On January 11, 2009 a friend and I got to tag along with Paw Filmworks for, from what they said, their final visit for the documentary of Dixie Square Mall. We went early in the morning since we figured by then it would still be too cold for the dogs to be in there, and any gangbangers would probably still be passed out to be in there. We were right about the dogs and gangbangers, but we did see a fox inside Jewel and later inside Polk Bros.
The mall's deterioration has been progressing much faster in the last two years or so. Penney's second floor is becoming very unstable, and many of the stores in Blocks B and C have massive holes in the roof. Block D, an addition to the mall built in 1970 (with supposedly lower-quality building materials), which did not appear at all in the movie, is in even worse condition. There's also tons of lights and electrical junk in block B/C that was left behind by the asbestos removal crews that left 3 years ago.
We spent about 6 hours in the mall and just about saw everything except for some stores in block B/C and some of the upstairs of Penneys (for obvious reasons). We will be going back again in a few months.
^Harvey will gladly accept your donations to tearing it down, but I think they will need it more to fix more important things first, such as their extremely high crime rate. That's what killed Dixie Square in the first place.
EDIT 2/18/09: Everything has been consolidated to the original post, I had to watermark all my shots since someone tried to basically steal them yesterday.
Last edited by [jonrev] on February 19th, 2009, 12:08 am, edited 4 times in total.
It's weird how this place has been around for so long and it's still not in the absolute worst of shape and even the walls are still standing. It's been closed for what like 30 years?
It's been closed since 1979 after they filmed the famous "Mall Chase Scene" from the Blues Brothers.
Only recently has the mall finally begun to collapse on itself. The Penney's second floor partially collapsed in late 2007, the wall holding the Thom McAn sign began sagging a few years ago and has grown much worse only in the last year. The section of the mall with the Thom McAn sign and the Turn Style department store was an addition built with lower-quality building materials than the rest of the mall, which explains why those storefronts are in much worse condition than the rest of the mall.
EDIT 2/18/09: Everything has been consolidated to the original post, I had to watermark all my shots since someone tried to basically steal them yesterday.
Last edited by [jonrev] on February 19th, 2009, 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
That place is so classy...man if only all malls were that nice. That place is like state of the art, top of the line, most amazing mall I've ever seen, how much would it cost to pick that gem up for? Maybe I should pick it up!
It's got Bud, even the new hole-in-the-ceiling technology, and even a holy pole or what ever that thing was.
Universal Orlando Mechanical Engineer Marathon down, Goofy to go.
I was not in there alone, you never go into Dixie Square alone (and I wouldn't recommend anyone here going in there... ever). I was with a group of 5 or 6 that was there filming for a documentary to be released soon. Most of the people I was with had been in there at least a dozen times over the last 8 years to film for the documentary and they are familiar with just about every corner of the mall.
We picked that morning in January to do this because chances were it would be too early and too cold for any "thugs" to be doing any of their crap in there, and too cold for any dogs to be in there as well. We did, however, spot a fox inside JEWEL, but he ran off as soon as we spotted him, and we later saw him running out of Polk Bros. Record Store near Burt's Shoes. The dogs that usually are in there I've been told are more bark than bite.
im so pissed, i live like 10 mins away from there, shoulda hooked a brother up!
[quote="jackluver18"]^Doesn't have a Signature[/quote]
[quote="Coaster Boy"]My sister locked me in a Car Trunk.[/quote]
[quote="David"]What's really funny, is that you think I'm from the GP (General Public). When indeed, I most likely know far more about the coaster, as I've rode it multiple times. [/quote]
This one showcases the entire second floor of JCPenney; no doubt the most dangerous and unpredictable area of the mall. It is nearly in complete darkness, has signs of future collapse, is littered with junk left behind by squatters, and sadly it is the site of a rape and murder in the mid 90s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCiaESoTA_Y&fmt=18
One more visit is planned sometime in the summer/fall.
Maybe I should pick it up! 
