Thom McAn Sign - Dixie Square Mall Block D (NOW DEMOLISHED)

[UMAMIMAMU]

By the way. I have been pining over visiting Dixie Square for about ten years now. Unfortunately no one wants to go with me. If any of you are in the south-east PA area (Philly, Reading, Lancaster) and would be interested in making the trip out to Harvey drop me a line and maybe we can work something out. I know I'm not the only one who wants to visit this landmark before it gets destroyed.

[whattheheck1000]

@UMAMIMAMU Sadly, I am in Middle Tennessee and don't drive... if I drove and lived in that area I would gladly go with you.

December 9, 2011 5:12 pm

[johnwarman54]

@UMAMIMAMU I would go FAST-the illinois governer announced that he will officially tear it down. :(

[netrioter]

@UMAMIMAMU you are aware that this "mall" is located in the worst city in the entire Chicagoland area, right? Its so bad they built a police station in the parking lot.Ive driven past the place hundreds of times...and if the police catch you,they can and sometimes do....send you to the Cook Co. jail for processing. You dont want that....just saying. search for the video " Harvey World" if you want to see what ypoure up against as far as locals go.

[UMAMIMAMU]

"It's too valuable to the Urban Exploration community". Most definitely agreed, unfortunately the very community you speak of are not exactly respected by "the people who make the decisions". Despite our failing economy there doesn't seem to be any lack of development at this point in time, and contractors/developers are trying to eat up every inch of land they can get their hands on. Even if the likely end result is gonna be more abandoned buildings like the Dixie Mall. Ironic isn't it?

[tsntana]

Kinda glad someone took the sign when they did. Hope whoever has it is taking care of it. :)

[MissMaddy881]

@tsntana it needed to be painted again. it's sad that this mall is sitting there like that. why didn't they demo it?

[whattheheck1000]

@MissMaddy881 Various hurdles and lack of interest kept it from being demolished prior to the 1990s. Since the 1990s, there has generally been apathy; there's been a lot of abortive plans to demolish it, but there's really no value in demolishing a mall that has been abandoned for 33 years. It's too valuable to the Urban Exploration community and it's in such bad shape that demolishing it would be cost prohibitive.

November 26, 2011 9:51 pm

[netrioter]

@MissMaddy881 they didnt demo it because of the surrounding area...why build something in a city as horrible as Harvey, Ill.? There was also several lawsuits due to filming the scene in the Blues Brothers....the mall was already empty by then,they refilled it for the shoot and the people involved never fully paid for the shoot. look up "gentrification" and "white flight" and youll understand what happened to Harvey in the 1960s.Harvey resembles the Katrina aftermath in NOLA. yuk

[MissMaddy881]

@netrioter Harvey's that bad, huh? It's sad to see a nice mall like Dixie just sit there like that. I've never heard of a mall that had a grocery store inside of it until I read about this one.

[metakight4]

Op nvm the pic showed it lol

[metakight4]

Someone took the sign recently

[searchanddiscover]

going going GONE.

[Bigfriendly15]

It's really incredible how fast this place fell into decay! If nobody told me I would have guessed that it had been closed more much longer than 30 years. I guess treasure hunters snatched the sign after it fell down??? Are there any other sites that have older pictures from inside Dixie from the 80's?

[whattheheck1000]

@Bigfriendly15 Cold Chicago winters took their toll quickly, making the mall degrade. This part of the mall also was built poorly (Block D).

The sign fell between February 20 and March 14, 2009, and was taken. Allegedly someone is trying to light up the sign again.

The oldest pictures I know of abandoned Dixie were the 1986 ones; there were no other pictures (well none that I know of) taken inside the mall until c. July/August 2001.

June 28, 2011 10:57 pm

[jacksonbear1]

@whattheheck1000 wouldn't that be stealing,who would want to steal that?i know there's crime in that town,but the sign would probably not light up,would they sell it at a pawn shop or on ebay?there should be a dixie square mall muesum,and that sign should be in it.

[whattheheck1000]

@jacksonbear1 The authorities don't give a rats behind about this place anymore. It's a piece of memorabilia from the mall so I'm sure someone is getting some value out of it. I do agree about the museum part - that would be a great idea.

September 21, 2011 11:55 pm

[jacksonbear1]

@whattheheck1000 we should post an online voting thing to get the museum built in the mall or in the parking lot.

September 22,2011 7:57 am

[whattheheck1000]

@jacksonbear1 You dang right.

September 23, 2011 10:40 pm

[jacksonbear1]

@whattheheck1000 obama's not gonna do a thing either

September 24, 2011 10:31 am

[whattheheck1000]

@jacksonbear1 No he ain't... plus he's only get a little over a year till he leaves office.

September 25, 2011 12:18 am

[Interests2010s]

@Bigfriendly15--I know. I saw this place a week ago (as I write this). I was afraid to go inside the place much less get out of the car. The mall is not in a very good part of town, and I was not going to risk getting busted for trespassing. A police station is adjacent to the property, and the property is gated all around.

[whattheheck1000]

@Interests2010s Never been there, but I don't think the law's going to do crap. It's crooks in the mall you gotta worry about, from what I've heard.

August 20, 2011 7:24 pm

[Interests2010s]

@whattheheck1000--Probably not. The only reason I did not bother going in or getting out of the car was for my own safety. The property is gated all around, and the gate looked brand new. I am assuming it's a recent addition. When I don't know an area and something looks questionable, I try to stay away from it. The Blues Brothers was the only thing that made me want to see it, so I drove around. Before I even went to Harvey last week, many ppl. were telling me to avoid the city like the plague.

[whattheheck1000]

@Interests2010s Good idea - I wouldn't go in there unless I knew the area - well.

August 21, 2011 6:02 pm

[vinto34]

The sign looked great in 1986...would not look out of place in today's malls.

[whattheheck1000]

@vinto34 The mall had only been closed eight years at that point, so the sign's support structure had not had time to decay yet. The sign looks perfectly salvageable (as did the entire mall at that time)

June 20, 2011 3:50 pm

[vinto34]

@whattheheck1000 True i have seen other pictures of the mall taken in 1986...it looked good and could have been restored at that point if someone put money and time into poor dixie.Of the pictures i saw most of the ceiling panels were still perfect.Some punks broke into the mall in 1984 and broke every pane of glass in the place.

[whattheheck1000]

@vinto34 There was some scattered damage at the time, trim falling off, 5% of letters fallen from signs, etc... the vandals didn't do a WHOLE lot. There was a big hole in the roof however in '86 (it was torn open about 1984-1985) and water was starting to get into the place... I'd say after I was born (1992) it wouldn't have been economically salvageable.

June 20, 2011 11:55 pm

[vinto34]

@whattheheck1000 I was born in 1973..i think they opened ''city life'' in 1974 but from 73 onwards dixie was on the decline due to high crime rates and lack of customers......id say from 75 onwards it would have been on life support...It's a shame.. would have been a great mall in it's early years.

[whattheheck1000]

@vinto34 I agree with you... Dixie Square did well from 1966 to the early 1970s, but started a steep decline then. By 1976 Dixie had fewer than 50% occupancy... that's dismal for a mall, and it closed in November 1978.

June 21, 2011 1:39 pm

[vinto34]

@whattheheck1000 Alot of deaths occured over around the mall as well through the 70s right through to the 90s...the malls in my area have all been upgraded...dixie square is like an old dog that needs to be put to sleep it is incredible it has sat decaying for 33 years.

[whattheheck1000]

@vinto34 I think it should stay standing until it falls in on itself... the time to demolish has passed. I say there's about a 20 year window to demolish a building - after that it's too decayed, too much of a time capsule, and of too much interest to urban explorers that it should just remain standing until nature does the demolition. Basically what I'm saying is that it's too interesting nowadays... sort of like a crazy museum.

June 21, 2011 8:52 pm

[vinto34]

@whattheheck1000 If i lived in the states i would take a trip there myself and take my video camera...There pictures on the net of wallpaper that was hanging in certain areas of the mall...as you say it is a time capsule the whole mall is trapped in the early 70s...I think they won't bother demolishing it and let it collapse on it's own.I recently filmed an abandoned nursing home that was left 2 years empty before demolition.I will post the vid i made shortly on that.

[whattheheck1000]

@vinto34 I see you live in NZ... I live in Tennessee, about 500 miles or 12 hours from the mall itself. If I lived closer, I would go... I know a guy who went there at 17 (!)

June 22, 2011 12:31 am

[mrdave777]

Did I actually find a Dixie Square video before Jon Rev???

[whattheheck1000]

@mrdave777 Well this has Jon Rev material in it. I put this together to show the decay of a very famous Dixie Square sign.

May 14, 2011 8:36 pm