Century III Mall | Vacant and Abandoned | ExLog #36

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey what's up guys my name is Sal and this is another expedition log today I'd like you to come take a walk with me through the century 3 mall on a grand adventure I intend to show you every part of this beautiful yet blemished mall in extremis this mall is at its point of death and we begin the journey down this section of abandoned road leading to the malls parking structure I've spared no detail and collecting the footage for this episode and this episode will be a long one so grab a drink get a bite to eat and come take a walk with me through the century 3 Mall [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] these label scars are the first indication that you'll see upon approaching the century 3 mall as to what the inside really looks like the inside as you've probably seen in many other videos is in pretty good shape but the structure is falling apart and just take this parking structure for example it's in such horrible terrible disrepair I've looked all over at the internet and I've asked a bunch of friends what that black discoloration might be and from what everybody's telling me is that it's most likely black mold look at the surfaces it's disgusting all of the black discoloration you're seeing is most likely black mold it looks terrible but more importantly it's a public safety issue because anybody can just walk up to this mall I didn't open any doors or fences or anything this was just readily accessible there were no signs saying that I couldn't enter this part I just walked up to it and now we're starting to get our first glimpse of the boards up on the doors and just the massive amounts of graffiti this parking garage is what I really wanted to see the first time I was here but I had to wait a little bit and this is the shape that it's in [Music] [Music] expedition log number 14 which was part one of my coverage on century three ended with an incredibly brief look at the Sears concourse as security spotted me at which point I went outside to explore the parking structure only to have my car surrounded by the security guards which was my cue to leave [Music] we didn't see much of the garage in part one nor did we see any of the hidden wing or really any of the courtyard where sears and awards intersect in this episode we're going to walk through all of the areas of century 3 both closed off and open I would also like to take a slight philosophical journey with you to posit exactly why urban explorers feel the need and desire to mount expeditions to areas less traveled by common folk and what draws us in before we get into them all a word from my sponsor for this video the incredible acting chops and impressions of Hallie Eisenberg from 1999 surely you know being a civilized person I like to give me a chance to make amends capisce [Music] [Music] welcome to the century 3 mall we're about to get into the mall guts this was during the inaugural dead mall summit which the discord server put together and there's a link to that server in the description below so if you'd like to join just go ahead and click the link and then head up a mod and we can get you rolled up for the server so right now I'm in the mall guts with Anthony from faded commerce and we're looking for a way to get to the third floor now I covered the complete history of the century 3 mall in episode 14 of the expedition log series but I'd like to just clear something up so I'll just talk about the opening of the mall Eddie DeBartolo opened the mall in 1979 and ushered in the 3rd centennial of the United States of America 1776 to 1876 was the first century 1876 to 1976 was the second century and the 3rd century would occur between 1976 and 2076 for which the mall was named century 3 I was unclear in Part 1 when I said that they were celebrating the 3rd Centennial because it obviously hasn't happened yet that happens in 2076 they were ushering that in we were celebrating the promise 1976 2:20 76 [Music] and I'd like to just give a quick shout out to the dead walls of discord family the family has been growing larger and larger every day with the official creators that are a part of the family are myself Jack over at dead malls comm Nick from the calendar a rainbow Ron and Kristen from Unicom productions Adam from the vintage spaces Ashley who is the neon Explorer on Instagram go check her out Pat and Heather from raw and real retail Anthony with whom I'm exploring here right now from faded commerce Jon Rev and ace from aces adventures all of us are on the discord so again if you'd like to join just got and hit the link in the description below and you'll need to hit up a moderator so that you can get a role I'd like to introduce you all to the third floor of century mall also offer emergency installation [Music] [Music] the footage that you're seeing here has been shot over the last year in 2018 over many many visits you might see some slight visual discrepancies from shot to shot such as planters appearing in one view and suddenly gone in the next trees that are there and not in the next shot and I'm certainly not trying to deceive any of you but rather I'd like to just show you all of the angles that I possibly can using the footage that I gathered across several trips in 2018 I took a fascination with urban exploring quite some time ago I would go out into the woods and trying to find abandoned places my buddies but I never filmed on the event it was just pure curiosity and then when I found Dan Bell's channel the interest really kicked into high gear because I learned that people were gathering and doing this that there were more people out there that were doing it and since then I've wondered why what draws us to that and if this is a new thing or not [Music] [Music] so since I already discussed the history of this mall in part 1 in episode 14 of the X log series in this episode I'd like to discuss two things with you if you'll indulge me the first of which is where did malls come from I'd like to just briefly touch on some really early markets that then laid the groundwork for malls but then I'd like to discuss some philosophy that dates back to the 19th century namely I'd like to discuss the philosophy of Charlotte Lehr who then influenced other people like Walter Benjamin in the twentieth century [Music] [Music] [Music] so where did malls come from why do we have them the very first shopping malls of the world were called arcades which were based upon early covered markets which date all the way back to ancient Rome the earliest marketplace known is most likely Trajan's Market which was built around 100 to 110 C by Apollodorus of Damascus who laid the groundwork for what malls would eventually become in 1628 the mouse days on Felucia opened as a rudimentary covered market in Paris with others opening over the next few decades the oxford dicovered market opened in 1774 in oxford england but then during the mid 18th century construction began on the first massive indoor shopping complex started in 1757 and completed in 1785 the 570 thousand square foot Gusti needs water opened in st. Petersburg Russia the structure was of neoclassical design with giant columns and almost of a brutalist nature if not for all the filigree around the arches and sconces the plans were submitted by jean-baptiste Avion dellamonte the arcade had over 100 shops and despite being structurally damaged during World War 2 it still exists as a shopping centre in its original location today [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so while we were here this was during the summit the heat was incredibly hot and it was during this summer so outside it was like 8090 degrees and in here the heat was blasting and it was so hot and there were birds flying all over the mall I couldn't capture any of them they were actually going pretty quick but if you look you'll see bird poop all over the place the mall was just incredibly caked the third floor had just bird droppings all over the railings and it was really disgusting but of course that didn't stop us from traversing every single part of this mall so we can show you guys [Music] just look at some of these views this mall just looks so massive and yet there's malls out there that are a lot bigger than this but the grand columns and a huge features of this mall in all the crosswalks and the courtyards and the concourse is meeting here and there this mall has such beautiful architecture and it just saddens me to know that there's just nothing happening with it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] episode 35 and the expedition along series covers a brief history of Sears as a company and also we get a tour inside of that Sears now at the time I do believe that there was a way to get into the Macy's but it wasn't safe and I wasn't going to try however there are a few channels that did cover the inside of Macy's one of which was aces adventures so all of you should go check that video out now ace has really good coverage of that Macy's and his video is really fantastic but we didn't go inside of any of the department stores on this day but again if you want to check out episode 35 I get inside the Sears with Wally be feted commerce and Jack Thomas I'm Deb balls calm [Music] [Music] [Music] we're now on the second floor of the mall at the Sears concourse and this is where part one ended because I saw security and I scurried off but of course I'm here with no ill intentions and I'm just here capturing the memory of the mall and archiving it for future generation so I was able to really take my time and look at a lot of the details on the second floor here and the architecture of this mall really is stunning despite it being flawed with all the stains in the carpet and everything else if you can look past that and really imagine what this mall was like back in the day it's truly amazing [Music] [Music] [Music] you can see several points in the masonry where the structure is cracking and when you think about why is this cracking it's not like somebody took a sledgehammer to it the fact is this mall was built on top of an unstable foundation of slag the slag was what flowed down the slag heap from that mountain that's in back of the mall and it was in a molten form and then it's settled where the mall is now and it's incredibly unstable and it shifts causing the foundation to crack in certain parts which is what we're seeing this foundation has caused them all to shift in sway over the years and has caused vulnerabilities and frankly a lack of structural integrity leading to unsafe conditions decades after construction I'm not sure if Eddie DeBartolo got a break on the location here but I can't think of another reason why you would build a wall on top of slag sentry 3 used to have red carpet all throughout the mall I'm pretty sure it was there as recently as the early aughts maybe 2006 I'm not sure if you know leave a comment below and let me know but this section right here is my most favorite part of any mall that is still standing today these used to be fountains when the mall first opened but today they're obviously not running [Music] and those lamps are original those are the lamps that the mall shipped with when it was opened back in 1979 how amazing are those they're so cool they're so retro and right here this is my favorite spot hands-down of any mall the dark tones everything it's just I was just so cool right now we're behind the tarp and we're getting our first glimpse at the Montgomery Ward wing we will get in there and I'll show you everything there is to see there but just look how awesome that is such a grand grand view and there's just nothing there now there's nothing nothing in the food court Sears is closed Montgomery Ward is closed there's nothing there [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this footage was captured at the inaugural ded malls of discord summit in 2018 tons of people showed up it was an amazing event and we are planning another summit for 2019 for which the invitees have already received their invitations and it is a closed event so unfortunately at this point we can't accept any more participants but if you join the discord with the link below you will catch wind of the 2020 summit which is going to be huge so in here Jack Thomas led the expedition to see the Montgomery Ward concourse which at the time was being used by Netflix for the series mind hunter you'll see some fabricated storefronts built for the show with props strewn about for instance this gold mine I'm not sure what this storefront is but it has this duck hunt game here and I couldn't imagine that this is original it might be if you were at this mall back in the day and you saw that here let me know but I don't know if this is original or not but for instance you'll see a Waldenbooks and there's a music shop that used to be a pet store some really cool stuff that you'll see in here [Music] [Music] there's a ton of old scarring inside of these storefronts especially in the back you'll see here there's some old Eddie J DeBartolo signage that lists some regulations and rules of the mall for one of his first opened and a lot of this stuff I'm sure is original and it wasn't included as part of the mine hunter set nor was it fabricated so we're seeing original stuff here but right now we're inside of this storefront that signage exists proving that it was either an Orange Julius for filming or during the malls lifetime so I'm not sure if this wasn't our Julius just for the film or if it was there before if you guys can let me know in the comments below if this was actually an Orange Julius that'd be really cool to find out [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I wanted to take a peek inside of the Montgomery Ward but despite there being only one security guard there during the summit who was incredibly cool with all of us I didn't want to shine my torch into the windows because I didn't know if maybe he would trip anything off or who knows what but I was just being cautious here I really don't think there was anything inside the wards I think it was just empty I really don't think they plan to reuse that store [Music] so yeah I didn't get a closer look inside of there I just didn't want my torch drawing attention because there was a homeless person that was using the small as their home until they left and I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention especially since we had this summit there and I was somewhat responsible for other people and I just wanted to keep everything safe [Music] [Music] [Music] earlier in the episode we talked a bit about how malls came about from the marketplaces in the very early ages in ancient Rome then we had the marketplaces in France opening then we had the arcades opening which gave way to department stores in the nineteenth century the world was burgeoning with urban expansion and most notably in Paris France with new arcades opening around Europe and even in the US with what are arguably the two oldest shopping centers in the country Rhode Island with the arcade in Providence in 1828 and Ohio with the cleveland arcade in 1890 the idea of a vast interior shopping center was gaining traction around the world this intense expansion of Commerce was causing social waves among the classes and philosophers were beginning to take notice of a new type of urban figure who reveled in the details of architecture and observing the less travelled paths in a city and within buildings this new urban figure was coined by Chartres Baudelaire in Lafleur Kodama or the flowers of evil and refers to somebody who observes a newly industrialised city and its structures while just taking a walk pondering the philosophical implications of what these new passages and arcades have on society and looking for the secrets that common passers-by would otherwise miss the urban figure that Chartres Baudelaire coined is called la la new or pronounced with an American accent butchering the French la Flener spelled f la with an accent n e you are the Flener and this is what I believe led the way for urban explorers in our modern times [Music] [Music] I have no idea what the room that we're about to go into used to be the smell of mold was so overwhelming and it was really tough to stay in here for a long period of time and there was broken glass everywhere everywhere every step you took it was crunchy and I thought that it was just piercing through my boots luckily it didn't but this carpet is amazing it reminds me of the red carpet that used to be all over century 3 obviously this is more orange and this room has a throne for I guess the king of century three I don't know century three royalty or maybe the security guard just used it to feel important sometimes but that room was disgusting [Music] [Music] I'm pretty certain that this Waldenbooks was fabricated for the Netflix show mind hunter when they were filming here it has a lot of fake books that have blank pages and fake signage and stuff it's fascinating it's super cool for the most part everything in there is fake but check out that carpet I don't know what this used to be maybe like an arcade or something or some children's in store but this is totally a fake Waldenbooks [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this storefront is pretty cool and I'm pretty sure that this was used for filming in mine hunter but as we go towards the back you'll see that there's fish tanks and stuff I think this might have been a pet store and as we venture further back you'll see these little stalls that have half doors and I think those are for when you want to purchase a puppy or a kitten or something that's where you can meet the two puppy or kitten and play with it before purchasing it this whole place was just super cool I was afraid that I was gonna find like fish bones or something in there I didn't see anything [Music] so now we're back at the first floor of the mall near the Old Mexico and recently this was the last area to be closed off to the public [Music] [Music] not half as sorry as you're gonna be I ordered a Pepsi I just thought you thought what you really thought was that difference between Pepsi and Coke right kids say the darndest things what are you looking at I've always had an eye on the side of caution on the inside it's just why my primary format it is going to be walkthroughs with you know the occasional whenever I find to be interested like bags ouch it's just dangling from a tree limb [Music] we're currently looking at where the grand carousel once stood it was a gorgeous carousel that was a double-decker and in my part one episode you can see the carousel but at this time it seems the carousel was out of service and you can no longer access it I'm sure Moonbeam is going to fix it soon just like all the rest of the problems with this beautiful mall [Music] just to the left of me right now is where the new dimensions comic book shop is I didn't film it because it looked like the store owners were giving me a scowl every time I'd walk by and I didn't want to disrupt their day but it's a pretty neat comic book shop and they're pretty adamant about staying in this mall so I guess they have that going for them [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] in the French language the verb flen a means to stroll laflamme no or a stroller is someone that wants to discover the secrets of public passageways arcades tunnels backstage areas and the like and to see what the general public might never notice the flaw no I might take a walk over a bridge just to notice the overlooked complexities of the rivets or service passages or perhaps to explore the underground passages just to feel the heat emanating from the abundance of gas lamps in the city the idea of Latino took hold of Paris so strongly that Flenory involved trying to make a serious profession out of the casual occupation of looking at things people never notice in their daily travels impressionist painters such as Monet Degas Chi boats and Renoir were in awe of this philosophy and portrayed laughlin Oh as The Spectator in their work examples include gustav chi boats painting of a man on a balcony looking out of a window but rather than the view of what the man is seeing you see the man the man's pose an orange velvet upholstered chair and the marble guard just past the window [Music] the idea is that you are now the spectator the gaining an intimate view of something you wouldn't otherwise see we don't see the man's face or what he sees because he's not the focal point of the composition the idea of spectating is the focal point [Music] edgar degas would often paint the backstage areas of performing arts centers to show the public what they aren't seeing when they watch a performance Claude Monet would carry his easel into the end of a train station behind the wooden rails to paint a view generally not seen by passengers these in my opinion were the first urban explorers and they brought the idea of preserving a scene for purposes of exposure and archival to mainstream audiences these people were exploring places that passers-by would never see and they were painting these places they were capturing that moment and showing other people what they aren't noticing in their daily travels how fascinating is that that these people were going out and doing urban exploration well before this ever became a popular thing and now their art is telling for millions [Music] [Music] just before world war ii german jewish philosopher walter benjamin wrote that the Flener was the symbol of modernity strolling into urban life the city wanderer sifting through the crowd toward the arcades where commodities were arranged sparkling and new behind the class [Music] according to Benjamin the Flener came to rise because of the urban expansion and change in socio-economic tendencies in Paris this change which was rooted in budding capitalism involved the creation of the arcades which again were the passageways through neighborhoods which had been covered with a glass roof embraced by marble panels so as to create a sort of interior exterior for vending purposes Chartres Baudelaire states quote these passages were aligned with the most elegant shops so that such an arcade is a city even a world in miniature close quote he then goes on to further describe daily activities of this new social figure quote within these arcades the flow is capable of finding a remedy for the ever threatening unwi or boredom of everyday life he is able to stroll at leisure one might even go to the extreme of allowing a pet turtle to set his pace observing the people the building facades the objects for sale entertaining and enriching his mind with the secret language of the city close quote [Music] [Music] I found it really sad to be inside this JCPenney which was around Christmas time and it was packed people were in and out and the decorations were gorgeous in there but then as you turn and you leave the warmth of that department store the mall just is so cold and desolate and just heartbreaking because there's nothing happening in there [Music] it was right at Christmas and at one point I can just imagine children all over the place looking inside the storefronts and the parents buying gifts for everyone and it's a shell of a time that was a lot more beautiful than this mall is going through right now Walter Benjamin laments on the extinction of the Flener who disappeared as the commercial world slowly deserted the interior exterior zuv arcades for the carpeted artificially lit department stores that were to replace them charlotte lair went on to say quote if in the beginning the street had become an interior for left lonoa now this interior turned into a street and he roamed through the labyrinth of merchandise as he had once roamed through the labyrinth of the city close quote we're once the Flener who was exploring the depths of an arcade they were now bound to the artificiality of department stores which dulled the senses and forced a sense of commercialism that turned the Pioneer urban explorers off [Music] molls arcades and closed marketplaces and the like were built to be functionally and aesthetically pleasing malls were constructed as a way for someone to be sheltered from the elements while finding comfort among storefronts forested courtyards warm lighting and the faint rumble of rushing water smelling of chlorine and slightly a fried food from the food court [Music] [Music] here you have an aerial view of the century 3 carousel but again you can't access it right now because they have benches in front of it I missed that carousel as these mammoth structures began falling and disappearing the same notion of left Leno captured the minds of modern-day urban explorers these falling structures were something that the public would no longer see because they were being demolished and removed from our everyday lives like the impressionist painters in the 1800s we felt an urge to capture their last moments or moments that society either forgot about or will never see again to preserve what once was for future generations while the Flener was the rise of interest in seeing these places the Flener gave rise to the Impressionists who went out and found places of interest that nobody saw and painted those things so that we can see them their senses were then dulled by the artificial department stores which were just bland and bleached out inside until you got stores like Wanamaker's and such which were gorgeous [Music] but for the most part in the rural sections of the world the department stores were pretty boring and the Flener didn't want to see it anymore but once these places started crumbling and growing mold and trees inside of the mall where the carpet was this was a wholly fascinating experience and a cathartic one too because as the urban explorers were seeing these things the mall was closed the department store was closed and nobody would see it so they began capturing these events as the Impressionist did back in the 1800s and showed the public because it was fascinating the pedigree of modern-day urban explorers in summation comes from the idea of the Flener and the urban expansion in the 19th century urban explorers get their roots from Laughlin oh and the impressionist painters of the 1800s that's just my opinion and that's what I've kind of come up with after thinking about this for a long long time so in the comments let me know what you think of that idea go look it up look up the idea of Laughlin oh go look at the paintings of daga Renoir Monet guy about to go look at all these things and tell me what you guys think [Music] in January of 2019 it was reported that aside from JC Penney and exporting goods the only remaining inline tenants were new dimensions comics that massage place which had a tarp up with a little sign that says we're still open to nail salons life uniforms century three travel and that vape shop the vape shop has since announced its departure along with life uniforms and the massage place pretty much you had to just flip a coin on whether or not it was open that particular day and century three travel was open sporadically then in the beginning of February of 2019 there was a burst water main for a second time but this time affected new dimensions comics water was gushing inside the store and a reports state that mall manager was helping the comic shop staff move stock away from the back of the store to avoid water damage while working to protect the stock and while carrying a folding table emits the spouting water the table is reported to have collapsed and some ceiling tiles fell simultaneously and the mall manager suffered a leg injury for which stitches were administered the manager is expected to make a complete recovery however just a couple of days later on February 6th the West Mifflin borough slapped signs in the front of century 3 which read quote unsafe and uninhabitable structure this structure is unsafe and uninhabitable close quote and that the signs will stay in closure effective until the mall is repaired vacated or demolished in accordance with the notice [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you guys get dumped breaking news now century three month has been shut down signs posted on the doors that say it's funny this last bit of footage was shot on the last day of the inaugural summit and it was getting dark at this point we've seen everything there is to see in the mall so we decided to jump back in and just grab a little bit more footage just to make sure we didn't miss anything and despite the natural light being this malls main source of lighting even when it's getting dark outside the mall is still gorgeous inside [Music] [Music] century three mall opened in 1979 seven forty years ago there's hope yet for century three however on February 7th one day after the signs were put on the front saying that it was uninhabitable moonbeam was granted the ability to borrow five million bucks from Columbia Place Mall South Carolina LLC which they also own Moonbeam states that they'll use this money for repairs to the mall and as of February 10th 2019 Moonbeam officials were on site with contractors actually working on repairs the repairs needed were due to the heating and the fire sprinkler systems not functioning properly which are both pretty important it is possible that the mall can survive as the two anchors are still operating along with the comic book shop who plans to actually host the Comic Con in May but moonbeam still has some legal trouble as they're currently facing litigation for the first water main break and they owe the cleanup company over $800,000 which they're fighting in court on top of the first cleanup bill and the newly borrowed five million bucks which they're paying three percent interest on they still owe Sears 4.2 million dollars after failing to buy back the department store location when Sears terminated the lease early the mall is currently a top shifting slag and in extremis the mall is at its point of death and moonbeam has an incredible battle ahead of them if they are to save it only time will tell [Music] [Music] this channel has come such a long way in just over a year for the expedition log series the community engagement has been incredible you guys leave such incredible comments and stories and insight into things that I might not have known about these places the dead moles of discord family is a wonderful group of people and the discord is lively all through the day and again if you haven't joined please do join I'd like to thank all of you for nearly 16,000 subscribers at this point so thank you so so much and there's a ton more content coming we've got one summit under our belt and another one coming up very soon and more in the future and I can't wait to grow even further with all of you guys so stay tuned for a ton more content and even more exciting locations thanks again everybody take care [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Sal

Views: 32,718

Rating: 4.8513832 out of 5

Keywords: century iii, century 3, century iii mall, century 3 mall, dead mall, expedition log, pittsburgh, mall, vaporwave, dan mason, beethoven, urbex, mallsoft, fiesta mall mesa, schuylkill mall, metrocenter mall, 90s, dead mall series, mall walking, slag, smelting, moonbeam, decay, food court, expedition log series, abandoned, sears, pennsylvania, sears holdings, dan bell, arcade, exlog, 2019, sal, this is dan bell, C III, abandoned mall, rnk, black hole, retail archaeology, centralia

Id: GN6LHouowF8

Length: 62min 21sec (3741 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Dorian_Ye]

Hey man just wanted to let you know I'd watched the first 20 minutes or so of this a few weeks back around when you uploaded it, and I had sent it off to a couple other friends who were fond of the mall, and we all really enjoyed the work that you did here. It is sad to see the mall is gone now but you've effectively canonized it for all of time with your work here. Would have been nice to have had something like this for Greengate, Eastland and all the other malls that have closed over the years, but glad that we have this one for CIII.

[u/goldengirlsmom]

Sucks that the Century 3 jingle will become a generational story now. It was such an iconic Pittsburgh commercial.

[u/Namrepus221]

I can tell you the Orange Julius that was in the video was for the tv show.

There was an Orange Julius in the mall for real but it was in the second level food court opposite what used to be Italian Village Pizza and then became a Mrs. Fields cookie store.

As for the Waldensbooks that location too was set up for the tv show. The real location for Waldensbooks was across from where New Dimensions comics was before you started to go up the ramps towards Sears and Lazarus.

I can pretty much remember just about every store in that mall from like the late 80’s to about 1999 or so. But my memory is pretty much unreliable when it comes to when they were there.

[u/gueede]

I adore the Century III Mall, and I’m so sorry for what Moonbeam has done to it. Yinz all deserved better management for your mall.