the base so instead of a 5 minute drive it was the other side of the gate. Then the mall started its real death spiral. Massive vacancy. The anchors closed besides Burlington Coat factory and the only national chain in the store was GNC and there are GNCs everywhere. COVID19 did the mall in and they closed it last September so it lasted 1980-2020 I am shocked it held on that long. A youtuber did a walkthrough of it like a week before it closed its super depressing: EDIT: At the 2:00 minute mark he walks past a pull tab place. In Alaska there is no lottery just pull tabs and that place was in there since the mall opened selling pull tabs since 1980
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Post by ForRealTho on Mar 22, 2021 8:39:16 GMT -5
Here is a video that went kinda viral a year before the Northway Mall closed of security fighting a shoplifter. I notice the nword being thrown around a lot but as far as I can tell nobody in the video is black.
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Post by Coolverine on May 5, 2021 19:53:32 GMT -5
There used to be a very iconic mall not far from where I live called Big Town, but then a newer mall opened and gradually put that one out of business, also didn't help that all the surrounding neighborhood went gradually downhill as well. I was reading somewhere that Big Town Mall had a JC Penney store in it that JC Penney himself opened there, would've probably been late 50's or early 60's. The last reminder of that mall was a bowling alley, but eventually that closed as well. It was all demolished and cleared out long ago.
I think it also had one of the last Woolworth's. I was also remembering Montgomery Ward, they were a good store.
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