Where The Hillside Mall Used To Be (Obscure History)

[@mfrerkes]

I worked at this mall in 1992, and it was a Menards location back then. It was technically a Menards Hardware Plus store, because it lacked the full-size lumber yard you find at a typical Menards. The previous tenant was Zayre, because we used to find Zayre price tags in the employee break room. Even in 1992, during the apex of shopping malls, Hillside Mall was in bad shape. There seemed to be many vacancies, and the mall itself was not very well maintained. I read where Menards left sometime in late 2012. Hard to believe it hung on that long, because it was not doing well when I left there in 1993.

[@ipfeldspar]

The old Mall, and the Menards, are barely two miles from home. I used Menards for almost all my hardware and other needs. The lumber area might have been small but it had all the basics for home repair. Thank-You for viewing!

[@alwaysamysteryyes2021]

Zayre was there before, but there was a couple things after before they made it Menard's.

[@judiwendt7091]

Loved this mall. Was married to a Hillside Policeman, kids went to Proviso West and we lived a block away from the fire department and police station. This was in the early 70's. Loved it there!

[@ipfeldspar]

I drive by every day. The CarMax seems to be thriving but the rest of the land parcel looks pretty bleak. For a while, it was being used to store the huge new electric pylons that are going up along I-294. A lot has changed around the edges; the old bowling alley has slot machines. Both movie theaters have become churches. The old Police/Fire Station was sold to a private company.

[@pjbscript]

nice historical report .... I used to live nearby ..... there was a playhouse too, saw Dave Brubeck Quartet play there 1964 or so

[@ipfeldspar]

Was the Playhouse the open air summer fun to the north of the expressway?

[@pjbscript]

The playhouse i saw Brucbeck play in was an indoor venue.

[@jimmyarnold1026]

Thanks to Irving P. Feldspar for posting this and other videos about the Hillside area. I worked at the HSC from '69-72. My supervisor was a really nice older Irish fella named Larry Harnett. We were part of the maintenance staff and my duties included outside grounds maintenance (during the warmer months), resurfacing the overhang structure (around the outside perimeter of the Shopping Center). I also was responsible for upkeep during business hours including steam-cleaning the entire concrete floors before opening & walking around the inside of the mall with a broom & pan). I can only imagine how many miles I walked on those shifts. The big bonus was being able to talk to all my friends who worked in the various stores. My favorite store was the Hillside Music Center. I spent ALL of my break and lunch hours there playing guitar and listening to the records (vinyl) that the staff played. I quit working at the HSC in, 72 a year after I started playing music professionally and I'm still playing music. This year is my 50th anniversary being a self-employed musician! My Grandmother started working at Goldblatt's when the mall opened in 54-55 and worked there until her retirement in 63. My Mom worked at Tally-Ho (coffee shop), Goldblatt's, and finally at Carson's until retirement in 84. Most of my friends had jobs there at one time or another and many went to Proviso West (I am a St. Joe's alumni). When I was in middle school one of my best friends lived in the red brick house on the corner, directly across Wolf Rd. from where this video was recorded. The Hillside Shopping Center was a core part of my family and my social life when I was growing up in the 50s & 60s. We earned our money & purchased everything from our groceries to clothing & electronics there. And it was a meeting place for many social encounters, much like the town squares of earlier years. Memories...

[@ipfeldspar]

You have great detailed memories. Social Media has a Hillside memory or history page, are you on it? My memories of the Mall go back to 1963, and I can still smell the carmel corn. Thank-You very much for adding this information. Oh, I dropped a lot of money in that music store starting about 1976 when I first started putting together my component stereo system.

[@jimmyarnold1026]

@@ipfeldspar Are you thinking of the electronics store (Allied Radio [originally Western Auto] or perhaps the Playback in one of the satellite stores out in the parking lot)? When I was still living there the Hillside Music Center only sold records (vinyl) and a few musical instruments.

[@Local1Laborer]

I once saw Ned Locke walking through the mall. Late 60s they had an ice cream stand in the middle where I discovered New York Cherry.

[@ipfeldspar]

I just noticed that the thing in the video is now gone. They ripped it out and seeded the grass.....

[@takemeback2]

Old stomping grounds, and it was Goldblatts, Zayre, then Menards, with Drivers lic. facility in front facing parking lot. Woolworths and Carsons were nice too.

[@ipfeldspar]

Carson's never thrilled me unless I could only get parking on that end of the mall. That reminds me of the old "Sandy's" hamburger joint which I remember as standing next to the expressway ramp and across from the original Hillside Theater.

[@alwaysamysteryyes2021]

Actually, for a short time after Zayres it was an Ames and an Eddie Bauer outlet before Menards. Very short lived.

[@pilotgrrl1]

At one point, there was a Guido's Food Store in Hillside Mall. We lived across the street from the Guidos.

[@daniellubben1528]

Yes Zayre became Ames and I worked there around 85.

[@Decarlo.Monfra]

I worked at Carson Pirie Scott in 1989-1990 in the Shoe Dept. I went to Proviso West & East. I learned a lot about Customer Service working there. Who remembers the old motto: “The Customer is Always Right.” We don’t hear that anymore. But those were exciting & fun times.

[@ipfeldspar]

I want to say that Carsons was the last to go? Maybe my memory is faulty, but I think the Mall was totally closed but Carsons continued for awhile. They tore it down just about the same time the old Green Stamp office tower came down (on Butterfield Rd).

[@benahlenius9810]

I moved to the area in 91. I remember there was a Subway and Menards and for a short time I remember there being a run down food court. The CarMax was on the other side of the building.

[@ipfeldspar]

The Menards was briefly a Illinois Secretary of State Drivers License Facility. I think that was after the Zayre and before Menards? I still miss the Menards as it was the closest fully stocked hardware store to my home. Thank-You for viewing and commenting!!!

[@robertmclennan5310]

Some of your info is off base. Menards took over the Goldblatt's building. I bought my wife's engagement ring at Hillside Jewelers in 1969 and the Mall was still an open design. It was a nice size Mall for the Hillside area when built, but was replaced by Oak Brook also an open-air mall, and York town which was an enclosed mall. My parents bought a home on Laverne Ave. North of Butterfield Rd. and one Blk West of Wolf Rd in 1953. It was a fantastic time and place to grow up!

[@ipfeldspar]

I miss the carmel corn place.....!

[@michaelmichniak7287]

@@ipfeldspar Yes, the popcorn and carmel corn was the best,! Just inside the mall on the left near the Goldblatts entrance. As a kid I was mesmerised by the spinning corn popper and loved the popcorn smell that hung in the air at that end of the mall. I can also remember when it was an outdoor mall in the 60's, I am dating myself!

[@shizannon77]

Mom graduated Proviso West in 1976 and then I was born in '82. She took me to that mall for Santa pictures when I was very little!!

[@ipfeldspar]

Hi! I was first over there in the early 1960's before they put the roof on. In the late 1970's, I was buying cassette tapes at the music store. My first CB radio came from Goldblatts (as did my bean bag chair). The latest is that the Wolf Road side of the land parcel will become a data center & server farm. Thank-You very much for viewing and commenting...!!!

[@bigverybadtom]

At the eastern end of the property was a Sandee's hamburger place (similar to McDonald's), then a Playback store, then it got demolished.

[@ipfeldspar]

I remember Sandy's. There was another one on Spring Road in Elmhurst. Present day, the land parcel is reduced in size (expressway changes) and is used for parking. (I don't know who owns it, but the Church that is in the old Hillside Theater uses it).

[@bigverybadtom]

@@ipfeldspar Ironically, years ago my mother and I saw a movie at the Hillside Theater after many years before the theater got converted. Appropriately enough it was "The Prince Of Egypt".

[@Ishowspeedshorts488]

It was Menards, not builders Square.

[@meval1700]

Before Menards, there was a Builders Square at the mall. Menards opened in 1992.

[@ipfeldspar]

OK

[@ipfeldspar]

I'm not trusting my memory. I remember Goldblatts, Zayre, The illinois Sec. of State, and then Menards. I could easily be confusing this with the Builders Square that was at IL-83and St. Charles Road in Elmhurst. In any case, thank-you for viewing and commenting!

[@lt.mike22]

The structure shown in the video was the telephone equipment room. It's where the cable from the Hillside Central Office terminated and connections were made to the individual stores. It's also gone now. BTW, Moose Vasko had the hot dog stand.

[@ipfeldspar]

Hi! Yup, I noticed that it mysteriously disappeared. Thank-You very much for the ID on the structure. I just assumed it was electric and never thought about the phones. The old Illinois Bell switch is on Hillside Avenue several blocks, pretty much due west, of the the old mechanical closet. I wonder if the cable is still ready to use or if it got abandoned? With the fiber any new building will be ready for the 21st century. The old trunk cable probably does not have bandwidth? (Have you heard anything about the CTA buying the property for electric train extension to Hillside?)

[@lths]

Thanks for posting this. My mom worked at the Carson Pirie Scott from 1965 to 1975. I was just wondering what happened to that mall.

[@ipfeldspar]

You are very welcome. I knew a neighbor lady who worked at Carsons (I can't mention the name for internet reasons). Carsons was a quality store that outclassed everything else in the mall. Goldblatts had a impressive inventory but most of its wares were discount quality. Those two stores were the anchors and Carsons went a lot longer than Goldblatts. Thank-You for viewing and commenting.

[@lindaelliott184]

So weird that this little chunk of it was left!

[@ipfeldspar]

A friend has speculated that this thing is the vault from the Currency Exchange.

[@papertweet]

I recall a Menards being the last store open there.

[@ipfeldspar]

That Menard's was the closest big home store to my residence. When that shut down, my home center commute got very crazy. (Gossip has it that; the Menard's management wanted to stay there but the rent went up too much. The Corp might have kept it going but this was a non'standard store. In other words, Menard's much prefers a custom built structure and they duplicate everything across the country. The Hillside store was non-standard and that meant an increased cost of operations. So, high rent, and a unique building, could have been the reasons for the shut-down. BTW-you will notice that the parcel owners have yet to get anything in there.....

[@tonydio666]

I use to run all over that mall as a kid in the 70s. All malls are taking a beating and will be gone soon now. Sad.

[@ipfeldspar]

The old/new bank building along the expressway was torn down last week. I'm not clear if that was a new building put up after the 1995 road rebuild or if that was part of the Dominicks/Harlem Furniture Bldg...?

[@MsMadmax1]

I used to shop at that mall. My best friend lived just down the street.

[@ipfeldspar]

I was at the Goldblatts quite a bit. I bought my first bean bag chair and a CB radio there. Thank-You for viewing and commenting....!!!!

[@MythicStealth]

Blast from the past...wow. I went to Proviso West in the 80's.

[@pjangels609]

Curious, When did u graduate? I went there from '88-'92 (Proviso), and that mall was still alright!

[@crespoopserc]

I went from 91-94 I think

[@bigverybadtom]

In the early 1990s they had a videocassette recorder repair class that ran for several months which I attended, run by Triton College. My classmates were people who ran video rental stores. They didn't like the 1989 Batman movie and Rain Man died.

[@ipfeldspar]

Thank-You for viewing!!!

[@ipfeldspar]

Thank-You for viewing!!!

[@juanorosco2518]

There currently building something there as we speak. I graduate from Proviso West in 2014 and Menards, and the furniture places closed in fall of 2012 if I'm not mistaken.

[@ipfeldspar]

Hi! Thank-You for viewing and commenting! The old parking lot is being used as a material yard for the Tri-State Tollway widening. Up to this month, sections of power tower pylons were being stored over there. I think you are about right on the 2012 date. BTW - A friend of mine thinks that the last bit of structure (see thumbnail) might have been the vault for the currency exchange. Me, I put that down as a maybe.

[@jamespionto172]

Almost makes me want to cry

[@ipfeldspar]

I miss the place. A lot of folks, my age, miss the place. What's more, I could really use some carmel corn right about now! Thank-You for viewing and commenting.

[@davidtaylor328]

This is a good video & I say good because now I know what happened to the Hillside Mall. I grew up in the 80's & man I Loved that mall ( among others ) & my mother took me there & I was in Love with the record store that was there sadly I was so young that I don't remember the name of it. Anyway great video actually just extremely depressing to me personally. Little did I know when I was a kid that the 80's made record stores & others pure fun & joy for me , & now it's gone Forever. Dear God - Do I miss the 80's. Thanks for the info man. 👍🏻

[@ipfeldspar]

Thank-You for viewing! The Hillside Mall was the closest shopping area, to the house, back in the 1960's. There were some village Downtowns, and the Oak Brook Mall, but the Hillside Shopping Center was closest.I think I spent most of my time at either Goldblatts or he music store. It was sad to see it go away, and now, we will get to see the blank walls of a server farm!

[@davidtaylor328]

@ipfeldspar - So true but at least I have some great memories of that mall but I'll always wish that it was still there. 👍🏻

[@verrado1439]

Where's the pass through to the old unused parking lot? Walked from Proviso West to Forest and Idlewild......

[@ipfeldspar]

It is still there but the 1995 "Hillside Strangler" construction obscured it. They also changed the access road at that spot. The old unused parking lot had a large movie theater aprox 1970, and a Senior Home was built on the west edge of that scrap of land.

[@YaBoyPug]

@@ipfeldspar i think your a bit late to responding to that comment

[@pilotgrrl1]

Also, a bunch of big box stores went in further east, on Mannheim Road. That surely didn't help the situation.

[@bigverybadtom]

Hillside Mall was already demolished by then.

[@ipfeldspar]

In the early 1970's, the Hillside Mall had to compete with the near by OakBrook Mall, and a little further west, the Yorktown Mall. Then there is/was the Forest Park Mall which I think was a late arrival to the area? In addition, there are a lot of suburban Downtowns that competed with Hillside. I also understand that there were some problems when the Students at Proviso West were done with their school day. The Mall would see hundreds of kids coming in and staffing for that was next to impossible. Thank-You for viewing!

[@ipfeldspar]

I want to say that Carson's came down about 1999?

[@Joe-rp8ou]

Wasn't there a movie theater nearby there too?

[@ipfeldspar]

Not within the Mall. Across Harrison was the Hillside Movie Theater (now a Church). At the northeast end of the original parcel, next to the I-290 off ramp, was a multi-screen theater. The old Hillside Theater was built before my time, maybe 1955-1960...? The big cineplex must have come in anytime after 1970? It also became a Church, however, I don't know what is in there, now.....? Thank-You for viewing and commenting!!!!

[@amere630]

great videos i enjoy the history all around me

[@ipfeldspar]

Again, Thank-You for viewing!!!!

[@jerryhund5630]

Another reason why the mall failed is due to theft. Stores lost money from students who attended Proviso West HS who would come in and steal. Carson’s was one of the first to leave.

[@ipfeldspar]

I have heard the theft from students story many a time. I have also heard from former PW students that they would get hassled when they tried to browse. I want to say that the Mall tried to regulate student visiting during the late 1970's....? Are you thinking of Goldblatts being the first to leave? I remember Carson's sticking it out into the 1990's. (I drive by on Wolf Road pretty near every day, and I still giggle when I see the restaurant sign is still standing. I feel for that last guy as he had barely started up when everything had to come down! Thank-You for viewing and commenting...!

[@joeg1816]

Might be doing research project on public and local history for hillside

[@ipfeldspar]

Did you do a Project? Thank-You for viewing!

[@ethynvassar8175]

First place in suburbs where Santa would appear each year at goldblatts our mom always took us

[@ipfeldspar]

Can you remeber where in the store the Toy Department was located? I remember going upstairs where I think clothing was located. I want to say the toys were on the lower level at the back somewhere.....

[@bigverybadtom]

Hillside Mall was never a very good mall, except for the Goldblatt's which was a good one. But my biggest childhood memory was when I saw an ad for Cookie's Circus that took place there when I was a kid, and I asked my father to take me to see it. He did.

[@ipfeldspar]

It was sort of small, and the original developers were pretty much trying out a brand new marketing scheme. I believe their intention was to expand and the original Mall parcel was very large. However, when the Eisenhower Expressway extension was built, that took off a huge chunk of land PLUS it changed some of the access. That, and all the other larger malls that were constructed in the region, doomed Hillside to stay small. Those circuses and other special events were usually held on the portion of the land that got cut off by the highway. (A good friend saw the Three Stooges over there). Thank-You for viewing and commenting.

[@bigverybadtom]

@@ipfeldspar Cookie's Circus was a stage show in the middle of the mall interior, and there were about a hundred kids besides me. It was Cookie and Marshall Brodien, and perhaps others. I remember him being introduced, and the end of the show where Brodien hands Cookie a hollow tube which Cookie thinks is boring, until Brodien says "Shazam!" and water shoots out of the tube into Cookie's face.

[@brianleeper5737]

Does the parking lot lighting still work? It might be fed from that part they didn't tear down.

[@ipfeldspar]

It turns out that this was the central phone room for the Mall. The phone cable came out of the ground, in that tiny room, and then wining went to all the stores. They tore it out in the last couple of years.

[@brianleeper5737]

@@ipfeldspar Probably had to wait on Illinois Bell to remove their cabling and equipment. I bet you could have gotten dialtone from every phone line on the street in that building, not just the ones that went to mall tenants. And so they couldn't do anything with it till Illinois Bell disconnected it. On the other hand, I know of someone who had a Verizon pedestal that was in the way of his parking lot paving, so I'm pretty sure he just buried it. It was still showing on Verizon maps...but they never could find it. Had to get a data circuit to a traffic signal and they wanted to feed it from the pedestal they couldn't find! In the end they fed it from the next pedestal down.

[@Zaovz]

My house is literally across the street from that

[@ipfeldspar]

The mechanical room is gone but the sign as the traffic signal still stands....!!!

[@logan5girl405]

I used to go there shopping as a kid with my gramma

[@ipfeldspar]

Me too! The Hillside Mall was closer than OakBrook Mall, easier to get to, and had much thriftier prices!

[@brianberthold3118]

wasnt this where a JP penny outlet store was??

[@dustyroads977]

No, there wasn't one here. There was one on North Avenue in Addison or Villa Park in a strip mall.

[@brianberthold3118]

@@dustyroads977 ok il i remember is where ever the JC penny outlet was was a indoor/oudoor mall (still a strip mall) and there was this sweet hobby shop on the inside mall part

[@bigverybadtom]

@@brianberthold3118 Don's Toy's and Hobbies was in Cermak Plaza when I was a tyke, then I found ti was moved to the Villa Park Mall, and from there to a strip mall a mile from Stratford Square west and now that is gone. Sadly the Villa Park mall has literally turned into a slum mall.

[@ipfeldspar]

No. Goldblatts, and then a Zayre (I think) then a IL Sec. of State, then Menards

[@atwproductions1]

Nice video Irving

[@ipfeldspar]

I Thank-You, Sir!

[@babygirlbearsfangoddess4328]

I was born in that town back in 96

[@ipfeldspar]

In Hillside? But there is no Hospital there!

[@Joe-rp8ou]

Didn't a former Chicago Blackhawk player run a hotdog stand there in the 70's and 80's.? Forgot his name.

[@dcrespo9095]

Elmer "Moose" Vasco. The hot dog place in the food court was called The Dog Patch.

[@neganthecat5327]

@@dcrespo9095 OMG, I remember my mom taking me there - it was before I started school! There was also a candy kiosk that sold watermelon candies that looked like watermelon. Thanks for the memories!

[@dengag894]

Didn't the Caruso family run a pizza place in the middle of the plaza close to Woolworth's?

[@ipfeldspar]

Thank-You for viewing! I knew some Hawks hung out at Stimacs, I just never knew about the dog joint.

[@ipfeldspar]

What years was he there?

[@collettemclafferty2614]

Shoutout to Women’s Workout World!

[@ipfeldspar]

Were they in the old Mall or did they have a piece of the outbuilding?

[@collettemclafferty2614]

@@ipfeldspar They were in the old mall, I think. Right by the food court and the restrooms!

[@TMorris1Nonly]

Thank you Collette for mentioning this. I’ve been wrecking my brain for a week trying to remember where Women’s Workout World was. 89-90 I was 3.5 to 5 years old and I kind of remember picking my mom up on Saturday mornings with my dad waiting in the food court.

[@collettemclafferty2614]

@@TMorris1Nonly My pleasure it brings me back!!! So if you were in the mall looking at the food court in front of you, Women’s Workout World was in the back of the food court to the left just before the bathrooms!!! There was a family owned food stand in the court to it’s right… I would order a Diet Coke after each workout. Lol. At one point I interviewed to be a fitness instructor despite having no qualifications. 🤣🤣🤣

[@alwaysamysteryyes2021]

Menards, not Builders Square.

[@ipfeldspar]

I spent a LOT of money at Menards.......

[@justincasecv3163]

you can't go home

[@ipfeldspar]

In the last year even that tiny transformer room was bulldozed.....

[@crespoopserc]

I remember the newsstand and hallmark and flip side

[@ipfeldspar]

FlipSide? The music store....?! I had forgotten the name but I sure bought a lot of cassette tapes in there!