The HIPpest Mall in Chicagoland - Harlem Irving Plaza, Norridge
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- While many malls are dying, or officially closed down, a select few are still thriving. And Harlem Irving Plaza, located just across the city limits in Norridge, Illinois, is one of those. Going strong since day 1, HIP is very unique in its structure. Containing multiple levels, strong anchors, an attached parking garage as well parking on the top level of the mall, for a young kid such as myself growing up miles down the road, HIP can feel more like a fun maze than a mall!
Security and people presence the day I visited was very heavy. A great sign for the health of the mall. But not exactly the best environment for someone trying to discreetly vlog lol. So I apologize for this video being shorter than most of my mall vlogs. While I still think the layout is pretty cool, it didn't feel as "maze like" as I remember as an impressionable young lad. This was always my Grandma's favorite mall to go to and bring me. So while I haven't been here much in the past 25 years or so, I have a lot of great childhood memories of HIP. :-)
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This was my hangout mall as a teenager and beyond. It's changed a bit of course but glad it's still surviving. I think it's one of the easiest malls to navigate. This is where I had my 2nd ear piercing done and my daughters' ears pierced too. I miss the record and bookstores that malls always had. Those were my go-to places. Wow, Spencer's is still in business. They've been around forever!
@flocosta I can definitely see it being a good hangout spot. Between this and Brickyard, there weren't as many options back then for folks in the city. Still doing very healthy. I think the location has a lot to do with that. I enjoyed going here. Wasn't really a hangout spot for me. But, if I was in the area, there was someplace I was much, much more interested in going to. That of course being, the infamous Rolling Stones lol. I cost my parents A LOT of money at that place lol.
Glad to see my teenage mall thriving! On a recent trip back to Chicago i made it a point to pop in for a visit. I really miss the Ground Round they had there🍔 Thanks for the video!
@@timt13 lot of history with this place. Pretty amazing. So many of my childhood malls are closed or gone at this point. Pretty sad.
In the 70's I used to love to go to Redigs bookstore next to the old Walgreens. Glad to see the mall is still doing well.
@curts6525 I really need to dig into the history of this place, the more stories I hear. It feels so modern that it can be easy to forget it has such a long rooted past in Chicagoland.
Nice to see HIP around. Knew it in the late 70s first enclosed and good to see it as still a mall that does not have mostly closed storefronts or one that survived as a higher-end mall some cities/suburbs have. Not sure.... but seems the floor might be the same. Does not look like huge changes to the structure since the plaza was made into the mall after I first saw it.
I also remember the Brickyard Mall when brand new. My first just part-time was facing shelves nights an the Osco side of the Jewel-Osco that was there. I see from Google Street-view that the mall portion is gone replaced with separate buildings of stores where you mostly drive between them.
In retirement in central PA by my hometown. All the malls that were but one within 40 miles is gone.... one that is left as also the busiest 80s 90s is a skeleton of itself with one local department store that actually has all their stores look stuck in the 90s, but still going strong and fully stocked. The rest of the anchors gone and few others left with only one mall wing left open. One departments store and still its theater keep it going.
Still that one departments story still has business especially with the over 40+ crowd and Christmas in that store still has it overstuffed and busy that again.... maintains it same no-need-to-remodel look inside and out. Perhaps as HIP... though stores have changed as is to be expected and busy shopping strips there still going strong on the Norridge side it seems.
@davidw7 awesome info there! HIP may have had some updates here and there. But otherwise unique structure and layout same. It's considered to be a healthy mall by most. Nothing of the old Brickyard remains except the strip mall that was on the SW corner. A little young to have many memories there. Mostly where I went to get either my Sears or JCPenney photo. Your mall out there sounds like one I'd like to check out.
Yeah, my mom used to take me for a treat - a hamburger at the W.T.Grants lunch counter. We liked that one better than the Woolworth's lunch counter or Walgreens lunch counter at the other end. And a real treat was going to the amusement park at the north end, along Cullom Avenue. My grown up cousin at the time used to hang out in the pool room in the lower level where the FunFlatables is. There were two grocery stores in it at the time. On the south end, hmmmm, don't remember, might have been a Krogers and the Wieboldt's (which became a Carson's and now where the Hobby Lobby and others are) used to have a grocery store too.
@schnarrwerk2329 thanks for sharing! I had no idea HIP had any of that! I'm actually learning a lot about HIP since posting this video. I still can't picture Walgreens having a "lunch counter" lol. A pretty cool era I sadly missed.
@@memoriesbywayne Just to be clear - my posted memories are when the HIP was a large outdoor strip mall. It wasn't enclosed until about 1975. Also, Wieboldt's was a department store just like Carson's but the grocery store used to reside on the far north end of the store on the first floor. Walgreens eventually took out the lunch counter and put their liquor selection there. Later, they stopped selling liquor. The oldest original tenants are probably Plaza Health Foods and the currency exchange.
@schnarrwerk2329 thanks for the clarification. I didn't know it was ever an outdoor only thing. So I guess like Golf Mill. So all this before my time. Learning as we go. :-)
Have been there a few times with my mom and it was nice. She did a lot of cursing at trying to park there and find the store.We were lookinbefore but isn't that, lol Was great. Bath and Body Works and Five Below got some of my money. The upstairs or upper level parking is where she got us turned around. lol
@andybell4168 parking can be a weird adventure for sure. I tried to go upstairs originally, but the ramp was was out only. Couldn't figure out where the in ramp was so just went the garage. Once inside though it is a really nice setup.
I have fond memories of my parents taking me to Chinese buffets in the Chicago suburbs, particularly the one in Broadview. Unfortunately, that location has been torn down in favor of a Chick-Fil-A.
@jeffammons912 if you are ever in this area again, I do highly recommend the one I mentioned across the street from this mall. Chinese buffets still among my favorite. :-)
@@memoriesbywayne I don’t ever get out to that part of Chicagoland (I live downtown), but I will keep your recommendation in mind!
@@jeffammons912 awesome! And I do have more downtown stuff coming to the channel soon. :-)
Does this mall get crazy at Christmas time? I really want to give my 17 year-old nephew a proper Christmas mall experience.
@AyeliaGDoren honestly not sure. First time I've been here in like 15 years. Sure it is busy. But honestly is any mall as busy as we may remember in the '90s before Amazon? lol
The arcade...
They had an arcade?! :-) Man I miss mall arcades. Still a couple here and there, but such a great time back then.