http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/new-developer-plans-to-tear-down-blues-brothers-mall.html

A pretty aggressive timetable if you ask me. Isn’t the place tied up in litigation involving improper asbestos cleanup, not to mention the former developer’s assault against his demolition guy? It’ll be interesting to see if anything pans out. If a new fence pops up in the next few weeks I’d be inclined to say the mall is through.

They used to have such a wide selection of HO scale electric trains. I used to just go an look at them all. Some were inside glass cases set up on a small piece of track with a realistic diorama. You pressed a button on the side and the trays would rotate so you could see the different trains.. like a motorized jeweler’s case.

Also they had a huge section of ViewMaster 3-D cartridge wheels. So many it blew my mind. However they were all very expensive so as a kid I wasn’t even able to sample one. After the place closed up, I never saw a store with such a huge selection of ViewMaster 3-D cartridge wheels again. Maybe this was a 1970s thing? However 3-D is now coming back… this was High Def 3-D and still is, requiring no electricity, just a light source.

I barely remember hearing about how the movie was going to revitalize the mall and the area. It was a source of excitement back then, and I think people were proud that Hollywood came to Harvey. Maybe it is true that the producers reneged on some deal, leaving the revitalizing of the mall in the dust. I hope the documentary movie about Dixie Square Mall answers this question.

I had always heard that for a time this was one of the greatest malls in all of the Chicagoland area.

By the way, for anyone planning on visiting this dead mall, and wants a Blues Brothers connection included in your visit, then travel South on Dixie Highway from the rubble of the mall until you hit Lincoln Highway (Route 30). Take a right onto 30 and travel West until you find a McDonald’s on the south side of Route 30. (It’s a few miles East of Lincoln Mall.) This McDonald’s has erected a permanent, life-sized indoor display of the original Blues Brothers in mid-dance.

Grab your half a pack of cigarettes, your sunglasses, in the dark… and hit it, after your dead mall jaunt.

I’ve long been interested in dead malls, but oddly hadn’t heard of Dixie Square until a friend mentioned it to me in May. I ventured there a month later and was shocked by the true disheveled state of the complex!

Since the visit, I’ve read extensively on this place. I have a few questions and am wondering if anyone has any insight on them:

* Does anyone know how many store spaces were at Dixie Square after the 1970 addition of Turn Style? I came across this ad someone posted (link here: http://www.uer.ca/locations/viewgal.asp?picid=218528) that presumably was in the mall’s later years when it was simply renamed “Dixie.” The ad states Dixie had 33 stores at that point, which I’m sure was a major decline from the height of the mall’s popularity.

* Were there any interior stores that remained open at Dixie Square throughout the mall’s entire run — 1966 to 1978? Walgreens and Jewel, the last two holdouts, I guess would two obvious retailers, although they technically aren’t “interior stores” since they could be accessed from outside. Were there any interior stores?

* Numerous reports state the Dixie Mall had 20 stores at the beginning of 1978. I’m guessing that number continued to dwindle leading up to the mall’s closure in November of that year. Does anyone know what stores were in the mall during its last days?

He also agreed that the desire to shop at the newer, bigger mall in a safer neighborhood is what killed Dixie Square.

And according to him, the mall was really nice in its hey-day. Then according to my aunt, toward the later 70’s not much was there anymore and it was pretty barren.

What I wouldn’t give to walk that mall back in its booming era, AND when it was well into its decline.

I was born in 82′ and visited him at that shop since I could remember.

As a kid, everything is mystified and made wonderfully fascinating; so that big, old, eerie, curious structure sitting across the street from us was always an object of wonder for me. I would sit out in front of my granddad’s shop on a milk-crate or a pallet and just stare at that thing.

I wondered what it was once, what it was then, why did it look like it did, and what happened to it. I was completely consumed by curiosity. All my grandfather ever said was it was an old mall that had ‘run down’. And yes, I always asked if he ever shopped there, did he remember it, and would he take me over to see it up close…and I’d ask over and over again each visit. lol

I came across these postings because I was searching for Evergreen Plaza…which I had been told was torn down. After finding out it hadn’t been…I read about some of the old demolished parts of it, and I wanted to see pictures. Before I got to that, I googled Ford City to see if maybe my source had mixed the 2 malls up. I saw it was still standing and memories streamed through my mind.

At Evergreen, I remember that statue of some guy on a horse…it was in front or by a beauty salon. Of course, the last time I saw that had to be back in maybe very early 90’s…I moved from Chicago in 95′, so…

ANYWAY!!! I got stuck on Dixie Square’s name…I thought ‘could this be that strip mall across from the shop?!?!?’ YES!! And after finding out there was so much to the place than that little strip that I could see, I have spent approximately 4 1/2 hours reading and looking at pics. I am entranced. (is that how u spell that?)

And now after seeing so many pics and the google satellite shot of it, I think what I could see from the old shop might be one of the police department buildings, no??? The shop I’m speaking of was named Blackhawk Pallets…and I don’t know if it is still there or not (I’ll call my grandfather this weekend, you best be sure!)

Could someone clarify for me? If you know the shop’s proximity to the mall across Dixie Hwy, WHAT PART OF THE MALL WAS I LOOKING AT?! All those thoughts as a child while staring at that place…man. I do remember arches… Does that help?

Finally, I’d like to admit my fascination with abandoned places…ESPECIALLY ones that I remember from my youth in some way or another. And the bigger and busier the place was at one time, the more intriguing.

Awesome history, folks! Thank you so much for taking me down memory lane.