Malls Past Their Prime aka Ghetto Malls (A blog)

GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
I read a blog recently about "Ghetto Malls" and "black malls" as they termed it, or malls past their prime. I think every city has at least one. I don't think the term ghetto malls or black malls is really a fair description, though, as they are really just used to describe malls that aren't doing well. Is this how failing malls are described wherey ou are? Do you see this going on where you live?
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  • yup. chris rock has a routine on this the white mall and the black mall. i watched long beach plaza open in 83 in its glory days and whittled down to payless and louisiana fried chicken. they tore it down and built a outdoor mall now. peace, stein. . .

  • yup. chris rock has a routine on this the white mall and the black mall. i watched long beach plaza open in 83 in its glory days and whittled down to payless and louisiana fried chicken. they tore it down and built a outdoor mall now. peace, stein. . .

    Yeah, I've heard it. They're never really "black malls" though - ifa mall has hit "black mall" status, that just means that it's on it's way to closing. I've never seen a fully functioning and viable "black mall" before, although maybe they have them in that mystical world called Atlanta or something.

  • yup. chris rock has a routine on this the white mall and the black mall. i watched long beach plaza open in 83 in its glory days and whittled down to payless and louisiana fried chicken. they tore it down and built a outdoor mall now. peace, stein. . .

    Yeah, I've heard it. They're never really "black malls" though - ifa mall has hit "black mall" status, that just means that it's on it's way to closing. I've never seen a fully functioning and viable "black mall" before, although maybe they have them in that mystical world called Atlanta or something.
    we got one. carson pavillion. only thing keeping em in business is IKEA. foll's are scared to go there but its the only IKEA within an hour. carson is the home town of tarentino, buyaa tribe, the boys, mc trouble, brandi, and my mom. peace, stein. . .

  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts
    FOX HILLS MALL


  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
    EASTMONT MALL OAKLAND, CA...There's an Orange Julius and a Planned Parenthood...and a lot of closed shops...like in Day of the Dead...remember that mall where they held up and shot up the zombies?

  • we got one. carson pavillion. only thing keeping em in business is IKEA. foll's are scared to go there but its the only IKEA within an hour. carson is the home town of tarentino, buyaa tribe, the boys, mc trouble, brandi, and my mom. peace, stein. . .



    That seems to be common, I think.

  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts


    There are multiple "black malls" here, but that is really just synonymous for "a bunch of the national chain stores have closed and a bunch of arab-owned, Southpole-hawking independent stores are filling in the gaps."

    well said...AND they got that I'm haunted vibe...I always wonder why there aren't more psychotic people around every corner...



  • There are multiple "black malls" here, but that is really just synonymous for "a bunch of the national chain stores have closed and a bunch of arab-owned, Southpole-hawking independent stores are filling in the gaps."

    well said...AND they got that I'm haunted vibe...I always wonder why there aren't more psychotic people around every corner...

    I don't really get that. I'm more relaxed at the mall above than regular malls - there's nobody there!

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    In Atlanta the "Black Mall" is the most successful in the city.



  • There are never any viable "black malls". There are multiple "black malls" here, but that is really just synonymous for "a bunch of the national chain stores have closed and a bunch of arab-owned, Southpole-hawking independent stores are filling in the gaps."

    I know at least one so-called "black mall" here in Chicago - Evergreen Plaza (known amongst some African-Americans as "Everblack Plaza"). In the space of a decade (let's say '74-'84) I witnessed the demographic go from white to interracial to black. But that's not due to neglect, it's more about gradual white flight. It's still as clean as it was in the 70's.

    Somebody mentioned older malls that are just hanging on as having that "haunted" vibe. Reminds me of the old Englewood strip mall on Chicago's south side. No one has done anything with it, and it's definitely got a "ghost town" aura about it. Everything is more or less the way it was left the last time it was used. Even worse: as recently as five years ago there was a functioning Goldblatt's in the interracial Uptown area (previously known as a hillbilly ghetto - not all neglected stores are in black 'hoods[/b]). By then, it had devolved into being a glorified thrift shop (minus the cool old records). It was a sad sight. The old neon sign from 19-hundred-and-God-knows-when was still up, but this was obviously not the same Goldblatt's that bluesman Jimmy Reed (and later the Yardbirds) boasted about having a charge account at (in the song "I Ain't Got You"). The neighborhood is now being slowly gentrified, and Goldblatt's was eventually put out of its' misery (it's a Borders' bookstore now).

    The mall I spoke about above was considered a "black mall" from about the mid-90s up until the early 00's, and now it's a "nobody" mall.
    Yep, that's the Englewood strip mall, all right (on 63rd & Halsted).

    And while we're on the topic of shoddy stores, I know of one convenience store which continued to sell backstock of PDQ chocolate drink for years after Ovaltine stopped making it...I'll bet there were some kingsize maggots running through those cans...




  • EASTMONT MALL OAKLAND, CA...There's an Orange Julius and a Planned Parenthood...and a lot of closed shops...like in Day of the Dead...remember that mall where they held up and shot up the zombies?

    I'm an old-ass dude and I can't even remember Eastmont before it was derelict, M/B either. Shit's so bad you got Richie Rich rhyming "We ain't even got no mall and we still gon' ball."

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    we got one. carson pavillion. only thing keeping em in business is IKEA. foll's are scared to go there but its the only IKEA within an hour. carson is the home town of tarentino, buyaa tribe, the boys, mc trouble, brandi, and my mom. peace, stein. . .

    That's the point though. There are never any viable "black malls".

    .

    I beg to differ, at least in Maryland

    Arundel Mills

    PG Plaza

    Beltway Plaza Mall-Greenbelt

    and Iverson Mall also in PG County

  • Santa Fe Springs Mall is long gone here as well as the Whittwood Mall a city over.

    Both malls slowly started dying. Typical malls with 5 stores in it with mad walking space between each store.

  • I wrote this as a blog but I thought it was good conversational material. Every city has or had at least one (if not more) that went from hot to not to hood to empty, so let's hear it.

    We got one over in Concord California. Used to be the spot. Now it has a small movie theatre, a fabric store, kitchen appliance store, a bowling supply store, a Dollar store and some other shit. Used to have a huge discount clothing store that went under.

    The problem came when they built a new freeway in the area which become the official split between the ghetto part of Concord and the middle and upper class area. A new strip mall opened up a few blocks away and then this old place went to shit.


    They're remodeling everything now so hopefully it'll get better. Only mall I've ever been to whose lobby was made of cement.

  • and Iverson Mall also in PG County

    Yeah, that would be my next guess after Atlanta.

    I guess that makes sense in a place with a large wealthy minority population like DC or Atlanta.
    But anyway, I think the overwhelmingly common scenario is the other way, as many areas, particularly smaller cities, don't have enough of that population to support a mall based on that population alone.

  • carson is the home town of tarentino, buyaa tribe, the boys, mc trouble, brandi, and my mom. peace, stein. . .

    don't forget about Ras Kass.

    And now my mall memories.
    At one time Del Amo Mall in Southbay (los angeles) was the biggest mall in the world. ChikFillet and Julius for days, know what I mean? We're talking DJ'z (sp?) Oaktree type hype. Then things started slipping. Mall of America took the title, some chains closed, moved out. Then things got interesting when the mom and pops moved in, one of which was Downlow Hookups, a one stop hip hop shop where you could get your jeans airbrushed (by Ink), battle somebody, by a hoody, whatever. If any of you remember the "Black Owned" sweatshirts (as seen in the regulators video if I remember correctly) I remember the day Down Low hookups rolled those out, they originated that ish. I began hanging there REGULARLY after school everyday. The mall was clearing out though, rent slipped on everybody, and needless to say, that wing of the former Del Amo is now condos. I miss Alladin's Castle arcade heydays something terrible. Gauntlet 4 player anyone? Sad to think about the past sometimes, I can't imagine not loving every minute of that era.
    unfortunately many malls, and debbie gibson tour plans for that matter, are

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    Man, I miss mall arcades. Alladins castle was the shit. Put your quarters up type street fighter battles for days.


  • BelsonBelson 880 Posts
    Del Amo Mall in Southbay (los angeles)

    The day Copelands sports closed down, was the biggest nail in Del Amo's coffin.

  • Hell yeah...



    In my town, it's the South Forks Plaza... Shit is dead, but it still has the Kmart attached to it... Sears is gone. Bingo Palace is up in there. A Radio Shack... an asian market... Barry's Collector's Corner (comic shop), a stone gate pet shop, a key maker, a dude that fixes watches, and a craft store. There's a shitty bar called Rumors that my friends seem to like.



    And it's big... and old, and dark. I like it. It's the underdog. I used to work there simply just a great janitro. There was a big area they used to use for a flea market once a month, and I would ride a bike around there for hours. Also, there was an upstairs storage area with the Christmas shit, marquees and various garbage... I liked to chill up there until another old janitor who was homeless started squatting there.



    Peace...

    FNM


  • I miss Alladin's Castle arcade heydays something terrible.

    Oh shit. Santa Rosa Plaza up north was the Aladdin's Castle for me.

    As a kind of side topic to this mall talk, I was thinking recently about the death of arcades in general. I feel like I don't see them around anymore. Now it might be that I'm real out of the loop since I'm not really looking for them, but at the same time I definitely used to like them and I feel like I'd notice if they were still common.

    Is it playstation and all that that sent kids home to play? So now where do the kids cutting school and the shady twenty and thirty something dudes go during the day?

  • gambitgambit 906 Posts
    In Detroit - Northland Mall... used to be able to find the flyest kicks there. Now it's a ghost town.

    It's good to see my town ain't the only one.




  • What's wrong? This shirt costs 20 dollars
    I said, "Mom, the shirt is plaid with a butterfly collar"
    The next half hour was the same old thing
    My mother buyin me clothes from 1963
    Until she lost her mind and did the ultimate
    I asked her for Adidas and she bought me Zips!

  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    In Detroit - Northland Mall... used to be able to find the flyest kicks there. Now it's a ghost town.



    It's good to see my town ain't the only one.



    ::MEMORIES::



    Northland Mall was one of the first in the country, wasnt it?



    That's where I bought my first record:





    And if/when they ever decide to bulldoze that place, PLAESE save the statue of the little kid on the elephant's back. I will always remember seeing that thing.



    This is what Northland looks like now:




  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts



  • RaystarRaystar 1,106 Posts



    Will always be known on the low for the place to pick up girls that are too young to be picked up... several times I've been approached by girls that should be in school but instead got a big brother talk like you need to not be so fresh girl, you'll regret it one day...

  • Hudson Mall in Jersey City. This was THE spot to go to in Hudson County. Now it's a couple of sneakers stores, Lane Bryant, and a shitty moview theatre. Now everyone goes to Newport, which is a tad on the ghetto side, but gets alot of action from New York (no tax on clothes in Jersey.)

  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts



    Will always be known on the low for the place to pick up girls that are too young to be picked up... several times I've been approached by girls that should be in school but instead got a big brother talk like you need to not be so fresh girl, you'll regret it one day...

    Seriously, it looks like summer vacation 365 days a year for kids at the Gallery. I thought the classrooms were underground or something and that's where they spent their lunch hour! TOO crazy.

  • we had some pretty amazing malls in my mall rat days....
    first we'd start at South Bay Galleria... it had no arcade but it's all good cuz it was brand new when i started going there so it was a little fresh and exciting..
    then there was Old towne mall down the road.. it had a decent arcade and also used to have a cheap ass haunted house ride that was kind of fun....

    then further down hawthorne you had the grand daddy of them all DEL AMO!
    Aladdins's castle, dope theaters and these really dope kids (including my lame ass) who'd bring cardboard and wear cool sneakers w/ fat laces... they used to spin on their heads ( i never came close to that!) and do these cool dance steps... breaking... yeah! that's what it was all about!
    -o

  • carson is the home town of tarentino, buyaa tribe, the boys, mc trouble, brandi, and my mom. peace, stein. . .

    don't forget about Ras Kass.

    And now my mall memories.
    At one time Del Amo Mall in Southbay (los angeles) was the biggest mall in the world. ChikFillet and Julius for days, know what I mean? We're talking DJ'z (sp?) Oaktree type hype. Then things started slipping. Mall of America took the title, some chains closed, moved out. Then things got interesting when the mom and pops moved in, one of which was Downlow Hookups, a one stop hip hop shop where you could get your jeans airbrushed (by Ink), battle somebody, by a hoody, whatever. If any of you remember the "Black Owned" sweatshirts (as seen in the regulators video if I remember correctly) I remember the day Down Low hookups rolled those out, they originated that ish. I began hanging there REGULARLY after school everyday. The mall was clearing out though, rent slipped on everybody, and needless to say, that wing of the former Del Amo is now condos. I miss Alladin's Castle arcade heydays something terrible. Gauntlet 4 player anyone? Sad to think about the past sometimes, I can't imagine not loving every minute of that era.
    unfortunately many malls, and debbie gibson tour plans for that matter, are


    WHOAH!
    ALLADINS'S CASTLE IS GONE!?
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