Wow, it's great to see the old Bergen Mall the way it once was. So many great memories with friends going to the Collector's Comic Shop, Record Town, Kay-Bee, Value City, getting Pizza at Sbarro, the pretzel stand and others. It was basically the "dirt mall" of Bergen County. Sterns had an awesome toy section and movie section when I was a kid. I have vague memories of the downstairs Village Mall when it was in full use but for YEARS it was the most depressing place to go to shop. I miss it! lol
@111bep yes the chapel before that it was a gym with a boxing ring with boxing lessons by barnie felix there was a guy named robert bullard who used to hang around the bergen mall and threaten people of course the police did nothing his accomplice moffet died in a head on collison with a truck drunk driving
My dad worked at the Sterns from '89 or so till it became a Macy's. I remember going to Wolfies (monster sandwiches) to eat and shopping at the comic book store in the basement. World Imports was one of the coolest places to find Tshirts & stickers and I remember going DRESSED UP to eat at the Stern's restaurant. Funnily enough, if this was still around the hipsters would LOVE the Village Mall. You can't go home again.
@MegaKarlhungus wolfies was good i used to take my mother there national shirt shops had mod shirts the playhouse on the mall had famous actors like william shatner [ captain kirk ] and craig stevens [peter gunn]
a free concert in the mall by a beach boys tribute group an elton john tribute and a sonny and cher tribute in 1965 the civil war centenial with a mock civil war battle
Thats intense! Its a shame they remodeled it :( Malls from that era with their original decor are becoming harder and harder to find. Modern Malls are just white hallways with glass ceilings. So bland and sterile. Instead of fountains and art they have cell phone kiosks
as a Maywoodian I find this interesting... I used to live in that mall- as a child (in the 70s-80s)...when the village area was CROWDED... when it had a bowling alley (yup!), to high school (early 90s)- when it WAS the place to be!!! that film only documents what it was like from 2000-2001....not before then.
@spanesl they had 10 pin on the mall with bowling and pool a friend of mine from paramus worked there she was in charge of bowling leauges and a gym with boxing lessons taught by barnie felix that was in the 1960s also personal apperanxces by baseball players like moose scowron [ yankees ] and ed kranepool [ mets ]
Was there a few weeks ago. Yes, it's completely changed, but the chapel is still there. And it's still a little creepy, when services aren't going on at least.
@theawkwardchild Actually, I guess they moved the chapel, seeing as the one there now is not in the basement, but through a side door and up some stairs.
I worked at the Bergen mall gamestop from 1999 to 2002. The mall was starting to go to hell, however my friend Manages the store there and it got really bad in 2007 when there were few stores left. But after reconstruction its a really nice mall and really busy. A wholefoods , target and century 21 opened up. Now they are building a lowes.
Thank you for reposting the unedited Tom Waits version! The only thing sadder than the Mall 10 years ago was the shell of a video you were left with on YouTube. Now I can send people to see it - I spent my first 25 years living walking distance from the Mall, and often did walk there.
Yes, thank goodness for VImeo. YouTube is just wacky with all of this censoring music stuff. I think it's pretty good advertising for the artists; lots of people ask what a song is, and they might go buy it!
Me too they had a mock cival war battle next to the mall in 1965 for the cival war centennial .When eugene mcarthy was running for president his people had a booth there and some baseball players made appearances moose skoron and ed kranepool .They had some concerts with elton john, beach boys and sonny and cher look alikes .The last performance at the playhouse on the mall was a made for cable tv play with tom bosley ,william shatner ,craig stevens and tom poston also appeared there .
I have a feeling my grandmother took me to that mall back when I was a kid. I was having, sort of, flashbacks as I watched it. I do not, however, remember a chapel...but then my grandmother, may she rest in peace, did not spend much time in chapels.
I grew up in Paramus and as the mall did have the only decent head shop in town in the late 70's, I hung out there frequently. I can still remember the Village Shops being totally occupied and contemporary stores (for the 70's). I even remember seeing a few performances at the arts center. Thanks for posting this video and bringing back some really cool memories
Ew, man, I'm sorry youtube took the music off this video. The pieces you chose went so well with the film and were really beautiful in and of themselves. Do you possibly remember the track titles and artists for the songs played a the beginning (it was jazzy sounding) and while you were in the chapel and exploring the basement? I'd really love to know. Thanks!
World Imports sold rock t-shirts back in the day, and even in the mid-80's you could buy the Aquarian newspaper there on tuesdays the day before it regularly came out in most places. As a kid in Hackensack we mostly shopped at Valley Fair in Little Ferry so the BM seemed like a vacation to us! In the early 80's there was a small restaurant by the one exit where later there was the restrooms and a nail salon around the corner from Baskin Robbins where they had cafe seating outside the store too
Who remembers Joint Venture that was in the Village Mall. It was a head shop that sold pipes and rolling paper. I remember going there, and it was always full of local high school kids. The place was eventually closed down because of a local ordinance banning the sale of drug paraphernalia.
I remember that place...it was across from the little food court downstairs. As a kid we went to the BM a lot because it was the closest mall that had a bus running to our street. It's the new Bergen Town Center now...seeing this video brought back a lot of memories. I saw Uncle Floyd at the "Playhouse on the Mall" back in 1981, and in later years I liked Value City. Good vid, thanks for making it!
"that Place" meaning the Joint Venture...there were a lot of good stores downstairs there. Even till a few years ago there was some model shops and a woman who sold used books there. Kind of sad to see it all change
hey, i was at that uncle floyd show, also! i wonder if that was jimmy vivino as "neil yuck" or "jerry garsweatta" (sp?) ? I wonder who else was in that audience. later we ran into the cast of the show getting blotto at the park tavern in east rutherford. why that place? did they like cupcake's thin pizza? i did. and the hot mussels.
I went to the new Bergen Town Centre (its new name) this weekend. It looks very nice inside, and they're attracting a lot of stores I'll actually want to shop at, but it's definitely lost all the googie charm; I wish they had played up the architectural uniqueness of the place instead of covering it all up and turning it into a carbon-copy of other malls. It's catering to the upscale/family crowd now, so I still think Garden State Plaza is going to be the teenage hangout of choice, at least.
They are now re-doing the entire mall!! Macys is Gone and all the little shops re-placed with whole foods and Century 21 and soon Target will be where Value City once was oh yea there is also a Filenes Basment Store
until cancer struck me september of last year, i owned a magic & costume shop for the past 29 years. i started way back on january 1, 1980 at the village square. was there about a year.
Bureaucracy rears its ugly head again. Its a shame what they did to your movie, Robin. Maybe you can host it on Myspace or some other site that isnt so uptight. If you do host it somewhere else let us know.
WELL folks, they took the audio track away from my video because I don't own the songs. Even though I made it just for fun and don't make any money off of it. Never mind that YouTube is FULL of music not owned by the people who posted their videos. Mine is singled out for some reason. You can still watch it, it's just got no audio track now.
Hey smartbunny, i wish that i had seen your video with the music, why don't you re-do it with some generic music and put back in the audio with the interview, etc? I loved that mall. I used to work at the Mall Theatre, which you didn't mention. The entrance was on the outside at the so/east side of the parking lot. They had all kinds of off beat and foreign films there, we had a lot of fun there too! It was a good idea to make this video, don't give up!
sorry you got hit - all i can do is encourage you to re-edit the audio track on your film. i'd love to see it complete. i've had friends working on documentaries have to loose footage because there is a radio on in the background and they couldn't afford the rights to the song, etc. oh the system.
hey, i just found an article from the EFF which advocates the use of music as a sound track to your own content - it reminded me of you instantly.
"I think that adding a soundtrack to your home skateboarding movie is a fair use. If copyright owners feel differently, they can send a formal DMCA takedown notice, and with any luck, we'll see each other in court."
you can find it at EFF org under their deeplinks blog from Feb 3rd.
I will check that out, thanks! I looked at he Disput Form they have here on YouTube and it says you cannot use music you don't have the rights to, even if you are not making money from the video. And they give you a list of songs I have never heard of that I can substitute. Ick.
This did bring back memories of the first mall in the area. Two things I always liked to do there were going to the bowling alley that was downstairs many years ago and going to eat at Wolfies. The Village Square that you spent some time on was pretty great when it opened, but wasn't publicised well enough to work and gradually it was a graveyard for small businesses. The rest of the mall became a clearance center and you are correct the only teenagers around were working there.
Cool movie but sad. I live near the Echelon Mall in Voorhees NJ (South Jersey). PREIT demolished half the mall since they are remodeling the whole site into a promenade with upscale housing. Not sure if this will work. Big Box Stores, The Web, Multiplexed Theaters have really hurt the concept of the shopping mall.
Wow! That's an interesting stroll down memory lane! My first job in the early 70's was at the Mall Theatre, which showed the more "artsy" films at the time. I used to love World Imports. And the chocolate ices from that trailer in the middle open area. We used to catch the bus to NYC by Newberry's when we cut school. Ah, that's a long time ago!
You know you've got a good thing when people are still commenting on it 2 years later. About 15 years ago I was living in Englewood and working in Paramus. For those 6 months I took 2 buses to and from work, and the transfer point was the Bergen Mall. Right at the start of the video you can see the bus stop on 4. I blew my knee out there "stretching" on the concrete barrier near the stairway to the pedestrian overpass. To this day I tell people I did it playing hockey in Totowa.
Wonderful film, smartbunny! Brings back a lot of memories. I loved going to the basement in the early 80s and hanging out at the comics store and the D&D store. A chapel in a mall is just creepy though.
Please tell me this mall is still around and has some sort of Landmark status....
More malls from 60's 70's and 80's NEED to stay around, they need to be protected from the money hungry developers that make life mundane and "modern"!
No unfortunately although a shopping center does still exist in it's location the plan was to pretty much gut the building. Although I have not been inside since that process started from the looks of it very little is left of what once was.
This beutiful testment to the past was modernized(or should I say post modernized) by greedy developers so the yuppies could have another carbon copy place to sip their starbucks coffee."DIE YUPPIE SCUM"
This is fantastic! I grew up in Bergen Couonty, Englewood, to be precise. I visited this mall far too often, and even then, decades ago, I found it woefully melancholic. Gray. Despairing. It was with no small measure of excitement that the far sexier Riverside mall was greated when it finally opened. The Bergen mall was visable from the newer facility, haunting us. One never does outrun one's past.
I used to work for that survey company, Car-Lene Research back in the early mid 1990's. Man, those were the days! We had to find all age groups to review those movie trailers, Chewing Gum, Ice Tea Mix, and research for names of Hockey Teams! We had a lot of trouble sometimes finding the younger demographics. Working nights it was so slow - we used to grab some Rum at Shoprite liquors and Coke and make drinks. We played music and danced to the Macarena. It was a lot of fun!
I still have all my modules and Dragon magazines from the D&D place that used to be in the basement. There used to be a Model Train store in the mall as well.
Wasn't there a Rustlers Steak house (or something like that?) near by?
And the now closed movie theater..is where I 1st saw Star Wars in 1977.
My god, the childhood memories. I spent far too many hours roaming around this god awful place with my parents when I was a kid. I moved out of NJ the second I could and the footage of the fountains and the chairs brings back memories I have long repressed. Looking at this place as an adult, I now question my parent's taste and judgement.
I think this mall is at least 40 percent of the reason for my youthful melancholy and fatalistic attitude about life as a teen.
The video was great though, and your photography perfectly reflects my memories of growing up in NJ. I might also show this video to my therapist because I think it may help work some stuff out...
No. They paid you something like $8. I did a survey on ice cream. They ask you a bunch of stupid questions over and over after you sample the ice cream. The only reason I did it was because a MILFy woman around 50 asked me to participate.
I took a survey at the Mall around 1990 or so. It was in the promenade. I had to identify pictures of famous people and I got $10 for it. This was when the area leading to the downstairs had blue walls with lots of signage for the promenade.
The Corset Bar was the creepiest place ever. It was run by 2 ladies that could easily have passed for Ethel and Lucy.
I never went downstairs but I'm sure sad I didn't - that Village is so odd yet so facinating.
I LOVE abandoned malls. Thanks so much for the video! My favorite was the Orange Plaza mall in Middletown NY. They tore it down and built (what else) a Wal-Mart.
The Orange Plaza mall was where I went throughout my teenage years... pizza dogs at Orange Julius! They had a basement level too, with a Black Forest Deli and a record store. I always thought that basement was kind of weird too.
I was like 8 when they closed it but I do for sure remember the Orange Julius.
And that cookie store with a windmill on the front of the stand.
The Burger King was downstairs and I remember a lot of stained glass there.
Plus the horrible green shag carpet downstairs in the Sullivan's department store. When I was like 5 I "ran away" from my mom & got into the elevator & pressed the red emergency button and the fire department came.
Another weird one was Dutchess Mall in Fishkill NY!
Yes, I went to the Dutchess Mall a couple of years ago to snoop around before they closed it completely. I took photos of the greenhouse and this 70's mural inside.
wow thanks for the trip down memory lane....that village mall in the basement used to be packed to bad its run down..used to be a little lunchonette down there near the comic shop and near the chapel at the end of the hall used to be the bowling alley =)
Will the basement still be there after the renovations?!? WOW I must have passed those escalators a hundred times and I thought it was the bottom to the Valley National Bank!!
If I knew of all the stuff down tthere I would always go there!
Bergen Mall?? Dude isn't this the mall where the 1980s Teen Pop Sensation Tiffany made her first hit " I think we're alone now"? Damn she was hott then and still pretty hott now.
I frequented the Bergen Mall in the late 60's & 70's. It was a great place, great shops, and the basement Village Shops were top notch.
The place was jammed and they made the best lobster salad at the restaurant in Sterns. Thanks for the flick. It's just sad to see how it declined so. And, btw, there were plenty of teens hanging there at the time.
wow that was fast, but yeah. now that you've mentioned it I haven't either. I think it has to do with the renovation of the mall and construction. Anyway, lol @ working for the government. Do I know you by any chance? I graduated Paramus High School in 05
also i heard the Bergen Museum is in the basement which has The Big Aleksanders Store (where ikea is now)Mural in it's collection. When they redo the mall they should totally hang that thing back up! Paramus needs that artwork back for the public!!!!
i don't care what people say, i love this mall. it is not weird, it has personality. My mom would take me and my sister to this mall when we were little to watch magic shows and the people from sesame street have shows right by the crazy fountain, it was great. On other occasion my mom would give us coins to throw into the fountain, it was always a highlight. I also remember seeing Alice in Wonderland in the theater down by steinbachs which later turned into payless/dollar store.
I remember one time, I went into a collector's store down there, and I accidentally lightly brushed up against one of the Beanie Babies' tags, which was in a plastic protector.
You should check out Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, NJ. I've heard there's a basement down there....
on another note, an underground group of stores! There;s not a sign advertising any of these places! Maybe they dont want people to know about them?...
Ive actually had the misfortune of setting foot into the bergen mall only to step right out lol
Now when any teenager says they are goin to the mall, its immediatly implied that they are going to GSP and NOT the Bergen mall.
Bergen Mall is where the present day old person used to hang out when they were teenagers...hmm?? makes you wonder if GSP will suffer the same fate..??
p.s- a def. sequel needs to be made since Bergen Mall is being renovated now...finally.
Eunice and I love to watch this and eat popcorn together whilst she wears her pink get-up. Thanks, Smart Bunny, for giving something that brings Eunice and I even closer!
There has been only a few times where I feel like my life has been somewhat enriched by something I've viewed on YouTube, and this film is one of those few times. Bravo
There used to be a kiddie playland before the mall was enclosed,with a little train and other attractions for children,which i believe later became the downstairs "ghosttown"of shops. .there was also a theater that i think was called "playhouse on the mall".A lot of celebrities starred there.There also used to be a restaurant/diner called Wolfies down toward where orbachs was.They made the best overstuffed cornedbeef sandwiches!having lived in paramus,i grew up in that mall,worked in newberrys.
this was an excellent film...whoever filmed it captured the mall perfectly giving it character and the feeling that it's on its last legs. Very good filming. I quite enjoyed that.
wow, that hideous fountain was a flashback to the 70s. I grew up in Paramus and still live here, they are acutally redoing (about 30 years overdue) the entire mall now. Target and a Whole foods coming..hopefully it will be a nice mall, and not a hell pit anymore. And hey, don't make fun of the Chapel...as a teenager, my brothers and I used to go to mass there, we called it DISCOUNT mass cuz it was only 40 min as opposed to 60 on sunday at REAL church lol
I remember going down there with my mom at like 6 years old she would leave me at the little cafe and I'd sit with a soda while she shopped and I was not afraid to roam the halls alone. The shops down there were great. Sad about the carpets...lol I spent most teen years in Paramus Park.
Wow, that's great. I just found this via Dead Malls... stuff like this is just so facinating. Brings back some of my mall memories when I was little in the 80s. Thanks for sharing it!
omg thats funny as hell,i grew up in teaneck in the 70s and last time i was there at the mall that is and it hadent changed much well the foutian was gone,i am goign to see what it is like in a few weeks, thanks for the flash back
Wow. Awsome video. This reminded me of reading one of those adventure novels or something. The little village, Government Dave, then like some abandoned places, and then people just shopping. Makes like no sense, all of it lol. I'm one of those Dixie Square people... I loved the video =P
This was really interesting, although it seemed a little bit like you were trying to make fun of Dave, which upset me. I certainly hope that's not what you were trying to do.
The 'boulevard' section (don't know how else to describe it) of the lower level, in which the chapel was located, was also home to a bank, a post office, and a barber shop (Bergen Barber Stylists, now located on W. Pleasant Ave. in Maywood).
(part 2)The Village Mall was a collectors' heaven. Distinct shops existed selling stamps, coins, model trains, comic books (Collector's Comic Shop, later relocated to the mall's main retail level and now, like the barber shop, located on Maywood's W. Pleasant Ave.), baseball cards, and role-playing games.
(3) In addition to the intriguing décor, in place since the '73 enclosure, I was always fascinated by the mall's haphazard-yet-somehow-elegant design. Some 'underground' parking provided access to the mall via doors into J.J. Newbury's (which had a luncheon counter) and Stern's (which had both a restaurant and a cafe). Open-air pedestrian bridges provided access from the central retail space to the Shop Rite (and predecessors) across Forest Avenue and Kohl's (and predecessors) across Route 4.
(4) Unfortunately, I don't possess personal memories of the bowling alley and the Bergen Mall (Movie) Theatre, for most of its life an art-house, though, until the recent demolition, I could still identify their locations.
Wow, it's great to see the old Bergen Mall the way it once was. So many great memories with friends going to the Collector's Comic Shop, Record Town, Kay-Bee, Value City, getting Pizza at Sbarro, the pretzel stand and others. It was basically the "dirt mall" of Bergen County. Sterns had an awesome toy section and movie section when I was a kid. I have vague memories of the downstairs Village Mall when it was in full use but for YEARS it was the most depressing place to go to shop. I miss it! lol
markyt126 1 month ago
@markyt126 I know, it was so cool back in the day. Glad you liked the movie!
smartbunny 1 month ago
I remember this so much! Going to Mass in the basement...that strange little village. It's not the same anymore. I miss it. : (
111bep 4 months ago
@111bep yes the chapel before that it was a gym with a boxing ring with boxing lessons by barnie felix there was a guy named robert bullard who used to hang around the bergen mall and threaten people of course the police did nothing his accomplice moffet died in a head on collison with a truck drunk driving
spacepatrolman 2 months ago
@spacepatrolman Wow I never knew that...so many interesting things about the place!
111bep 2 months ago
My dad worked at the Sterns from '89 or so till it became a Macy's. I remember going to Wolfies (monster sandwiches) to eat and shopping at the comic book store in the basement. World Imports was one of the coolest places to find Tshirts & stickers and I remember going DRESSED UP to eat at the Stern's restaurant. Funnily enough, if this was still around the hipsters would LOVE the Village Mall. You can't go home again.
MegaKarlhungus 10 months ago
@MegaKarlhungus wolfies was good i used to take my mother there national shirt shops had mod shirts the playhouse on the mall had famous actors like william shatner [ captain kirk ] and craig stevens [peter gunn]
a free concert in the mall by a beach boys tribute group an elton john tribute and a sonny and cher tribute in 1965 the civil war centenial with a mock civil war battle
spacepatrolman 8 months ago
i loved the old school style malls. they all look so modern now. shame if it was remodeled.
shaolinlueb 1 year ago
Thats intense! Its a shame they remodeled it :( Malls from that era with their original decor are becoming harder and harder to find. Modern Malls are just white hallways with glass ceilings. So bland and sterile. Instead of fountains and art they have cell phone kiosks
gravijiga 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
She is hot and sexy wonna meet her gettop5.info
adalinenaplesmnk 1 year ago
as a Maywoodian I find this interesting... I used to live in that mall- as a child (in the 70s-80s)...when the village area was CROWDED... when it had a bowling alley (yup!), to high school (early 90s)- when it WAS the place to be!!! that film only documents what it was like from 2000-2001....not before then.
spanesl 1 year ago
@spanesl they had 10 pin on the mall with bowling and pool a friend of mine from paramus worked there she was in charge of bowling leauges and a gym with boxing lessons taught by barnie felix that was in the 1960s also personal apperanxces by baseball players like moose scowron [ yankees ] and ed kranepool [ mets ]
spacepatrolman 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
date an Russain women and marry her gettop5.info
criseldaprangehkg 1 year ago
Quakerbridge Mall seems to be racing to the bottom now.
gli7utubeo 1 year ago
@gli7utubeo I have heard tell of this mall; I have to go check it out soon!
smartbunny 1 year ago
@smartbunny dont go there you can get killed in a drunk driving accident the paramus police supply alcohol to minors
spacepatrolman 8 months ago
@spacepatrolman My goodness!
smartbunny 8 months ago
Was there a few weeks ago. Yes, it's completely changed, but the chapel is still there. And it's still a little creepy, when services aren't going on at least.
theawkwardchild 1 year ago
@theawkwardchild Actually, I guess they moved the chapel, seeing as the one there now is not in the basement, but through a side door and up some stairs.
theawkwardchild 1 year ago
Hey!! It's Dave!! :D
Snowee 1 year ago
hey! i used to go to applause performing arts when i was young! i went with my friend tara and then my friend ally. we had a band!
IceManNJD 1 year ago
I worked at the Bergen mall gamestop from 1999 to 2002. The mall was starting to go to hell, however my friend Manages the store there and it got really bad in 2007 when there were few stores left. But after reconstruction its a really nice mall and really busy. A wholefoods , target and century 21 opened up. Now they are building a lowes.
gljvd 1 year ago
Thank you for reposting the unedited Tom Waits version! The only thing sadder than the Mall 10 years ago was the shell of a video you were left with on YouTube. Now I can send people to see it - I spent my first 25 years living walking distance from the Mall, and often did walk there.
NJtoTX 2 years ago
Yes, thank goodness for VImeo. YouTube is just wacky with all of this censoring music stuff. I think it's pretty good advertising for the artists; lots of people ask what a song is, and they might go buy it!
smartbunny 2 years ago
You all do know ..... They redesigned it and its quite popular now?
steveparris 2 years ago
I used to bowl at the ten pin lanes too at the other end of the mall.
Sanibeljune 2 years ago
Me too they had a mock cival war battle next to the mall in 1965 for the cival war centennial .When eugene mcarthy was running for president his people had a booth there and some baseball players made appearances moose skoron and ed kranepool .They had some concerts with elton john, beach boys and sonny and cher look alikes .The last performance at the playhouse on the mall was a made for cable tv play with tom bosley ,william shatner ,craig stevens and tom poston also appeared there .
spacepatrolman 2 years ago
We used to go to mass at the bergen mall chapel when I was growing up in Maywood
Sanibeljune 2 years ago
The man at the 1:59 mark looks homeless.:(
HattieLovesCattie 2 years ago
No, he lived close by but visited the mall every day. He might not be "all there" but he had a place to go at night!
smartbunny 2 years ago
World Imports had the coolest stickers--not like what you'd find in the stationery where I would always get my stickers. This was back in 1983.
rfschober 2 years ago
This mall is all new now! Now known as the Bergen Town Center
weatherpro93 2 years ago
I have a feeling my grandmother took me to that mall back when I was a kid. I was having, sort of, flashbacks as I watched it. I do not, however, remember a chapel...but then my grandmother, may she rest in peace, did not spend much time in chapels.
mandybear1027 2 years ago
Great to see the film back up with its original soundtrack in its new home.
Take THAT, WMG!!
MugsyNJ 2 years ago 2
I grew up in Paramus and as the mall did have the only decent head shop in town in the late 70's, I hung out there frequently. I can still remember the Village Shops being totally occupied and contemporary stores (for the 70's). I even remember seeing a few performances at the arts center. Thanks for posting this video and bringing back some really cool memories
bbreslow5180 2 years ago
SORRY! stupid me, I didn't realize you had the music listed in the credits! Well, thanks again for making this awesome little movie. :]
beloveforever 2 years ago
Ew, man, I'm sorry youtube took the music off this video. The pieces you chose went so well with the film and were really beautiful in and of themselves. Do you possibly remember the track titles and artists for the songs played a the beginning (it was jazzy sounding) and while you were in the chapel and exploring the basement? I'd really love to know. Thanks!
beloveforever 2 years ago 2
World Imports sold rock t-shirts back in the day, and even in the mid-80's you could buy the Aquarian newspaper there on tuesdays the day before it regularly came out in most places. As a kid in Hackensack we mostly shopped at Valley Fair in Little Ferry so the BM seemed like a vacation to us! In the early 80's there was a small restaurant by the one exit where later there was the restrooms and a nail salon around the corner from Baskin Robbins where they had cafe seating outside the store too
john6666steele 2 years ago
it looks like a very nice mall!! next time video tape it with audio.
burlingtonmall 2 years ago
Who remembers Joint Venture that was in the Village Mall. It was a head shop that sold pipes and rolling paper. I remember going there, and it was always full of local high school kids. The place was eventually closed down because of a local ordinance banning the sale of drug paraphernalia.
sfldd 2 years ago
I remember that place...it was across from the little food court downstairs. As a kid we went to the BM a lot because it was the closest mall that had a bus running to our street. It's the new Bergen Town Center now...seeing this video brought back a lot of memories. I saw Uncle Floyd at the "Playhouse on the Mall" back in 1981, and in later years I liked Value City. Good vid, thanks for making it!
john6666steele 2 years ago
"that Place" meaning the Joint Venture...there were a lot of good stores downstairs there. Even till a few years ago there was some model shops and a woman who sold used books there. Kind of sad to see it all change
john6666steele 2 years ago
hey, i was at that uncle floyd show, also! i wonder if that was jimmy vivino as "neil yuck" or "jerry garsweatta" (sp?) ? I wonder who else was in that audience. later we ran into the cast of the show getting blotto at the park tavern in east rutherford. why that place? did they like cupcake's thin pizza? i did. and the hot mussels.
59jrfreek 2 years ago
I love Uncle Floyd!
smartbunny 2 years ago
I would love to hear a version of this with audio! Very interesting!
chefelf 2 years ago 2
I went to the new Bergen Town Centre (its new name) this weekend. It looks very nice inside, and they're attracting a lot of stores I'll actually want to shop at, but it's definitely lost all the googie charm; I wish they had played up the architectural uniqueness of the place instead of covering it all up and turning it into a carbon-copy of other malls. It's catering to the upscale/family crowd now, so I still think Garden State Plaza is going to be the teenage hangout of choice, at least.
mrthechairman 3 years ago
i doesn't matter wat they put in that mall no one is gunna go there, everyone just goes to the plaza
melo13melo 3 years ago
They are now re-doing the entire mall!! Macys is Gone and all the little shops re-placed with whole foods and Century 21 and soon Target will be where Value City once was oh yea there is also a Filenes Basment Store
weatherpro93 3 years ago
how did you get by shooting this film?
frankd1965 3 years ago
What do you mean? How did I shoot it? I just did it.
smartbunny 3 years ago
I guess there a privacy issues but, Out of towne visitors like to take photos of everything on sight.
frankd1965 3 years ago
I don't think anyone should expect privacy in a public mall, though. People are always being watched; by cameras or security guards.
smartbunny 3 years ago
hi!! please re-do audio
robbgill 3 years ago
Thanks for making this video, you took me way back. I remember as a kid being creeped out by the deserted Village Mall in the weird basement.
truthseekerlibrary 3 years ago
post your audio somewhere as an MP3 so people can watch the vid here and synch the audio from iTunes or something. Fuck 'em.
petemoraites 3 years ago
until cancer struck me september of last year, i owned a magic & costume shop for the past 29 years. i started way back on january 1, 1980 at the village square. was there about a year.
herbthemagicman 3 years ago
I miss the Bergen Mall. :( I'm also sorry about your video.
andromedasucks 3 years ago
*sigh*
Bureaucracy rears its ugly head again. Its a shame what they did to your movie, Robin. Maybe you can host it on Myspace or some other site that isnt so uptight. If you do host it somewhere else let us know.
MugsyNJ 3 years ago
yea, this mall totally doesnt look like this anymore. haha. i didnt even know there was a scary mini village in the basement.
essassin 3 years ago
WELL folks, they took the audio track away from my video because I don't own the songs. Even though I made it just for fun and don't make any money off of it. Never mind that YouTube is FULL of music not owned by the people who posted their videos. Mine is singled out for some reason. You can still watch it, it's just got no audio track now.
Isn't that stupid?
smartbunny 3 years ago
Hey smartbunny, i wish that i had seen your video with the music, why don't you re-do it with some generic music and put back in the audio with the interview, etc? I loved that mall. I used to work at the Mall Theatre, which you didn't mention. The entrance was on the outside at the so/east side of the parking lot. They had all kinds of off beat and foreign films there, we had a lot of fun there too! It was a good idea to make this video, don't give up!
LOIS1958 3 years ago
sorry you got hit - all i can do is encourage you to re-edit the audio track on your film. i'd love to see it complete. i've had friends working on documentaries have to loose footage because there is a radio on in the background and they couldn't afford the rights to the song, etc. oh the system.
merkx 3 years ago
hey, i just found an article from the EFF which advocates the use of music as a sound track to your own content - it reminded me of you instantly.
"I think that adding a soundtrack to your home skateboarding movie is a fair use. If copyright owners feel differently, they can send a formal DMCA takedown notice, and with any luck, we'll see each other in court."
you can find it at EFF org under their deeplinks blog from Feb 3rd.
merkx 3 years ago
I will check that out, thanks! I looked at he Disput Form they have here on YouTube and it says you cannot use music you don't have the rights to, even if you are not making money from the video. And they give you a list of songs I have never heard of that I can substitute. Ick.
smartbunny 3 years ago
This did bring back memories of the first mall in the area. Two things I always liked to do there were going to the bowling alley that was downstairs many years ago and going to eat at Wolfies. The Village Square that you spent some time on was pretty great when it opened, but wasn't publicised well enough to work and gradually it was a graveyard for small businesses. The rest of the mall became a clearance center and you are correct the only teenagers around were working there.
MaxScarce 3 years ago
Cool movie but sad. I live near the Echelon Mall in Voorhees NJ (South Jersey). PREIT demolished half the mall since they are remodeling the whole site into a promenade with upscale housing. Not sure if this will work. Big Box Stores, The Web, Multiplexed Theaters have really hurt the concept of the shopping mall.
Melville10 3 years ago
Wow! That's an interesting stroll down memory lane! My first job in the early 70's was at the Mall Theatre, which showed the more "artsy" films at the time. I used to love World Imports. And the chocolate ices from that trailer in the middle open area. We used to catch the bus to NYC by Newberry's when we cut school. Ah, that's a long time ago!
catsguitar 3 years ago
Comment removed
LOIS1958 3 years ago
I miss that Bergen Mall. The fountain, Value City, and the dollar store outside of value city
gsparkway324 3 years ago
It's sad that this mall wasn't taken careof. Its a real shame!
njsptrooper 3 years ago
You know you've got a good thing when people are still commenting on it 2 years later. About 15 years ago I was living in Englewood and working in Paramus. For those 6 months I took 2 buses to and from work, and the transfer point was the Bergen Mall. Right at the start of the video you can see the bus stop on 4. I blew my knee out there "stretching" on the concrete barrier near the stairway to the pedestrian overpass. To this day I tell people I did it playing hockey in Totowa.
ctbill 3 years ago
Update. Went to mall 12/26/08 HORRIBLE NEW
POOR DESIGN!!. They wrecked a landmark mall.
I'm so sad because I grew up in Paramus
and hung out there in the 80's. I always
enjoyed going there to walk down memory lane.
Very depressing!
tonicg 3 years ago
Wonderful film, smartbunny! Brings back a lot of memories. I loved going to the basement in the early 80s and hanging out at the comics store and the D&D store. A chapel in a mall is just creepy though.
MugsyNJ 3 years ago
Please tell me this mall is still around and has some sort of Landmark status....
More malls from 60's 70's and 80's NEED to stay around, they need to be protected from the money hungry developers that make life mundane and "modern"!
These malls from the past kept it REAL!
atomicpuppet 3 years ago
No unfortunately although a shopping center does still exist in it's location the plan was to pretty much gut the building. Although I have not been inside since that process started from the looks of it very little is left of what once was.
joeybombstyle 3 years ago
aw man, thats sad.
thanks for letting me know.
atomicpuppet 3 years ago
This beutiful testment to the past was modernized(or should I say post modernized) by greedy developers so the yuppies could have another carbon copy place to sip their starbucks coffee."DIE YUPPIE SCUM"
puppetboyshow 3 years ago
RIGHT on puppet!
smartbunny 3 years ago
This is fantastic! I grew up in Bergen Couonty, Englewood, to be precise. I visited this mall far too often, and even then, decades ago, I found it woefully melancholic. Gray. Despairing. It was with no small measure of excitement that the far sexier Riverside mall was greated when it finally opened. The Bergen mall was visable from the newer facility, haunting us. One never does outrun one's past.
nycic 3 years ago
This is a haunting account. I am not being sarcastic.
smartbunny 3 years ago
well after the construction is finished hopefully it'll be better, but probably not lol
KILLERKAY3 3 years ago
I used to work for that survey company, Car-Lene Research back in the early mid 1990's. Man, those were the days! We had to find all age groups to review those movie trailers, Chewing Gum, Ice Tea Mix, and research for names of Hockey Teams! We had a lot of trouble sometimes finding the younger demographics. Working nights it was so slow - we used to grab some Rum at Shoprite liquors and Coke and make drinks. We played music and danced to the Macarena. It was a lot of fun!
chuck5001 3 years ago
I bet it was hard to find young people! Everyone in that mall was over 70.
smartbunny 3 years ago
Oh man does this bring back memories.
I still have all my modules and Dragon magazines from the D&D place that used to be in the basement. There used to be a Model Train store in the mall as well.
Wasn't there a Rustlers Steak house (or something like that?) near by?
And the now closed movie theater..is where I 1st saw Star Wars in 1977.
Sigh.
nevets68 3 years ago
My god, the childhood memories. I spent far too many hours roaming around this god awful place with my parents when I was a kid. I moved out of NJ the second I could and the footage of the fountains and the chairs brings back memories I have long repressed. Looking at this place as an adult, I now question my parent's taste and judgement.
I think this mall is at least 40 percent of the reason for my youthful melancholy and fatalistic attitude about life as a teen.
ajacksb 3 years ago
Man, that's depressing. I love New Jersey!
smartbunny 3 years ago
The video was great though, and your photography perfectly reflects my memories of growing up in NJ. I might also show this video to my therapist because I think it may help work some stuff out...
ajacksb 3 years ago
killer movie man, 2 hairy thumbs up
shanecfer 3 years ago
Awesome video! Thanks for making it!
winwetz 3 years ago
Thanks for watching it! :o)
smartbunny 3 years ago
I always wanted to take a survey there, I heard they paid $40. Is that true?
smartbunny 3 years ago
No. They paid you something like $8. I did a survey on ice cream. They ask you a bunch of stupid questions over and over after you sample the ice cream. The only reason I did it was because a MILFy woman around 50 asked me to participate.
Koehnson 3 years ago
Oh man, those MILFs will get you every time.
smartbunny 3 years ago
I took a survey at the Mall around 1990 or so. It was in the promenade. I had to identify pictures of famous people and I got $10 for it. This was when the area leading to the downstairs had blue walls with lots of signage for the promenade.
rfschober 3 years ago
WOW! I used to work for Car-lene Research (you know one of those annoying people asking if you want to take a survey in the hall!)
Working in the mall was a trip - like being back in the 50's!
chuck5001 3 years ago
The Corset Bar was the creepiest place ever. It was run by 2 ladies that could easily have passed for Ethel and Lucy.
I never went downstairs but I'm sure sad I didn't - that Village is so odd yet so facinating.
I LOVE abandoned malls. Thanks so much for the video! My favorite was the Orange Plaza mall in Middletown NY. They tore it down and built (what else) a Wal-Mart.
TheNetIs4Losers 3 years ago
The Orange Plaza mall was where I went throughout my teenage years... pizza dogs at Orange Julius! They had a basement level too, with a Black Forest Deli and a record store. I always thought that basement was kind of weird too.
smartbunny 3 years ago
I was like 8 when they closed it but I do for sure remember the Orange Julius.
And that cookie store with a windmill on the front of the stand.
The Burger King was downstairs and I remember a lot of stained glass there.
Plus the horrible green shag carpet downstairs in the Sullivan's department store. When I was like 5 I "ran away" from my mom & got into the elevator & pressed the red emergency button and the fire department came.
Another weird one was Dutchess Mall in Fishkill NY!
TheNetIs4Losers 3 years ago
Yes, I went to the Dutchess Mall a couple of years ago to snoop around before they closed it completely. I took photos of the greenhouse and this 70's mural inside.
smartbunny 3 years ago
haha this is an awesome video. I remember when I first found those basement shops. It was like a ghost town, so eery and quiet!
k3m0y0 3 years ago
wow thanks for the trip down memory lane....that village mall in the basement used to be packed to bad its run down..used to be a little lunchonette down there near the comic shop and near the chapel at the end of the hall used to be the bowling alley =)
zaxaron 3 years ago
Will the basement still be there after the renovations?!? WOW I must have passed those escalators a hundred times and I thought it was the bottom to the Valley National Bank!!
If I knew of all the stuff down tthere I would always go there!
Iamdirtfoot 3 years ago
Bergen Mall?? Dude isn't this the mall where the 1980s Teen Pop Sensation Tiffany made her first hit " I think we're alone now"? Damn she was hott then and still pretty hott now.
shamalaaa 3 years ago
I frequented the Bergen Mall in the late 60's & 70's. It was a great place, great shops, and the basement Village Shops were top notch.
The place was jammed and they made the best lobster salad at the restaurant in Sterns. Thanks for the flick. It's just sad to see how it declined so. And, btw, there were plenty of teens hanging there at the time.
I was one of them!
scamdy 3 years ago
Why am I not surprised that a wall at the Bergen Mall collapsed on some old people?
Xehanort839 3 years ago
When did this happen?
smartbunny 3 years ago
Today. Google "bergen mall collapse" for more.
Xehanort839 3 years ago
Holy crapcakes.
smartbunny 3 years ago
inorite? =o
Xehanort839 3 years ago
I know the people who the wall collapsed on. They were buying clothes for a trip they were taking.
Iamdirtfoot 3 years ago
wow, this video is gonna get millions of more hits now that they're redoing the mall. me and my grandfather came here everyday when i was younger
allmin 3 years ago
Places like these are why living in NJ rocks...if only I had the chance to go up there and check it out.
8218933alt 3 years ago
I know, isn't NJ the best?!
smartbunny 3 years ago
ROFL that war veteran is ALWAYS THERE
doyoung2win 3 years ago
Who, Dave?? No one has seen him for awhile.
smartbunny 3 years ago
wow that was fast, but yeah. now that you've mentioned it I haven't either. I think it has to do with the renovation of the mall and construction. Anyway, lol @ working for the government. Do I know you by any chance? I graduated Paramus High School in 05
doyoung2win 3 years ago
No, I went to school in upstate NY and I'm a lot older. :o)
smartbunny 3 years ago
also i heard the Bergen Museum is in the basement which has The Big Aleksanders Store (where ikea is now)Mural in it's collection. When they redo the mall they should totally hang that thing back up! Paramus needs that artwork back for the public!!!!
geeeee35 3 years ago
i don't care what people say, i love this mall. it is not weird, it has personality. My mom would take me and my sister to this mall when we were little to watch magic shows and the people from sesame street have shows right by the crazy fountain, it was great. On other occasion my mom would give us coins to throw into the fountain, it was always a highlight. I also remember seeing Alice in Wonderland in the theater down by steinbachs which later turned into payless/dollar store.
geeeee35 3 years ago
I'm so sad that they closed off the creepy underground village...
Xehanort839 3 years ago
Me too!
smartbunny 3 years ago
I remember one time, I went into a collector's store down there, and I accidentally lightly brushed up against one of the Beanie Babies' tags, which was in a plastic protector.
I got kicked out. xD
Xehanort839 3 years ago
You should check out Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, NJ. I've heard there's a basement down there....
on another note, an underground group of stores! There;s not a sign advertising any of these places! Maybe they dont want people to know about them?...
mandee167 3 years ago
I lived up the street on the border of Maywood and never knew about this chapel! So weird!
mandee167 3 years ago
GREAT FILM!
Ive actually had the misfortune of setting foot into the bergen mall only to step right out lol
Now when any teenager says they are goin to the mall, its immediatly implied that they are going to GSP and NOT the Bergen mall.
Bergen Mall is where the present day old person used to hang out when they were teenagers...hmm?? makes you wonder if GSP will suffer the same fate..??
p.s- a def. sequel needs to be made since Bergen Mall is being renovated now...finally.
=]
Acard89 3 years ago
I like girls who are Swedish and Irish in equal proportions. Does anyone here know where I can find one? Would the Bergen Mall have any?
Felsenblume 3 years ago
Girls? Or women?
smartbunny 3 years ago
Women...40-ish up to whatever Eunice's age is.
Felsenblume 3 years ago
I think the Bergen Mall, at least in its heyday, would be full of them. And they'd be all gussied up, too!
smartbunny 3 years ago
Why do you think I spent so much time there as a kid? I was into GMILFS even then.
Felsenblume 3 years ago
You're a strange boy.
smartbunny 3 years ago
Eunice and I love to watch this and eat popcorn together whilst she wears her pink get-up. Thanks, Smart Bunny, for giving something that brings Eunice and I even closer!
Felsenblume 3 years ago
That was the whole purpose! I know you also wear a pink get-up while you watch this video.
smartbunny 3 years ago
There has been only a few times where I feel like my life has been somewhat enriched by something I've viewed on YouTube, and this film is one of those few times. Bravo
MikeGartner 3 years ago 2
Thanks Mike!
smartbunny 3 years ago
Love it. Great film.
ThoughtExperiment 3 years ago
There used to be a kiddie playland before the mall was enclosed,with a little train and other attractions for children,which i believe later became the downstairs "ghosttown"of shops. .there was also a theater that i think was called "playhouse on the mall".A lot of celebrities starred there.There also used to be a restaurant/diner called Wolfies down toward where orbachs was.They made the best overstuffed cornedbeef sandwiches!having lived in paramus,i grew up in that mall,worked in newberrys.
roseisaroseisarose5 3 years ago
this was an excellent film...whoever filmed it captured the mall perfectly giving it character and the feeling that it's on its last legs. Very good filming. I quite enjoyed that.
zeux6 3 years ago 3
wow, that hideous fountain was a flashback to the 70s. I grew up in Paramus and still live here, they are acutally redoing (about 30 years overdue) the entire mall now. Target and a Whole foods coming..hopefully it will be a nice mall, and not a hell pit anymore. And hey, don't make fun of the Chapel...as a teenager, my brothers and I used to go to mass there, we called it DISCOUNT mass cuz it was only 40 min as opposed to 60 on sunday at REAL church lol
there used to be a bowling alley too!
kris101d 3 years ago 2
I just miss the little village downstairs.
StackeyB2 3 years ago
They even tore up the carpet down there
JoeChrisMorris 3 years ago
I remember going down there with my mom at like 6 years old she would leave me at the little cafe and I'd sit with a soda while she shopped and I was not afraid to roam the halls alone. The shops down there were great. Sad about the carpets...lol I spent most teen years in Paramus Park.
StackeyB2 3 years ago 2
I remember this mall, GSP, and the Paramus Park Mall :D
Jets262 3 years ago
Wow, that's great. I just found this via Dead Malls... stuff like this is just so facinating. Brings back some of my mall memories when I was little in the 80s. Thanks for sharing it!
YoikoHibiki 4 years ago
Garden State Plaza overrules this old ppl house
JVilla1009 4 years ago 2
GSP is a very popular place, that's true!
smartbunny 4 years ago
i live right by the bergen mall, but have never been. is it still like this?
getoffmyshoes 4 years ago
No, not at all. It's stinky now.
rg
smartbunny 4 years ago
wow for a couple months its been demolished only 1 store still stands come on i know this and i live in Fair Lawn
johnmonkey45 3 years ago
omg thats funny as hell,i grew up in teaneck in the 70s and last time i was there at the mall that is and it hadent changed much well the foutian was gone,i am goign to see what it is like in a few weeks, thanks for the flash back
paulywalnuts69 4 years ago
bada-bing!
smartbunny 4 years ago
Good job! Great music selection, and mysterioso intrigue. It lets the ghosts come out to play...
vandiemen 4 years ago
Very cool. Man... It hasn't changed a bit. It was scary wayy back then, too...
AnythingBox 4 years ago
Oh, it's changed now. I mean, Target and Whole Foods are awesome, but the carpeting in the basement was awesomer!
smartbunny 4 years ago
Wow. Awsome video. This reminded me of reading one of those adventure novels or something. The little village, Government Dave, then like some abandoned places, and then people just shopping. Makes like no sense, all of it lol. I'm one of those Dixie Square people... I loved the video =P
AtariWill123 4 years ago
Interesting. Got a lot of flashbacks from the 80's watching that vid :p
TheNorseDragon 4 years ago
Awesome, I liked it alot.
sqweem 4 years ago
usually i hate the mall, but this was a lot of fun. nice job smartbunny!
wheeler666 4 years ago
Thanks, Wheeler! I've been a fan of yours for a long time.
smartbunny 4 years ago
That was really well edited and put together. The subject matter is awesome as well.
Something like this should be made into a larger big-screen documentary.
Hey, maybe it can be shown at a mall movie theater- if they're still around when that happens. = P
Mpuzio 4 years ago
Thanks! Actually it was shown on a movie screen at one of Fort Lee's Film Festivals along with other movies! It was so weird.
smartbunny 4 years ago
This was really interesting, although it seemed a little bit like you were trying to make fun of Dave, which upset me. I certainly hope that's not what you were trying to do.
Lalanav 4 years ago
Nope. Not at all.
smartbunny 4 years ago
And alas, it's all gone now; to be replaced with yet another of those ersatz "Town Centers".
brilliantatbreakfast 4 years ago
Exactly. Bleh.
smartbunny 4 years ago
Just to flesh out the picture (part 1):
The 'boulevard' section (don't know how else to describe it) of the lower level, in which the chapel was located, was also home to a bank, a post office, and a barber shop (Bergen Barber Stylists, now located on W. Pleasant Ave. in Maywood).
bigbamtino 4 years ago
(part 2)The Village Mall was a collectors' heaven. Distinct shops existed selling stamps, coins, model trains, comic books (Collector's Comic Shop, later relocated to the mall's main retail level and now, like the barber shop, located on Maywood's W. Pleasant Ave.), baseball cards, and role-playing games.
bigbamtino 4 years ago
(3) In addition to the intriguing décor, in place since the '73 enclosure, I was always fascinated by the mall's haphazard-yet-somehow-elegant design. Some 'underground' parking provided access to the mall via doors into J.J. Newbury's (which had a luncheon counter) and Stern's (which had both a restaurant and a cafe). Open-air pedestrian bridges provided access from the central retail space to the Shop Rite (and predecessors) across Forest Avenue and Kohl's (and predecessors) across Route 4.
bigbamtino 4 years ago
(4) Unfortunately, I don't possess personal memories of the bowling alley and the Bergen Mall (Movie) Theatre, for most of its life an art-house, though, until the recent demolition, I could still identify their locations.
bigbamtino 4 years ago
Very awesome memories and descriptions. I am always interested in hearing about the mall from the earlier days. Thanks for the comments!!
smartbunny 4 years ago
the comic shop was in the mall for 30 years, frank is the owner and i think it moved to maywood on west pleasant ave,
SUPERMANONEBAY 4 years ago