The Dixie Outlet Mall is located at 1250 South Service Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Work was temporarily halted on July 9, 1987 (at about 35% completion)[17] while concerns about the building's foundation were addressed; work on the police station resumed a week later. Shortly after the final store vacated the mall, director John Landis used the mall in the summer of 1979 to film The Blues Brothers. The notion that the mall would close down just ten years later would have seemed the height of absurdity then. Visitors would enter through towering white Greek columns, intentionally designed to look dilapidated like their real counterparts. Reserve the next gen Samsung deviceAll you need to do is sign up with your email and boom: credit for your preorder on a new Samsung device. Its per capita income in 1999 was just $12,336. Final demolition began in February 2012 and was completed in May of that year. Most notable among these is the 2017 discovery of Georgia State University student Silling Man, murdered and left to decompose in the back room of the food courts Subway. It featured more than 60 stores at one point. ), ABANDONED SHOPPING MALL WAYNE HILLS MALL- WAYNE NJ. Which, you know, we could expect since it was empty. Earlier this year, officials announced they had secured federal grants to build senior housing on a portion of the parking lot. In spite of the presence of a police station in close proximity, the Mall continued to be a scene of violent crime. February 28, 2006, "Dixie Square Mall being demolished, finally", "Dixie Square Mall History (1961- Present)", "Dixie Square Mall History (1961 - present)", "Urban Exploration Resource: Gallery: Dixie Square Mall > Historical Stuff > new_ads012-207x457.jpg", "Harvey's JCPenney store closing after January", "Shoplifting, employe [sic] thefts reach crisis proportions", "Developer Still Seeks Pact On Harvey Mall", "Governor announces $15,000 for Harvey police cadet program", "Another mission for 'Blues Brothers' mall", "Quinn announces $4 million grant to raze 'Blues Brothers' mall", "Demolition Going Ahead At Last At Long-Abandoned Dixie Square Mall", "Harvey mayor touts achievements, rivals push for change as election looms", "Harvey looks to finish what Jake and Elwood started", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dixie_Square_Mall&oldid=1132462593, This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 00:36. Truly, Metro North Mall no longer looks like a mall, but a creepy, bygone, haunted sanitarium. Also, around this time, the large triangular "Dixie" sign, added in the 1975 renovation and seen in the Blues Brothers film, was removed. Throughout the madcap chase, deadpan stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi calmly point out stores like Disco Pants and Haircuts and an unrecognizable Pier One Imports. Walls are smashed inward, and windows shattered. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, Luhar-Trice Publications (November 22, 2008). The following errors occurred with your submission. On October 21, 1965, Montgomery Ward was the first of the mall's stores to open. In addition, crime in the area increased, and the Mall was associated with some violent events. Editors note:The story was originally published on June 23, 2005, as part of a weeklong series to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Blues Brothers. The Sun-Times is republishing the stories to mark the 40th anniversary of the movie in 2020. I am actually pro-feminist. This use, which lasted for two years, also included conversion of the former Turn Style into a gymnasium. Required fields are marked *. Who said they were desperate to keep their masculinity intact? 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. Dixie Square Mall opened in 1966.closed in 1979.and remains standing in 2008. 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 Mall photos courtesy Jon Revelle. Please use a different way to share. On July 20, 2009, a fire of unknown origin broke out in the entrance to Block C during the late afternoon. They have good reason to worry. Harvey, Illinois (IL), US. In January of 2012, the permits for demolition were finally issued. The suburb of Harvey went through a steep decline during the early 1970s, and crime at the mall surged. After years of false starts and decades of dilapidation, the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey is finally coming down. [32], The vast majority of the former site is now brownfield land. [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. Its hard to find an article on abandoned malls that doesnt include Metro North Mall in Kansas City, and with good reason. We are sorry. 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. Only recently the suburb announced major plans to demolish the 58-acre site and redevelop it as a shopping center, but residents still wonder if the plan will really go through this time. That definitive source once told HuffPo that the abandoned Metro North Mall in Kansas City is by far the creepiest place Ive ever stepped foot in.. The Mall was used briefly as a temporary school, and, of course, the Mall was used to film The Blues Brothers (Labelscar). The project is a part of a larger . That's the stunt director asking about Miss Piggy. Mar 22, 2014 at 5:24 am. . A ripped mattress with some bedding sits next to a teddy bear and large toy car, indications that a family might have recently slept here. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Since it's closing in 1979, Dixie Square has become something else: a crumbling eyesore and a haven for crime and gang activity. That's the stunt director asking about Miss Piggy. It's posts like this one that make me really sad to think about the areas I lived in when I was a kid. Some intel on the Blues Brothers mall: it was the former Dixie Square Shopping Center in Harvey, IL; a south-suburb of Chicago. They built 30 elaborate storefronts for Jake and Elwood to drive through, featuring Chicago businesses like R.J. Grunts and Banana Moon, a childrens clothing store. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Wow your conclusions are stunningly myopic. The Dixie Square Mall was built on an old golf course off of the Dixie Highway in Harvey, Illinois (Pleasant Family Shopping). I went to the post office and there it was, delivered in a small box, not much larger than a dvd shipping box. By 1978 the mall was down to 20 stores; the final "anchor" store J.C. Penney departing in January. Often, political feuding between the mayor and city council blocked plans. 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 addition to the anchors JC Penny and Montgomery Wards, the Mall housed 50 stores. While many other dead malls were redeveloped or demolished, Dixie Square became notable for its extensive neglect, vandalism damage, and history. [12] A 1978 article in the Chicago Tribune indicated that two major factors in the mall's closure were shoplifting and theft of merchandise by employees. The mall closed in 1997 after The Thai Supreme Court ruled that seven out of eleven of its floors violated safety standards. Here is the story of the Dixie Square Mall. [8], Various redevelopment plans were announced in 1985 and 1989, but went nowhere. Dixie Square competed directly with Park Forest Plaza to the south, River Oaks to the east, and the newly-enclosed Evergreen Plaza to the north upon opening. He urged people to steer clear of it. Thats the same store the Bluesmobile ripped through on its way out of the mall. [5] The mall had 64 shops by 1968, including Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, Woolworth, Walgreens, and a Jewel supermarket. 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.Opened in 1966, the mall featured Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, Woolworth, Walgreens, and Jewel as its major stores, with discount store Turn Style joining in 1970. The now defunct Dixie Square Mall at 15301 Dixie Highway in Harvey, Illinois, was a prominent location in "The Blue Brothers" released 30 years ago. 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. OK, maybe you don't. It was a large mall in Harvey, Illinois (for the 1960s) with JCPenney ("Penney's") and Montgomery Ward ("Wards"). This logo was first revealed in 1965. 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. Packs of wild dogs have made their home here over the years, as have thousands of rats, and even the homeless. But in the 1970s, in part because of crime concerns, shops started leaving Dixie Square, with Jewel, the last tenant to leave, closing up shop in 1979. They paid $12,500 for the right to film inside, according to a contract from the time. Each image tells a narrative of the "Aesthetics of Abandonment" in a unique interesting way. After the news crews left, so did the demolition companies. [3] Final construction was completed nearly three months later, and the mall was dedicated on November 9, 1966, with grand opening celebrations from November 1012, and 50 stores open. From what I read here, that would not be the case today. [8][14], The Harvey-Dixmoor School District attempted to sue Universal Pictures in December 1981 for $87,000, citing their failure to repair damage to mall property created during the movie shoot. I can't believe she paid $[] for this book (with shipping). Deneen is securing and cleaning up the property, which is loaded with asbestos, he said. We dont share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we dont sell your information to others. Unfortunately this also gave rise to the local crime rate, and Dixie Square was not immune. [26], Governor Pat Quinn announced on September 23, 2010, that a $4 million federal grant would be used to demolish the mall. The Dixie Square Mall was built on an old golf course off of the Dixie Highway in Harvey, Illinois ( Pleasant Family Shopping ). Location: Dixie Square Mall Gallery: Eye of the Beholder Parsippany: 3189 Route 46 Morris Hills S/C (Harmon Face Value) Rockaway: 327 Mount Hope Ave. Suite 1003 (buybuy BABY) and 399 Route . Dixie Square Mall, one of the first of many more to come in . Similar in age and basically decayed but opened to the public, Columbus Square Mall originally opened in 1965 as the first mall in the city and one of the first enclosed malls in Georgia. Since then, it has fared worse than possibly any other ghost mall. There they tortured her and strangled her to death (Dixie Square History). [7][8], However, by the early 1970s, crime was increasing in Harvey, a poverty-stricken and blighted suburb 20 miles (32km) south of Chicago,[9] and several significant criminal incidents occurred at or near the mall, including three murders in one year alone. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. Its been an embarrassment, said Durnavich. Dixie Square was anchored by JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward, and had larger stores like Walgreen's, and a Jewel grocery store. This full-color book includes historical information about Dixie Square, maps, and over 50 color photographs by the artist telling the visual story of America's most famous dead mall, best known for it's appearance in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. The Mall's last tenets closed in 1979, and in . Who said the original person hated anything focusing on the female perspective? It is thus considered an early example of a dead mall; it was characterized by high vacancy rates and low patronage, which led to its closure. Then in 1973 another person was shot on the mall property, and a teenage girl was strangled to death. This mall was made famous when it was used in the Blues Brothers movie in 1979. By 2010 the governor of Illinois finally announced a government grant of $4 million dollars to help demolish the mall. Especially since nothing is planned for the site. The mall's popularity waned as crime plagued the Chicago suburb, and by 1978 . The mall had a grand opening in November with 50 stores committed to the facilities. My interest in this book is in the art of photography itself and Trice's imagery doesn't disappoint. of stores and services: 64 (in 1968) 20 (in 1978) No. In 1970, a Turn Style store was added to the building. [10] From 1973 to 1978, Dixie lost many stores, including the Montgomery Ward anchor, which closed on October 4, 1976 and Turn Style which closed in January 1978. 's pics from 1986. Honestly, it just seemed like it was cursed from the beginning. In 1973 a 13-year-old girl was strangled after being dropped off at the mall. The Dixie Square Mall opened in 1966, anchored by a Woolworth, a J.C. Penney, a Montgomery Ward, a Jewel store that only opened to the outside, and later a Turn Style discount store. cover photo courtesy Brian Ulrich * Pride of Harvey. For a while after it opened in 1966 during a mall building boom, though, residents remember a thriving place. [33], The city of Harvey obtained possession of the former mall site in 2016. There is an implicit gender valence to the meme. In response, the locals introduced various species of tilapia, mango fish, carp, koi, and catfish to eat the mosquito larvae. Before demolition, the Wayne Hills Mall became a damp, sludgy cesspool that looked about a century older than it was. Add to that a 200-year-old outdoor mall the size of a neighborhood, and you have a combination ghost-town/crime-den. I grew up in Chicago Heights in the 50s and 60s and in the late 60s, worked at Dixie Square mall (Wards and Karoll's Red Hangar Shop) and also at River Oaks mall (Hirsch Clothing). By Dave Newbart Jun 23, 2020, 4:00am PST Demolition began in February of 2012 (Rhodes, 2012). There is really nothing to this book, very little history and the pictures are ok, but there are far more interesting ones on the web. Watch that whole scene frame-by-frame. Since then, it has fared worse than possibly any other ghost mall. Is this how you really feel? The mall was designed as a tribute to Ancient Greek culture, as its name suggests. Once the crew left, wrote Jonrev, (the mall in a disastrous state that was never repaired, despite a lawsuit that was ultimately tossed), the mall was briefly used as a school, then left to rot from 1981 onward., What was once a sprawling, $25 million mall with three anchor stores and over 60 merchants total became a bombed out shell., Trashed: The mall was dressed up then wrecked for the scene and left that way for over 20 years by the movie crew and director John Landis, 'Bombed-Out Shell': The 800,000 square foot mall was closed due to a crime spike in the area and quickly went from suburban dream to crime riddled nightmare, Dangerous: The mall, seen here in its heyday, had 4 anchor stores at 60 merchants but became a magnet for gang activity in its decline. Said to be the first suburban mall in the United States, Dixie Square has been abandoned for more than thirty years. Inside, the smell of mold and rotting garbage dumped illegally over the years is staggering. Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt. The city district attempted to sue Universal Pictures for the destruction, but financial considerations forced the district to eventually evacuate the property altogether and terminate legal proceedings. Harvey police took three teenage girls into custody within 30 minutes after the girls body was discovered. In one of the more memorable scenes of the iconic 1980 film The Blues Brothers, the title characters drive through shopping mall with police not far behind as shocked shoppers run for safety and the whole place ends up trashed. However,. Dixie Square Mall was the town's pride and most preferred shopping and recreation center for the locals. [9] A November 2015 article suggested that the land be developed as an intermodal freight site. On July 17, 1973, a teenage girl was lured away from the mall by three other teenage girls, and strangled to death. 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