Lakeforest Mall | Requiem for a shuttered dead mall and Taubman's Titanic Legacy | ExLog 117

⚓Catch up on the full Expedition Log Series!⚓
⭐Support the Expedition Log on Patreon, if you like!⭐
/ salvatoreamadeo
⭐Join my channel as a member, and become an Elite Explorer!⭐ / @sal
Second Channel! - / quitestudios
💬 Chat with me live on the DMOD Discord Server here ( click the link below)💬
/ discord
📱 Check out my Social Media!📱
My Website: www.salvatorea...
Facebook Page! - / quitestudios
ExLog Series Playlist - • Expedition Log Series ...
Twitter - / salvatoreamadeo
Instagram - / salvatoreamadeo
🎵 Follow the incredible tunes of Caspro🎵
smarturl.it/Ca...
Welcome back to the Lakeforest Mall! While this incredible dead mall has been on my mind fairly consistently for the last 6 years (and even before, as I would frequent the mall in years past), I'm terribly sad to report that the mall is now closed.
#exlog #salguido #dmodfam

[@sal]

On March 31, 2023, Marna bore witness to the Day of Wrath at Lakeforest Mall's final day in operation. Alfred the Umbrella Tree from the Sears Courtyard now lives in my living room and it's thriving, and the geese in heat with nuclear cloacas nearly massacred Ace and I. Just a normal day at the mall, whatever. Subscribe or the tree will cry.

[@TheUluxian]

Well I've been subscribed for a long time, so I can't do that, but I WILL give you a "LIKE" if you promise never to bring up the image of "Nuclear Geese Cloacas" ever again...

[@ericlee6495]

I’m here with you sal don’t cry I love you ❤️ 😊 and I did subscribe to your channel 😊❤

[@NicholasShade-eq1ts]

I don't want the tree to cry. 🌲 😭 So, I'm subscribing.🐼

[@charlestonpinballarcade]

Sal! It took another watch of this one year later to catch Tayne! Happy Flarhgunnstow to you! 😂

[@ThisisDanBell]

This is a fabulous video. The mayhem inside on the last day was unreal to watch. I should've gone with you. Great work, Sal. You put A LOT of effort into this and it shows. Congrats!

[@sal]

Thanks Dan ❤️

[@rwdplz1]

Sal, Dan, and Ace cross-over episode would be epic.

[@TofersCarTales]

As I face turning 50... this is absolute childhood nostalgia. Thanks Sal.

[@leighmaesaka5880]

I am SUPER delighted that you stole/rescued Alfred the Umbrella Tree! In fact, that whole section where all the mall patrons were just going feral and walking off with stuff was a JOY.

[@OriginalBongoliath]

This was my mall. I was there for its golden age. I was there for the 1994 Christmas holiday season that was shown here. My mom still has the picture of me and my brother visiting Santa at that same mall. I even remember the Cable TV Montgomery commercials when there was still competition in that space. But now just like everything else that has changed in Montgomery County, this mall is another memory of the past I will never forget or witness again.

[@StormyJP]

I am a Bicentennial turning 50 in 2 years and many malls opened and thrived in our childhood and teen years. My mall was Jamestown in St. Louis. This mall is gorgeous and it's a darn shame what's happening. Sal, you rock this series.

[@neonrustproductions1386]

You did an absolutely amazing job at capturing this mall. Especially the chaos of it's last few hours. It was great being able to hang out with you there twice. Thank you for making this.

[@sal]

You were a fantastic co-host in this episode! I'm always fond of the time we get to spend together, and everyone needs to follow y'all on Instagram: @neonandrustproductions

[@skarasik4021]

I was there just a few years ago to visit the food court. I think I got something at the Cajun Grill. I worked in Gaithersburg until the pandemic hit.

[@johndersham1]

Sal, you are really incredible at Mall documentation. I love your history presentation of each mall as much as the visuals themselves. Thanks for doing these.

[@ECFE]

Lol I made a cameo at 51:40. In the purple shirt. I ended up staying 30 minutes past closing and got locked in lol. I think I was the last one out. Great video as always, Sal! EDIT: It's nice to know security still patrols the inside. We definitely don't want another Century III situation...

[@angelaa1611]

Forgive my ignorance but as someone from the Pittsburgh area, I have to ask...what Century III situation?? I just moved back to the area after a 23 year long hiatus in LA. Was shocked to hear that C3 is gone.

[@EternalSand]

@@angelaa1611 A few people recently broke into C3 a few weeks ago if i remember hearing correctly, it was on KDKA

[@ECFE]

@@angelaa1611Century III has been/is regularly broken into, and is severely vandalized and decayed. Someone set it on fire a few months ago, and just a month ago some kid fell through the roof.

[@A-RonHubbard]

They still patrol for the time being...that will change as the property decays.

[@nairbvel]

Alas, poor Lakeforest, we knew ye well. For the last few years, it had a reputation for being a place where groups of teens were not to be trusted, where storefronts were almost always boarded up, where word was that you took your life in your hands just entering the property, where shopping involved long walks between operating stores while trying to remember what stores had been in all the closed storefronts. My niece is adopted from China and for the last 3 years we went there exactly ONE time each year for the big Chinese Neew Year celebrations -- and then only because she was one of the performers. The last time I remember actually going to Lakeforest Mall for *shopping* was pre-pandemimonium.

[@mikefobfan101]

It definitely was a little nerve-racking going to Lake Forest. I would always have to go pretty early in the day when kids were in school in the later years. Just because I was nervous to be there late.

[@lifetimetab2677]

Amazing video. I'm born and raised in Montgomery County, and Lakeforest was a great place to shop, hang out, etc. I had great times going to the movies with my friends and shopping for a new outfit. I even bought my first car battery at Sears. I could tell you some stories that will blow your mind. Also, I can't forget Ruby Tuesday where everyone knows your name. Lakeforest will truly be missed😢. The tree looks fabulous!

[@gridley]

There are a variety of vlogs that cover the same theme of the dead mall. Increasingly abandoned shopping centers exist all over the US. I watched another vid about the mall (20 miles east of LA) where exterior shots of the 1980's classic "Back to the Future" was filmed. That one too apparently will see in the future (pun unintended) the wrecking ball. Same trends are striking other parts of the nation's real estate/economy, culture, politics. Call it the San-Francisco-izing (formerly Detroit-izing) of America.

[@MK_337]

These geometric, 70's DeBartolo style malls were the ones I grew up with in the 80's and 90's. My favorites! Great video Sal.

[@NicholasShade-eq1ts]

🌈

[@andrewle8233]

Born in 2000, I learned just today that lakeforest mall had been closed since march (also the gaithersburg chuck e cheese in june 2020). Total staple of my childhood, common visit near where my grandparents lived, I remember the frogland playplace that my family went to when I was super young, where they later put a conversation pit/fountain that you mentioned got tiled over, and I remember the weird elevator next to it and the seats under the escalator to the sears. I remember the foodcourt, the sbarro and cajun grill and grill kabob I never went to (picky mcdonald's kid), also the central newstand, there was also a dippin dots at the far end, and I got a few teriyaki chicken bowls with potatoes close to the chicken place you went to (left of the "cafes in the forest" sign), always sitting down and watching the TVs in the food court. If I'm not mistaken, the hot topic there was where I got some of my first metal t-shirts. I remember the place where you could still smell the cologne, think it was an abercrombie and fitch store, think I got jeans there once. So many memories of when my family went shopping, never thought I'd at all value the memory of waiting for mom at sears and macy's and JCpenny, will think about that whenever "mundane" stuff is boring me, hell I'm thinking about all the auntie annies I ate at FSK mall too. Even knowing that times change and these things happen, it's still kind of chilling to see all these memories and know that it's being demolished and that I will never walk those halls again. Thanks a ton for the closure and the nostalgia trip, great history lesson and pretty funny watching the place get ransacked

[@jasonstone2870]

I’m in the same boat as you (99’ born) I left Gaithersburg and moved to Chicago IL back in 2014 so my memory’s of lake forest mall are only up until I moved. I remembered going to EB games to get new video games or just go to the food court and only eat Mcds as a kid 😂😂

[@thejlist4369]

Bravo Sal! I worked at Lakeforest from 1985-87 at the Hecht Co. in Display/Visual Merchandising. Such memories and many stories. Walking the mall everyday, lunch in the center pit with my colleagues. The sights and smells of what it was like then. My colleagues and I created the atmosphere in those department stores in that era. It's a job/art form that people know very little about. It was a wonderful time to be part of those malls. So grateful that you returned and documented this wonderful mall from my past. Thank you.

[@JohnPuzzuoli]

Sal, I just discovered this video tribute to the Lakeforest Mall, as it had been mentioned in other comments about my local Taubman mall, Lakeside of Sterling Heights, Michigan. Great job on this Requiem. As others have noted, it does appear that Lakeside and Lakeforest are near twins of each other. Same tile floor. Same sunken seating areas. Same dark brown fake-rock dividers, same plants, sculpture, escalators, center glass elevator. However, since Lakeside opened a couple years earlier, in 1976, I have to nit-pick your claim that Lakeforest had the first indoor ice rink at a mall, as Lakeside had theirs operating the year it opened. I skated on the rink with my family as a 10 year old that spring.... there was also a 4 screen movie theater at that time. At the time, I thought that Lakeside was the most amazing public building that I had ever seen; it was better than the airport in Detroit to me. Lakeside is closing for good; its last day open to the public is June 30, 2024. I encourage all fans of dead malls and Taubman malls in particular to visit Lakeside before it's too late.

[@Joelsef]

Thank you for doing this, Sal. This was my mall. I will never forget it.

[@NicholasShade-eq1ts]

🌈

[@dondavis5633]

"Nuclear cloaca's." A phrase, I suspect, that has never been heard in any extant dead mall vids -- or ANY vid ever MADE, for that matter. Congrats, Sal, on raising that particular lexicon bar way up into the stratosphere. You rock, man...

[@Azianiceboy]

Thank you for doing this mall justice. This along with White Flint were my childhood malls and I remember walking through this mall with my parents as we did my back to school shopping. I returned to the area around 2017 when I worked for an auto parts store in the area and got close to the Sears Auto Center staff before they closed. Thank for the nostalgia trip! I've shared this with all my friends who grew up/lived in the area before this mall's demise.

[@cynthiaj.simmons870]

Great, Great video Sal and Anthony (ACE)!!! 🤗❤️🤗❤️🤗❤️ Totally agree with you about we are not going to malls anymore and it just makes me sad to so many of them closing now. Definitely love studying up and just exploring learning about abandoned dead malls and researching suff about them. I love the plant too!!! 🤗🌱❤

[@jeltoninc.8542]

Long time fan, love to see you still at it. I’m so fascinated with the eery nostalgia of the malls we see dying or the ones that have already passed. I think our morbid obsession comes from the fact we all know our fate will be similar to these once thriving places. Keep at it!

[@beritbunny]

The 90s holiday and etc footage!!!! Just wow!!!

[@warrenbard2136]

Great video I am 58 years old and I lived through the great mall era and your videos bring back a lot of memories from in my 20s keep up the good work can't wait to see the next one

[@Stevie_B_0828]

I thought I was the only one who genuinely cared that the plants and trees left behind would suffer, wither, and die off. I found myself literally mourning the foliage in these dead mall videos, I was shocked that no one cared enough to rescue the trees and plants in these buildings, they deserve to live on and most are very easy to care for with minimal effort and bring life into your space. Save the plants and trees from these buildings when they're shuttered, but you may want to contact building management and security via email that way you have records proving you were granted the ability to rescue greenery and keep from getting in hot water. Thanks fir all you do, keep up the good work, my friend. Looking forward to more new content in the future. 😉👍Say hi to Myrna for me, I absolutely love her announcements. ❤

[@BigKahuna0275]

Just catching up on the Ex-logs and wow!!!! That opening shot man, that wide angle fly over with that sleepy morning feel was just amazing! I love the outside aesthetic to this mall with water and such. Here in Texas we get boring green hedges.

[@HardDriveGuruOfficial]

Honestly, what I'm happiest about is seeing that Alfred got a second chance! May he thrive on in your living room!

[@jasonstone2870]

I left Gaithersburg and moved to chicago IL back in 2014 so my memory’s of lake forest mall are only up until I moved. Hearing about how bad it got over the last few years before it closed came as a shock to me because I never witnessed anything crazy when I used to go there. I must have been very oblivious back then. I remembered going to EB games to get new video games or just go to the food court and JCPenney with my mom when she wanted to go shopping. This place was my childhood so it’s kinda sad for me to find out things turned like this after I left.

[@retailexplorationwithdanny8070]

I wish malls still looked like this. Your a great man Sal, keep up the good work and God Bless you. I pray that you stay safe on all your trips! Greetings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

[@shamra1245]

Haven't watched yet but I'm so glad you captured this one. This was my childhood mall and I visited for the first time in years a few weeks before it closed. It's still absolutely surreal seeing the pictures I took of it, I think my childhood self still hasn't accepted that it's not the way it was in the late 90s when I first remember it.

[@travisswiger9213]

Grew up in this Mall! Sad to see it go. Thanks for the video!

[@JDubKillinKicks]

My favorite mall I ever lived by and only lived in Gaithersburg for 4 years in the 90s. You never forget the mall from your teenage years. I wish I lived closer I would have been there for sure on the last day.

[@swallace8182]

Amazing, I love these long expedition logs. And all the interactions, great stuff!!!

[@JanetVJohnson]

Omg...the actual backrooms! EDIT: Sal, please keep saving the trees like this in every last-day mall adventure. Same for sculpture/art rescues (just like that elephant you saved from that mall from a while back.) I can't help but feel sad over every piece of art & plant that is left to die in an abandoned property.

[@angelm2655]

Such an awesome mall. Check out the brickwork going into the bathrooms and management offices, Amazing! Btw I think I saw my leaves. lol

[@jeannieru6948]

I am a big fan of all your ExLogs, but this one was amazing!!!!!! Thanks for all you do!

[@sal]

Thank you!!

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Nice Save with the plant and what great video it is sad to see a place I loved the mall that is !

[@ASMRGaming.X]

I’m just glad that kid found you guys

[@jbaniecki337]

I worked in Fairfax, VA for a couple of years and visited the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax County, that mall was a mirror to this one and it is weird how this was is empty and Fair Oaks was near capacity when the last time I was there in 2021.

[@DWNicolo]

I worked as a janitor at Fair Oaks for five 1/2 years. I’ve been back to Fair Oaks a few times since then. Hasn’t changed much.

[@bmozumder]

Our store opened there in late 2019 part time and continued to operate there on weekends until the mall closed. (You could see us open in the distance in your 2022 footage.) We were the only store able to move to nearby Montgomery Mall and are operating there now full time. The space was perfect for retail startups, as they offered you absolutely cheap rent in the middle one of the wealthiest counties in the country. You just had to bring your own customer base through advertising and what not, which is what we did. So the money you save on rent, you just spend it on advertising, which means rent and advertising are functionally equivalent, something few people understand. And nobody ever worried about crime there because a) as usual the victims alway knew the perpetrators, and b) EVERY shopping center in the area (and country) had increased crime anyways, so it's not like there were any safer shopping centers.

[@Oni_Teeth]

My favorite part of this was the random chicken sandwich review in the middle of the dead mall video. Lol

[@Audioobscure]

That break area was my favorite part

[@brianlombard9304]

23:40. Regarding the history of the mall's movie theatre, it opened in the summer of 1984 with three movies on its five screens - Star Trek 3, Ghostbusters and The Neverending Story.

[@lalida6432]

We have a mall (also dead) just like Lakeforest in Sterling Heights, Michigan called Lakeside. It looks exactly like Lakeforest. There was a fountain in the middle of the mall that people threw coins in. The last time I was there, probably around 2010, it was full of coins. Lakeforest probabaly had the same thing. They were probabaly both Taubman malls.

[@maxplanck1423]

Sal, EX Log 117 is a noble testament to a now passed venue which demonstrated your passion for these lost places which otherwise would’ve passed without mention.Bravo on saving the ficus.

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

One of the best, and love that there was a bunch of you there...kinda brought a new flavour to the bittersweet “last day of school...ever” vibes. Thanks again chief, your work is fantastic

[@00Mandy00]

I used to mock malls, I remember even saying “you can’t fight (the) city mall when we’d discuss dress code and Walkmans and what to do about them at the school I taught at. I certainly spent my fair share of time at them. My sons were young in the 90s and we went a lot. By the time my daughter was around in the late aughts, they were in decline. I’ve come to the conclusion that all this was sort of inevitable.

[@toddgelineau6536]

This mall looks so much like WestFarms Mall in Connecticut, right down to the art pieces.

[@Bond.girl.007]

Mr Taubman (Alfred) was a nice gentleman. Used to see him a lot in my old building, I worked for a RE company in the area and we worked with Taubman over the years. I won't go into too much detail. You sure know your stuff, Sal! 😊

[@nordicdraw]

Great job Sal. ✨💞🎥

[@sal]

Thanks Ma ❤️

[@BREN153]

Google saids it’s only “temporarily closed” lol. Great video as always 🤘🏼

[@LJ_Brooks27]

Awesome 👍

[@RyDawg084]

I’m new to the area and passed this abandoned mall and immediately wondered if there was any dead mall videos on it and wasn’t disappointed!.It’s crazy this mall Couldn’t survive in a city with so many people, shops, housing, and restaurants,The Costco is the new mall now i guess.. The place is as busy as the old malls used to be.

[@virginalover2210]

I lived in the area from 1984-1995. This takes me back! so many good memories. I used to work at the Cingular wireless store, hang out at the Jerrys, get my monthly chocolate from Godiva, have breakfast at the Silver diner ride the glass elevator over the whishing pond and listen to all the new CD's at Sam Goodies. Feed the crazy geese outside. oh and sing Karaoke at the Chi Chi's upstairs bar :)

[@lr8790]

Target cart lady is working smarter, not harder. Also those plantains looked delicious.

[@cathygray2986]

Same floor plan as another Taubman mall in the Detroit area, Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, MI. After Lord and Taylor closed, Ford Motor Company renovated the store into office space. Last year the mall was bought by Cohen. Because of the Ford office space, there is still some life left in this mall, still several booths open in the food court. We will see if Cohen destroys this mall like all others he touches, in spite of Ford's presence.

[@NoChance-iw9on]

This one was special, thank you

[@monkeyboypup]

Such a sad video for me as I grew up hanging out and working in Lakeforest. I first worked at Sunshine House in 1985 through 1988 , then at Natural Wonders in 1992 then mall security in 1993 through 5/1994. I've been a teen hanging out with friends and worked retail, eaten at every food establishment during my time there, and been through every nook, crannie, back hall, loading dock, and the entire roof. Walking the empty mall during midnights doing key rounds was so peaceful. Skateboarding every loading dock was great as a teen. Smoking cigarettes and walking around simply as social time meeting friends on the weekends is a great memory. The "Bones Brigade" Powell Peralta skateboarding crew did a tour and visited the mall in 87 or 88 and man was that line long to get autographs from those guys which included Tony Hawk! Yeah I got to hang out with the best skaters in the world in Lakeforest Mall. Dealing with fight calls as security, usually from the theater main, was common. Avoiding geese non- stop in the security truck.... What a pain they were but their babies are cute. Waiting in line outside overnight to purchase concert tickets in the 80's was fun. We had the best viewing area for Gaithersburg fairground 4th of July fireworks..... The mall roof! 😂 The end of the video of the man speaking into the intercom..... That's the mall security office.... I've sat at that desk so many times when I was assigned dispatch. When you went into the back hallway in D main.... First hallway there was a door down on the right at the end, which is not in the video. The door must have been moved,. It was the back door from the surf shop. Follow that all the way around to the loading dock by Ruby's. That's fun on a skateboard and a fast way to take out trash! So many memories! I know I was all over the place but these memories just pop in my head so I wrote them as they did. I appreciate your extensive video... It makes me remember so many good times. The people, music, food smell, noise, center court shenanigans, the malls were the social media and in many ways I miss that.

[@lesyoung5108]

Thanks for covering the mall. I use to visit the mall when I was in town there for sporting events, loved the fountain they had before it was gutted out. I last visited there the fall of 2019 and really wished I could have seen it one last time before it closed.

[@skittlesmcgee]

I love that you showed the weird makeout pit around 53:18. This was my childhood mall and that pit was where high schoolers went to make out back in the 80s and 90s. I worked in that Express store between semesters of college in the late 90s.

[@MsWaggydog]

I'm so proud to be the 1,000th Like on this video. Excellent work Sal!

[@wolftickets1969]

"no-clipped into another dimension", or perhaps passed through a portal into a Silent Hill-esque otherworld. I've had at least one dream like that set in a mall.

[@TheCubeTube]

Love how he becomes a full out food critic at lunch! 😂 I never heard of this mall before today, but after watching this video feel like I know everything about it, and I was actually sad when it closed! Amazing video skills Sal, keep it up!

[@kewkabe]

I used to walk there all the time from my apartment nearby in the early 2000's. At 23:15 you can see the chess players along the right side that used to informally meet on Saturdays. Just show up and play with someone.

[@scuffedharrypotter4733]

Glad i found your channel this is primo liminal space content

[@mksarj]

Just saw an article today-Concord Mall in Elkhart, IN last day of operation 10/31.

[@Matt-vs4zz]

Man I remember that place. Even living in that area in the mid-'00s we called it the Ghetto Mall. Lotta stabbings. I always really liked that food court though. I'm honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did, but it's still sad to see it gone.

[@limoman4125]

Damn I see that centry lll mall sign!! I love in Pittsburgh and they are finally demolishing that mall

[@drscopeify]

Fantastic log!!! You really put amazing effort to your work and it shows. I am sure that Alfred Junior will grow to be a beautiful mall plant, I mean house plant...

[@nonancyz3757]

Incredible footage.

[@sal]

Thank you so much!

[@clydeosterhout1221]

So painful to watch! I grew up in G-burg, and visited the Mall shortly after it opened. It never replaced the Columbia Mall as our go-to date place, but it was very impressive none-the-less. We moved out of the area in 1979, and even though we returned to the area many times we never got around to visiting Lake Forest again. It came as a real shock when we heard it was closing down. A couple of months ago I dropped in on the Mall in Columbia just to see how it was doing. It was great to see that at least one mall is still alive and doing well!

[@RBrooksC]

This mall is locked in my memory from over 23 years ago. The last time I visited it was in the late 1990 before my divorce and I moved back to the Baltimore area. When I spoke to a friend who lived that was a few years ago about the mall, she told me it is a place you don't want to go to in the dark due to shady things that have happened there. And when it closed, I told my friend who lives in Pittsburgh and she was shocked as that was the nice mall to go to when you lived in Frederick.

[@IMJAYSAVAGE]

My childhood mall.. bro zbouncer was awesome my parents used to take me there all the time back then

[@WinterCedar]

Oh wow, I worked security at 12 Oaks mall in Novi, MI, and they look almost identical

[@Narniagirl309]

The B&W shot with the purple reflection on the sunglasses? Beautiful cinematography!

[@ppihcfan]

Holy crap thank you for unlocking a core memory! I grew up in Iowa and Nebraska and I'm fairly certain we had a similar yo yo demonstration in our center court when I was about 5 or 6. 😮😢

[@Abigail_Wyatt]

Wooo special appearance from Ace! Very cool! 🫶🏻📹

[@user-tp6fo7im3d]

This completely underplays the chaos that occurred when it closed. There were people passing around cups of urine and drinking them, there were people doing rails of cocaine off of the floor, there was one instance of cannibalism, a self-immolation, and a flock of live chickens were released. There was also a sudden spike in pregnancies shortly after.

[@JohnS-er7jh]

LOL at the commercial for a 'career' in the Cable TV Industry, the phone number didn't have an area code listed (I am old enough to remember those days when it was common to not list an area code).

[@chad2787]

There was only one area code in Maryland then - 301

[@Audioobscure]

Now I wish I had taken the beautiful flowery trees from the frackville mall 😢

[@MrDan708]

13:40 People selling us on LED lights insisted they would be more reliable and durable than CFL's or incandescents, but that hasn't jibed with my experience. I finally got this video viewed during lunch, today. Nice job as usual, Salvatore!

[@GBooth]

Once you've seen the interior decor and layout, there's no mistaking a Taubman mall. Taubman really, really liked those floor tiles; I think they're in every mall they built.

[@daniellarsen889]

Good work Salazar!

[@AnimeJSaysBah]

Makes me sad to see another mall die. At least you got that tree! I managed to get a chunk of facade from my local mall when it was torn down, so I can't blame people for trying to get a memento. Never trust those Canadian geese, they're mean!

[@vistatiger7493]

@14:15 That sunken seating area sometimes referred to as "conversation pits" by some developers was my favorite mall terminology.

[@kingpetra6886]

This is some of your best footage that you have ever shown. The sound in the background makes the place sound haunted.

[@charlestonpinballarcade]

The opening jam always sets the mood. Now grab that glass of fierce Gatorade, sit down and enjoy the show!

[@gillianaustin5849]

I walked The Lake Forrest Mall before it was said to have closed and I did not see decay or shoddy workmanship nor neglect. That shopping mall appeared then to be structurally sound. I want The Lake Forrest Mall to be saved and mothballed until the economy of America really begins to accelerate. When that happens, when, America is going to build new and better shopping malls. I would run that shopping mall right now if I could and I would not fail. There is more to the closing of The Lake Forrest Mall and other shopping malls within America than is being spoken of publicly. Thankyou for making this and other such videos. I do not think that children born into the future will look back at these videos and laugh at what has been done to America in our day. America is not going to be like this forever. This is not as good as it gets for America. My Regards Mr. Dominic James Austin.

[@71tarheelfan]

I remember going to this mall a few times. My Dad and late step-mom lived in Germantown. The last time I was there was probably the early 2000's. And remember the food court.

[@tinasoules5855]

Alfred is awesome! Can i get a start? Im glad you do this. The malls are a dying breed. 😢 Another part of our childhood gone.

[@AustinLCampbell]

I've been waiting to see the drone footage since the live stream you had a couple of weeks ago! Great as always!

[@RoundenBrown]

Used to come here a lot back in the day. Gonna miss it.

[@Drknnja]

Lakeforest wanted the food court and offered the theater a new lease at 2x rent. Loews added the 6 screens at Rio instead of paying for a dying mall.

[@f23948]

many shopping malls are drying thank you for another new uploaded video

[@fisitron7256]

May Alfred Jr. have a long and prosperous life!

[@hubertvancalenbergh9022]

"Get noticed at the mall", indeed. That Time Out Zone reminds me of a similar place in the Japanese film Kairo (aka Pulse), which has unobtrusive but very scary ghosts wandering through the aisles.

[@peterantonsen3539]

Nice clip. And i love all the history and your knowledge with all u do👍. The best..

[@scuffedharrypotter4733]

Bread and butter pickle !!! WHAT , oh false alarm

[@MnemonicHeadTrip]

Thank you thank you for making these videos. It really does feel on par or even better than Dan Bell’s series, which is nice because I was looking for more of that content

[@UniCommProductions]

Holy crap dude you've outdone yourself on this one. Bravo.