The abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio, was so dangerous that the mayor of Akron made a public statement about its safety. store in the Dixie Square Mall in July 1993, where he gagged and raped her and. In the decades after the mall closed, numerous proposals to redevelop the property were announced, though none came to fruition. It seems like you just took two interests you had, feminism and urban exploration, and tried to write something that combines the two. Add to that a 200-year-old outdoor mall the size of a neighborhood, and you have a combination ghost-town/crime-den. It has sat abandoned ever since. In 1973, a man was robbed and shot to death in the Mall parking lot. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. The combination of artificial rot and very real rot atop it is a poignant reminder of humility. The mall's popularity waned as crime plagued the Chicago suburb, and by 1978 . We are well aware that these might be problematic reference points were we doing a traditional historical analysis, but what we offer here is the history of the mall as it is told in the context of the Dixie Square Mall meme. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Every photo is more tragic than the last. She knew I was facinated by Dixie Square Mall after she saw me spending hours on YouTube looking at video footage of the mall. Honestly, it just seemed like it was cursed from the beginning. ? Im sorry if Im not as educated as you, but the urban exploration community had nothing to do with that mall closing, people getting raped, etc. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. This mall was made famous when it was used in the Blues Brothers movie in 1979. Although the Mall begins as a success, it soon turns into an unsafe place, particularly for women. Dixie Square Mall, which opened to much fanfare in 1966, soon offering more than 60 stores, including this JCPenney. After closing for good, it was used as the setting for the famous mid-mall car chase scene from the 1980 movie Blues Brothers. The mall underwent . It opened in 1966 on the site of the former Dixie Hi 9-hole golf course. Twisted steel rails and electrical casings hang from the ceiling like tree branches. Official website. A Dixie Square Mall ad from 1966 (once located at 151st to 154th and Dixie Highway in Harvey, IL). Failed: Built in 1966 and closed after only 13 years, Harvey, Illinois's Dixie Square Mall became memorable for good reasons and bad. Following the movie shoot and the departure of the school district, the mall sat completely empty while new uses for the property were sought. http://vintagemalls.com/images/mallsdir_inside.jpg, http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AcUdTl7Aq-+plan_1974.jpg, 80s st.clair square fairview heights photos. We are sorry. The mall was in operation for twelve years, closing permanently in 1978. In this scene, main characters Elwood and Jake Blues drive through storefronts, display cases, and walls and destroy much of the mall while being chased by Illinois State Police troopers. The mall was no stranger to violent crime while open, and things did not improve while it was closed. Honestly, this seems like one historical site that needs to go. Map Directions Satellite Photo Map Wikipedia Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain. Who said the original person hated anything focusing on the female perspective? Visitors would enter through towering white Greek columns, intentionally designed to look dilapidated like their real counterparts. [6] In 1970, Turn Style was added as another anchor. Even those cases in which sexual violation did not occur, or the crime was perpetrated by teenage girls, the crimes still portray the Mall as a space in which women were no longer safe. 8/10 Euclid Square Mall In Ohio Euclid Square Mall was built in 1977 and began slowly going out of business as the mall continued through the 90s. In addition to the anchors JC Penny and Montgomery Wards, the Mall housed 50 stores. For a while after it opened in 1966 during a mall building boom, though, residents remember a thriving place. Looters have stripped the mall of seemingly everything not drilled downplus some pieces that were. Born and raised in Calumet Park. The shuttered Dixie Square Malls interior is brought back to life for The Blues Brothers movie. Total retail floor space was about 71,000 square feet. of stores and services: 64 (in 1968) 20 (in 1978) No. A damaged sign for Toys R Us painted by set decorators filming the The Blues Brothers was the only complete sign visible inside the mall in 2005. The Mall is made up of many retailer stores and also has a food court. Shortly after the final store vacated the mall, director John Landis used the mall in the summer of 1979 to film The Blues Brothers. Timing, of course, couldn't be better for John Landis, and in August he set up shop in the vacant mall and "dressed it up" to appear fully-functional and open. In November 1972, a young woman was fatally shot near the mall in a botched robbery attempt. Multiple cars went through there after Jake and Elwood Travis Bell drove easily the best Bluesmobile replica ever made through there years ago, following the same path as the original BluMo. The parking lot is choked with weeds and car-sized potholes. However, I was a little disappointed after I recieved the book in its lack of providing anything new that I hadnt already discovered about Dixie Square on the web. The mall had a grand opening in November with 50 stores committed to the facilities. The untold story of the $25m shopping mall trashed in Blues Brothers epic police chase that was only just torn down after 30 years. They get stopped in the lovely Park Ridge and the mall is in not-so-hot What I found most interesting is the striped wall in Walgreen's where they filmed the first crash. Dixie Square Shopping Center was an enclosed shopping mall located in Harvey, Illinois, United States, at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway. My wife recently bought this book for me on Amazon. On July 20, 2009, a fire of unknown origin broke out in the entrance to Block C during the late afternoon. Time is only making things worse; every year, these monuments to obsolescence decay further and play host to more shady activity. Unfortunately this also gave rise to the local crime rate, and Dixie Square was not immune. The shuttered Dixie Square Mall was revamped and used for scenes in The Blues Brothers.. By 2003, Dixie Square had become a favorite of photographers and blogs like Dead Malls who were fascinated by the monument to the suburban dream turned rotting nightmare. [8], In 1985, the Wards Auto Service garage in the southwest corner of the mall property was razed, in preparation for construction of a new police station for Harvey. [29], In January 2012, contractors were finally issued the necessary permits to begin demolition. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! So far, four potential tenants have signed contracts, although he declined to name them. A spike in crime in the area caused it to shut down just before director John Landis dressed it up for the famous scene and left without picking up after himself. The remainder of the Montgomery Ward building was torn down March 1 in a widely publicized PR campaign, but no progress was made to demolish the rest of the mall afterwards. In 1976 a desperate attempt at luring shoppers to Dixie Square was undertaken. The following errors occurred with your submission. The mall was designed as a tribute to Ancient Greek culture, as its name suggests. "Mall Used In 'Blues Brothers' To Be Torn Down." Man nabbed 3 months after returning to scene of Porter County crime, police say; Aug 23, 2016 - Photos of the former Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois. [2] Construction began in late 1964, and Montgomery Ward was the first of the mall's stores to open, on October 21, 1965. However, the mall started to get a bad reputation after many incidents took place on or near the mall. We dont share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we dont sell your information to others. That same year, a 13-year-old girl was lured from the Mall by three other adolescent girls, who led her to a nearby abandoned apartment. 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Dixie Square Mall was an enclosed shopping mall at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway in the Chicago suburb of Harvey, Illinois, United States. By 1968 the mall had 64 shops, including a Woolworth, a Walgreens, a Montgomery Ward, and a Jewel supermarket. That's the stunt director asking about Miss Piggy. According to Jalopnik, the memorable moment took place in Harvey, Illinoiss Dixie Square Mall. [23] Late on Christmas Eve 2005, the Mayor of Harvey happened to drive past the site and discovered work crews, without having resolved the asbestos problem, were illegally demolishing the central energy plant and had also torn down a large portion of the Montgomery Ward building accidentally (ending any chance of its renovation). Some intel on the Blues Brothers mall: it was the former Dixie Square Shopping Center in Harvey, IL; a south-suburb of Chicago. Deneen is securing and cleaning up the property, which is loaded with asbestos, he said. The mall briefly re-opened as a movie set for the chase scene in the Blues Brothers, then was abandoned again. By November of 1978, the entire mall closed its doors with the exception of two stores with exterior entrances. Here is the story of the Dixie Square Mall. Please try again. Perhaps even worse, a now-famous image shows a lone Christmas teddy bear, left posed in front of a long stretch of filth and decay. Jones scored both the game-tying and game-winning goals, doubling his season goal total in a four-minute span, as the Hawks rallied for a 4-3 victory. And after Hollywood left it in shambles, they left town without even cleaning it up. [28] In June 2011, ruins of the mall remained standing with demolition funding still available, but with the demolition project itself mired in government regulatory hurdles. The Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, was open from 1966 to 1978. After several weeks of asbestos abatement, which was completed by early February,[30] crews began to demolish the mall on Wednesday, February 15. 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Location: Dixie Square Mall Gallery: Eye of the Beholder Open, agora-like storefronts and stucco walls that look straight out of Spartan homes in 300 try to bring you closer to the Greek ruins. The New World Mall In Bangkok, Thailand, gained worldwide notoriety after its closure, as its fate was unlike that of any other ghost mall in the world. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, Luhar-Trice Publications (November 22, 2008). It belongs to the Metropolitan City of Messina . Since the filming, Harveys plight has only gotten worse. No, not just for student films or YouTube videos, but rather numerous movies and television shows, including Teen Wolf, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If it does open, it aint going to stay open long, said Cephor Morris, 85, who lives across the street. The locale of the famous "Blues Brothers" mall chase scene, Dixie Square in Harvey, Illinois, now sits unused in a deteriorating condition. Packs of wild dogs have made their home here over the years, as have thousands of rats, and even the homeless. The man is now serving life behind bars for the rape/murder and a separate rape at Dixie Square. Vandalism and theft were the primary causes, but many homeless people also turned the former mall site into makeshift living quarters. He urged people to steer clear of it. As Susan Brownmiller (1975) has argued, the threat of sexual violence is a means of asserting male dominance and extending patriarchal power, and therefore it seems this history, as told by this meme, is a reassertion of this power. But Paul Mcvay, who is filming a documentary on the mall, said a lack of store variety or even a movie theater might have doomed it from the start. The fact that the developer later opened a competing mall in a nearby suburb also didnt help its chances, said Mcvay, 32, of Coal City. Dixie Square Mall was an enclosed shopping mall at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway in the Chicago suburb of Harvey, Illinois, United States. Then in 1973 another person was shot on the mall property, and a teenage girl was strangled to death. Yikes. there are defintely parts of the mall that are still "structurally sound", regardless of the mold and tree's growing in there, take bridges for example, they take a lot off abuse from outdoor elements, as well as various dynamic forces acting upon them (trucks, cars, buses, rain, freeze-thaw effect, etc) yet people drive across them with out a second thought. Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. . Dad died, all of us kids moved out. Each image tells a narrative of the "Aesthetics of Abandonment" in a unique interesting way. 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