@@AcesAdventures1 I agree this was really great living in the IE my whole life his is amazing. Have you ever done anything about the Pomona Mall? That was the place when I was a kid. Buffums was the Harris’ of the 60’s and 70’s. Living in Cucamonga in the 60’s and 70’s we still had to shop in Pomona til the Montclair Plaza was built
@@SpiritGuide11111 I grew up in Rancho too and remember the Indian Hill Mall as well. Sears was there before they moved to Montclair and once Montclair added the second floor Indian Hill died out. Except for the swap meet, that is!
You've never made a video so close to my childhood until now. I grew up here and still live here and that older footage really brought back some memories. Really wish I caught you while you were here to say hi.
Not a financial advisor but you should look into crypto currency, It has been doing well this year. Ps. This might be me saying to much but Bitcoin is not a good crypto to invest in.
This was the place to be in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was buzzing and busy. I really did live in those “Stranger Things” times as a child and teen. Makes me sad and nostalgic all at the same time.
Hard to imagine San Bernardino ever had a new and thriving anything. It only took a few years for this area to become derelict since by the early 2000s this place was already struggling
These abandoned malls would make perfect retirement home villages. Housing healthcare facilities year round indoor street like atmosphere and shopping grocery store people can get out of their rooms walk or wheelchair around. Have A few restaurants game rooms it would be like a small indoor city
@@jimfaust6342 I love that idea since the homelessness situation has grown beyond one's imagination. They wouldn't have to become ghettos if the space used would be combined with services and shops as well. I think low cost housing can be very manageable if given the proper amount of thought and care going into it.
Thank you for posting this video. As a kid, I knew this mall as the “Central City Mall”. My Mother would bring us here to escape the smog and heat. Rest In Peace Momma 💚💚💗
This mall was my childhood. Many of my family members worked there. My grandma always tells stories of when she first started working there. My parents would take me basically every weekend. I still remember walking in through the entrance by the Chinese restaurant, that place was my favorite. My favorite horse from the carousel was the flower horse.🎠 So many great memories, thank you so much for creating this video!
I also remember there was a movie theater at the central city aka carousel mall. The Wolworth, Harris dept store…Good memories. It’s like a death in the family to see it go 😔
Breaks my heart to see it like this. I used to go as a kid all the time with my sisters in the 90’s. Can’t believe this is gone. I would have preferred the carousel mall than inland center. Really cool video.
@@uriah9638 Mr. You's chinese food Was open till the last day Helped that the bus stops were right outside on their side. Then they moved and killed lotta shops
The Harris department store was a beautiful building there. Got to go inside when they had the tea room and hair salon upstairs back in the 90’s before they closed.
It is after dark just eat lunch under a shaded tree in daylight and look at the pavement you will see the what is left from the night before. It is so so sad.
The city was run into the ground. The place is a shit hole and the local... oh man. Ghetto is putting it nicely. If you live there do everything you can to get out
These videos bring back SOOO many memories for me, my mom was working in that mall from 1999- when it was getting ready to close and I just remember being a kid on summer vacation being at her store everyday , all day running up and down the mall. I had friends who’s parents owned stores in there too and we just had a blast every summer 😩
@@liaarvizu6466 how old are you?I had great Memories of the Carousel 🎠in the 90's and Mt wards and The Street Clothes in the bottom store right by the Carousel
You picked a really good time to document this mall. With all of the leaks and standing water inside of the building the condition of the interior is going to rapidly decline without intervention. This place is such a nice time capsule.
I lived in San Bernardo until this past September 2020 just north of the Mall. The mall is located right in the middle of the homeless, drugs, crime, prostitution etc. The mayor didn't know what to do with it and SB went through bankruptcy. Last I heard, they were going to tear it down and build low cost housing and business offices hoping for new businesses to open up in the area, but I will tell you now that wont happen because the city will not take care the problems downtown has such as the homeless, drugs, etc...
I’m currently working on a construction project near downtown. The place is a dump through and through. The locals are ghetto as hell and don’t take care of the city, aside from the politicians running it to the ground. There is literally no nice areas in the whole city except for a small area on Valencia at the foothill of the arrowhead. If you live there. I feel sorry for you.
Yeah and there’s just no money in the budget and it’s not likely they’d spend it on demolishing an old building before putting those much needed funds to so emerging actually useful for the county (hopefully)
I remember going to the mall on Saturday with my friends when I was 15, I’m now 58. So sad to see this. I Even to my kids to the movie theater they had there. Wow🥺🥺
Born and raised in San Bernardino, raising my family here too. I had so many flashbacks watching the old video footage. It was so much fun hanging out at the mall all day. Getting dressed up to take pictures with our friends. It had a theater inside. Then it got too ghetto and the Inland Center Mall opened with all this mall had to offer plus an arcade called Aladdin's Castle. So, we kids all hung out over there instead. Better stores and atmosphere at Inland Center, Carousel Mall couldn't compete. All the years here, not once did I get on that Carousel. I even worked in this mall for a few months. Quit and got a job in Inland Center. You walking through the mall, I remember every corner, every hall, every staircase; I remember what store was where and what I bought from said store. It was nice remembering my youth. Thanks for the vid!
I remember Aladdin's Castle. In the "basement" of the mall. I especially remember that arcade in the mid 80s. The had just installed a new game called "Dragon's Lair". It's claim to fame was that the images looked more like TV/Movie animation - than the typical pixels at the time. Much, much more fluid screen movements. The couple of months or so after it was installed, there were people constantly 3 or 4 rows deep trying to watch the monitor while it was being played. The owners placed 2 or 3 additional monitors (or mirrors?) about 10 feet up in the air above the actual machine so that people didn't have to crowd so closely to see the "cutting edge" action on the screen. It was insane.
Hello again, my name is Ron and Chuck and I used to ride our motorcycles together, along with our wives after we both got married. I really hope this is my buddy - "Chuck!" Lmk
@@BugzBunnywazaHare which wife the first or second one. I know both an no man sorry I am not chuck but I do know who he is and do know both wife’s as well. If you really want to know how and why you can always go listen to my podcast cast. You won’t hear his name in there for privacy purposes. You might even get a story in there of how things went after that first marriage. It’s called from trailer trash to kicking ass. But you will even hear the Carl’s Jr story. For context and trust purposes I will tell you I know he worked there when it was central city mall during that first marriage.
Ok. So, not too sure if I'm talking to the right person? I think his 1st wife's name was: Joyce? Not sure about his 2nd one. My 1st wife an I moved up north an I lost touch with him. I don't need/want to listen to a podcast. I just need to know if we worked together at Carl's Jr, in the Central City Mall? If this or if you know him, what was the name of the manager that we worked for? That will confirm if you know me?
@@BugzBunnywazaHare ok you confirmed. Yes it was Joyce I am actually a relative. But unfortunately have not seen him in 10 years he left Joyce after there first child was born in 77. Last I heard he was living in Hemet Ironically I ended up working at the same Carl’s Jr in the late 95. If I hear from him will let you know you’re looking out for him. Please do the same.
@@lashawncook5724 I recall because my older brother was in the Air Force at that time. And then once Norton Air Force base closed. That began the descent down hill .
I also went there in the 80s and 90s. Back than that mall was packed with shops and shoppers. Compared to now it was a different world in total. Makes me sad when i see this.
@Piernas Locas you should look in the mirror and remember that the person to say things of that nature often are fighting their own demons of sexual molestation. Go find that family member who put his fingers in your sugar bowl. With a name like yours I'm sure you'll find him next to the salsa
Last time I been here when it was a mall-mall was like 94' as a 4 year old. I used to love this mall. Now I'm 30 and everytime I see it (along with all of downtown) I think to my self. Wtf happened to my hometown. Someone told me last thing opened in there was a Chinese restaurant lol. So sad. Everytime I pass by 2nd Street I look at it.
The good ol -Central City Mall-was my mall !! So many memories.. first visited it in 82 when I was 5. I still remember that day ..The Movie theater Downstairs , Kay bee toys upstairs. Was alive and fun throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s. Sucks they are gonna tear it down.
@@jogmas12 was before my time , but I know what was before. I’ve researched San Bernardino history. 3rd street ran thru it. Harris building on the corner is all that remains.
I remember the theater--saw The Little Mermaid there. And loved KB Toys. Also the coin store and See's Candy with the cardboard house I used to play in.
My parents had a business in this mall in the mid 70's, we were across from Howard Johnson's restaurant. Saw Star Wars at the theater there to. Lots of memories...mostly of when it was Central City Mall.
Same here. I even remember the cheesy "Central City Mall" jingle music they would play through the PA system in the parking lots. What I would give to be able to hear that again. Even back then, I sensed the struggle to overhaul the "identity" as a result of financial struggles. When they went "all in" for the neon lit Carousel motif, I just knew somehow that was the beginning of the end. Just seemed too desperate. I'm a 70s kid. So many stores I'd love to list as near and dear from that time. Just a handful here: Toy World (before KB Toys) Musicland (before Sam Goodys) Busy Bee Hobbies Orange Julius Carl's Jr. Woolworth (loved that it was a "discount" store with 2 floors) Montgomery Ward (got some REALLY cheesy low budget school clothes from there - Yikes!) Walden Books Lou Miller's Levis ...and of course - the movie theatre(s) Probably others that time has erased from my memory. Wouldn't mind hearing from others to knock those cobwebs loose.
I used to run an office at that mall back in the mid 2000s when it was no longer a regular mall. Office space was cheap as hell. A 1000sq foot space had $800/month rent with utilities included as the city ran the utilities at that that point. Most of the 1st floor became school district offices at that point as well. Leaving the office after dark was sketchy as hell through the service areas as the service doors to the back parking lots were never locked so you never knew who was roaming the back service areas. Overall it was sad seeing the mall as a broken down building as I remember it being the place to be at in the early 90s. Hopefully the corrupt city officials finally make something out of this instead of letting it keep dying and not serving any purpose.
"Corrupt city officials." Being some one who was born and raised in San Bernardino, this hurts. I moved away in '10 and it makes me sad to see the state the city is in when ever I come back to visit.
I was just wondering if the place had good bones so that it could be rehabbed and then in 2022 become office space, or a school (they did this in Pomona) or perhaps a DCFS location. There will be plenty of county type facilities that could use this sort of space, think of it, tons of parking, bathrooms are already there, etc.
I use to audit the military credit unions in the early 90's and we use to go there for lunch. In the '00 years I would visit the IRS in that black building. The one and only time I stepped foot in there I saw the conversion and I was shocked!
The corrupted officials would let you do anything to that place as long as they could pocketed something from you... other than that, take a walk regardless how great your ideas were.
Love the music and the feel of this video. When I was an adolescent, that was the first big deal, you know? Getting to go to the mall by yourself with your friends.
This was AMAZING!!! I especially love that there is music throughout except for when there is dialogue. The vintage footage was perfect as well. Nice!!!
Thank you... although the contrast of the mall's present condition and the vintage footage is so said to watch, it is such a treat for people who has been here before.
Do not fear, Anthony “Ace”: we’re all out here watching and enjoying these time capsules (and that’s what they really are) of a time long gone. If anyone is watching and is bad mouthing and trolling you, just let them go back to their troll hole where they belong. There’s a LOT more of us appreciating your videos than there’ll ever be of them. Keep up the good work!!!
Oh my gosh. The intro to this video is SO cool. Major “Stranger Things” vibes. Love it! Like many of you, I spent a lot of time at this mall growing up. And also the Inland Center Mall. My grandfather actually helped to build the Inland Center Mall in the 1960’s. These places are time capsules of a time and place in our lives where people came together, just as we are coming together here now. ! My dad sent me this video today. So many nostalgic emotions. Thank you for this awesome footage and amazing memories!
Great video!! I grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley and lived walking distance to the Montgomery Wards in Rosemead, California. Great memories of walking to that Wards with my mom in the early 90's and buying a Super Nintendo! Keep up the great work, Ace!
I don’t know this mall, but it makes me sad to see it like this. Especially the photoshop! I remember back in the early 90’s - those shops were everywhere! I can still smell the fresh printed photos that came from those shops. 😔
This mall always struggled. I used to know someone that worked in mall management 20 years ago. She mentioned the anchor stores weren't obligated to pay rent to the mall. They were stand-alone stores prior to the mall being built so they weren't part of it, financially speaking.
I remember the animatronic bear that was cool, a batman returns meet and greet KB toys, Walden books, Woolworths, and a movie theater inside. Also, hot dog on a stick and orange julius. I can remember vividly walking around with my mom, supposedly the propery was built on a marsh or swamp and the pumps are under the court house or something similar. There was a fudruckers across the street. The staircase in Harris was so immaculate. The whole Harris building was Victorian. Very cool mall in its heyday.
Also I just got to the Wards section. I cannot believe you got inside. It brought back a flood of memories and tears. Thank you SO much for posting this. You have no idea what it means to those of us who grew up in the area.
It could be put to use for something radically new. As radical as what "the mall" was at it's inception to the public. After the collapse of the roman empire, Old basilicas that were property of the roman empire were used by the newly emerged christian church to build what are now cathedrals. While I'm not saying to literally build churches, we could in a sense build new forms of civic centers.
@@ocnus1.61 Yes true. There’s a huge mall they turned into an apartment building somewhere on the East Coast. The tenants literally live in what we’re once the individual stores.
It boggles my mind they tear down all these malls.. so much could be done with them.. the big department anchor stores could hold indoor flea markets.. the rest could be used for office space and apartments.. maybe for those that need to be close to work for mobility reasons.. etc.. here they have gyms and practice area for pitching baseball.. one time an indoor ice rink.. think outside the box people..
makeing. Some amazing stuff done with shut down buildings. Up in victorville they took a old target and made it a indoor car lot.and in Vegas I saw a small not to old bank turned into a goodwill Express.
San Bernardino just too poor. I believe still one of the poorest in the entire country. The city council were caught stealing money back in 2011, bankrupt my entire city. Real messed up
i was thinking of a VR themepark / Rave .. the 'doomed' mall adventure.. 25 min stroll around with a headset and laser gun. Ghosts, Demons, Haunting Sound Cues ... TEAM play, LEADERBOARD and most important streaming support & Sponsers
This is heartbreaking. I took dates the movies there in the 80's. I saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High there, Friday the 13th Part 3 on Friday the 13th, so many movies. My mom worked at the mall for a while, I worked security there for a while. Thanks putting this video up. It's bringing back so many memories.
I showed my Mom this vid and she named all the stores from the intro. Esp “ZODYS”! She almost teared up viewing this. As kids, we have tons of pics in this mall. Esp the children’s train station downstairs 🚂. 🥲
I think this is probably the best video you’ve made so far. Loved the music and what I felt was a big bump up in your production presentation. Great job.
Never thought I would hear Frank Zappa in one of your productions. The story of "San Berdino" has always been a favorite. Imagine being arrested for vulgar lyrics today in a sting operation no less! This is one of your best videos ever, Anthony. I haven't been to Carousel but I found myself getting misty eyed over the place. Glad the Ward's sign was preserved. Ward's memorabilia is getting almost as scarce as Ames stuff these days.
"....the rest of their lives in San Ber'dino..." (just the way it was sung - not poor spelling). Was raised in San Bernardino. Knew of the song. Of course the lyrics caught my ear. The mention seemed equally specific and odd. Had no idea of the inspiration. I'm glad to have been educated after all these years.
I was put into a foster care system here, came and visit my case worker every weekend and my eyes always glowed with joy every time 😔 this mall will always be a special place to me 🖤🖤
So happy to have had a chance to watch this! I am still reeling over that found footage you got - an absolute time machine! I wonder if the office guy painting his wall knew his co-worked would be filming that day?! So fascinating. I also appreciated your personal endeavor to find "what makes each mall different" as a driving force in your process of documentation and discovery... there certainly IS a lot of sameness, and being able to highlight those differences - from the aesthetics to the presence of particular stores (OMG Montgomery Ward!) is what makes your work fascinating and a joy to watch. Great work on this portrait of Carousel Mall! :)
Fantastic job, Anthony! You always come with some amazing work. The fact that there was any remnants of Wards in there was left for you guys to find. Thanks for sharing all of this. Please continue preserving mall history! We all enjoy it!
Hello Anthony, great video...I worked at JCPENNEY from 84 to 88 and remember the when the City thrived with jobs and commerce. When Santa Fe Railroad closed their engine yard and Norton Air Force Base closed the decline began. I have great memories of this place.
@@AcesAdventures1 I worked night's at package pickup, back then, unless it was a weekend day. I do remember that the mall was a madhouse during the holidays.
I love the music in this clip. It makes me so nostalgic for the 80' s. It is so sad to see what the mall was like them and what it looks like now, empty, abandoned, and that carousel😢
Might be a bit bias since I grew up in the area but this is one of your best videos! The 80’s footage was a gem and really shows the mall’s peak. Would love to see the same for following videos!
So many memories in that mall. Among other things, it's where I first saw Star Wars in the summer of 1977. That was back when it was still the Central City Mall.
I am so in awe of everything you've captured in 2017, VHS videos from the past, and now. Thank you for documenting all of this. People worked here, shopped here, had family photos taken, and selected prom dresses. WOW. I am checking out my area's lost shopping malls and I hope to document a new era of a lost times. I love finding an Aladdin's Castle with the color schemes still present, and Sandburg Mall in Galesburg, IL has just that.
four twenty-six am ― another night in. sitting in the darkness while sipping a third glass of straight whiskey. im watching carousel mall and wallowing in nostalgia for a time i never lived in .
Woke up this morning to my childhood, WOW so many memories in that mall. That's when things were good even if it was bad, we did not know. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!!!!
Thank you for this video..It brings back so many memories.I used to go this mall all the time, when I was little and also my teenage years. It makes me sad to see it like this.
It's so interesting to see the mall all alive and well in the 80s and early 90s, and then... seeing how it is now. Enjoyed the vid, thanks for it, I will definitely stay tuned for the next one.
Aw I grew up going there. My mom worked there during the 80s. I still live near here and it's so sad to drive through downtown now compared to the 90s. I remember the carosel and it even had a movie theater and a little ferris wheel. Even now in 2022 you can still see the Montgomery ward sign on the outside of the mall. It's crazy because the other mall right up the street that's been there almost as long is still going.
Thanks for this amazing video. As a san Bernardino resident this mall was part of my childhood! So sad because in a way the death of this mall literally mimics whats happening to our city all together. 💔
It almost seemed like the way Carousel Mall went, so went the rest of San Bernardino. Like an unfortunate portent of doom. I share your heartbreak. It's like looking at my childhood through a shattered mirror. Distorted - and unreal. (spoken as a Former resident). But it doesn't make the hurting any less. Take care. P.S. Ignore the hater. Seems like one that would look for ANY excuse to get angry. Peace.
dope video. absolutely love the transitions from the old commercial and commercial music then what it looks like today with the song fading away. top notch vid brotha
Thank you. Extremely well put together and I could’ve watched another 30 minutes. While I don’t live in the area anymore your comments at the end brought a ton of emotion to me. So many memories with my parents eating at the Kings Buffet. We were fortunate as a family to have experience many aspects of the mall. As we got older and the crime increased my parents moved us out of San Bernardino and to a coastal city in San Diego county. The stories we tell my nieces and nephews about living in San Bernardino is something they just can’t fathom. The decay of what the city has become is heart breaking and sad. I still have family in the area and will never forget the Central City Mall (I could never call it the Carousel Mall). Thank you for the preservation!
Dam this place was my childhood holy hell didn’t know they were shutting down completely but then again that shows how often I pay attention to it lol 😯 awesome video man !
I have also lived near here and have seen it my whole life. It has been closed down for years now. The carousel was sitting in the mall desolate and creepy for a long time and the last remaining shops and chinese restaurant seemed to have closed quietly 😞 very sad.
This brought so many memories back. I use to go here as a kid shopping with my family. Christmas time was the best because we would meet my aunt's and cousins here and shop the whole day and eat lunch. It's so sad to see how it's looks today. Thank you for this amazing video!
Wow what an awesome video. I used to go here often in the 90s as a kid with my family. Around 2015 or 2016 I revisited the mall but only a few stores were open like the jewelry and chinese food restaurant on the top floor. Now it's all boarded up and surrounded with the homeless that SB is known for.
What an amazing video you threw in vintage footage aswell which makes for such a gem of video thank you I’m glad I found it I have nice memories at that mall and you brought them back it’s sad to see it being tore down now 😢hopefully they build something great there
You unlocked a memory I didn't even know I had-my parents would have to go to San Bernardino for business every year and I would always hang out at this mall-it was already so dead and that was at least 15 years before they closed.
I was always at Carousel Mall back in the 80's. I was 18 back in 1982,and was always looking for penny stamps at Fred Coops,on the lower level in the corner. I remember eating honey style hot dogs at Carl's Jr. I took my brother to see Scarface with Al Pacino there. That place was my stomping grounds. I remember buying records and cassettes at the licorice records I believe on the top floor close to Motgomery Wards.. going there with my Dad...all the memories.
They need to turn old malls into artist loft /condos / apartments. Im sure the investors would make their money back. IF you renovated the entire interior to include a couple of places to eat a community type club with immenities
Great presentation of a place I remember so well growing up here in san berdoo as they call it. I especially miss the grand antique store, theatre, and of course the magical carrousel ride, some of the footage is hilarious! Great music too. Hate too see it go, so much potential here. For what it's worth great job in reminiscing the carrousel mall experience.
I don’t know why I love these videos Haven’t worked in a mall since ‘86 but I always loved when I came in to work & the guys @ the pizza parlor would greet me by shouting out “Hey Duckie!!!” & I’d respond w F Y Blaine
Wow 🙉 I just found you. I love old malls and buildings. amazing how much stuff is left behind 🤯. great job with the flashbacks..took me back to my 20's🤣
I met Santa in that mall and even used to shop there it’s crazy how time really takes control over everything. Great video by the way insanely well done!
Thank you so much for making this. I have literally never commented on a UA-cam video before, but this means so much to me. My family and I had been going here since it was Central City and I spent a lot of time here growing up. It breaks my heart to see what it became, but I'm so grateful that this video exists. Even seeing how the freeway exit used to look made me feel like I was back in my childhood. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. You have no idea how much it means. I'm absolutely gonna share this with my whole family.
In the early 2000s growing up in rialto this was the spot pops would take me and my lil bro to buy x-men and dragon ball z toys in one of the toy stores. All there is now is smoked out homeless people
Same! I also grew up in Rialto so we went there occasionally and I can still remember the smell of the Chinese food that was there until the very end 😭
I now know at 50 what love it or leave it means i truly do i had fun as a teen hanging out there thx for the memories do something good with the space the residents of San Bernardino deserve better than a closed mall dont u think we all do i grew up there thx for reading mark plotkin ❤😊
Great Video. I especially enjoyed the vintage 1986 video footage. That was how I remember this mall as a kid. Always busy and lots of people. The nearby Inland Center Mall was opened in 1966, 6 years before Central City/Carousel so it can't really be blamed for taking business away except that it was close by already, when this mall opened in 1972 but I think the city thought they could get people to go to Central City/Carousel instead of Inland Center because it was newer and more modern with the two-story design and more appealing architecture and the 4 screen inside theatre which Inland Center did not have. I think two more reasons many people forget of why the decline of this mall besides the many other reasons people mention is first that people from the High Desert/Victor Valley went here regularly to shop until 1987 when Victorville finally got their own full sized mall with the exact same anchor stores as Central City/Carousel plus a Mervyns and Sears. Our Montgomery Ward was actually located in an outdoor strip mall next to the Mall of Victor Valley instead of inside it. Second is in 1996 the gigantic Ontario Mills Mall opened 20 miles away which offered all the shopping plus multiple dining/restaurants as well, that Central City/Carousel couldn't offer. Those two things surely effected business. I know living in the High Desert since 1979 we went to both Central City/Carousel Mall and Inland Center regularly on the weekends and sometimes during the week until 1987. It depended on which stores my mother wanted to go to. If she wanted Montgomery Wards, JC Penny or Harris we went to Central City/Carousel. If she wanted to go to Broadway, May Co. or Sears we went to Inland Center Mall. I'm sure many others from the High Desert/Victor Valley did the same as these two malls and Montclair Mall were the closest malls to the High Desert. I don't count Barstow Mall because nobody I knew from the High Desert went there. I personally as kid enjoyed the Central City/ Carousel Mall more than Inland Center as I used to play on the stairs, escalators and that really cool glass elevator. It just had a lot more character than Inland Center. Every entrance to the mall was different and unique. It will always be Central City Mall to me and not Carousel as that rename happened 4 years after I stopped going there in 1987. I am personally sad to see it close and eventually be demolished. I have many memories from my childhood there.
That was so awesome that you got into the Wards! I grew up with that store so I've been hoping to see someone get into one, I'm glad you did! This was probably my favorite video of your's so far. Thank you for doing this!!
The fact that you included vintage footage from ‘86 shows the true stark contrast of thriving/dead in one video. Well done!
Thanks so much!
Ace does a good job
@@AcesAdventures1 What's the source for the 80s office footage you showed? Would love to see more behind scenes looks from the 80s.
@@AcesAdventures1 I agree this was really great living in the IE my whole life his is amazing. Have you ever done anything about the Pomona Mall? That was the place when I was a kid. Buffums was the Harris’ of the 60’s and 70’s. Living in Cucamonga in the 60’s and 70’s we still had to shop in Pomona til the Montclair Plaza was built
@@SpiritGuide11111 I grew up in Rancho too and remember the Indian Hill Mall as well. Sears was there before they moved to Montclair and once Montclair added the second floor Indian Hill died out. Except for the swap meet, that is!
You've never made a video so close to my childhood until now. I grew up here and still live here and that older footage really brought back some memories. Really wish I caught you while you were here to say hi.
Great videos im here in SB too stay safe riding i been subbed 👍
Not a financial advisor but you should look into crypto currency, It has been doing well this year.
Ps.
This might be me saying to much but Bitcoin is not a good crypto to invest in.
Bro drive inside the carousel in your next video 😂😂
Cheeeeeeeeeeeah!!!!!! 👌👌
Same here bro I miss it 😥
This was the place to be in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was buzzing and busy. I really did live in those “Stranger Things” times as a child and teen. Makes me sad and nostalgic all at the same time.
You lived in the time where an upside down dimention was possible to travel thru? Thats wild.
Same story across america
My grandparents and other relatives lived in San Bernardino back then, so there were times we did Black Friday shopping there.
I got my drivers license in 1986, my best friend and I couldnt stay away from Central City Mall!!
Yes I stayed in this mall....great memories
Hard to imagine San Bernardino ever had a new and thriving anything. It only took a few years for this area to become derelict since by the early 2000s this place was already struggling
It's actually what happens when the major employer leaves town
@@12345CONWAY when Norton left, San Bernardino left
John Wayne way to to a racist pos
@@user_bcgslqvf72tvr The military pulled out too.
@John Wayne poverty man
These abandoned malls would make perfect retirement home villages. Housing healthcare facilities year round indoor street like atmosphere and shopping grocery store people can get out of their rooms walk or wheelchair around. Have A few restaurants game rooms it would be like a small indoor city
That’s so smart!! You should look into city council or commercial real estate or something to actually help get shit like this in the works
I agree 💯
Have whole towns in them to house the homeless too. And people on fixed incomes.
funny you should say that, a redevelopment project looks likes its on the way.
@@jimfaust6342 I love that idea since the homelessness situation has grown beyond one's imagination. They wouldn't have to become ghettos if the space used would be combined with services and shops as well. I think low cost housing can be very manageable if given the proper amount of thought and care going into it.
Thank you for posting this video. As a kid, I knew this mall as the “Central City Mall”. My Mother would bring us here to escape the smog and heat. Rest In Peace Momma 💚💚💗
Much love to you and rest in paradise to your mom, love this place and always will.
I do not know why but I find this all fascinating. Thank you so much.
Same!
I love abandoned places videos. Be it malls, amusement parks, theatres etc. I have a real soft spot for malls and insane asylums. Lol it's so weird
This mall was my childhood. Many of my family members worked there. My grandma always tells stories of when she first started working there. My parents would take me basically every weekend. I still remember walking in through the entrance by the Chinese restaurant, that place was my favorite. My favorite horse from the carousel was the flower horse.🎠
So many great memories, thank you so much for creating this video!
I realized that most people remember the Chinese food and the carousel lol thats what i most vividly remember too
I also remember there was a movie theater at the central city aka carousel mall. The Wolworth, Harris dept store…Good memories. It’s like a death in the family to see it go 😔
Breaks my heart to see it like this. I used to go as a kid all the time with my sisters in the 90’s. Can’t believe this is gone. I would have preferred the carousel mall than inland center. Really cool video.
fr inland center is so ugly
Honestly! Inland center is nowhere near as beautiful as carousel mall once was 😭 i used to go there with my dad as a kid and i miss it.
I remember going to this mall as a child in the mid 80s.
Same
Yup, i totally forgot about Zody's until i saw the sign in beginning of video lol!
Yup, I have fond memories of that place around Christmas time.
It is not the oldest mall in the city. The Inland Center was built in the 60's. The city couldn't support 2 mails.
Yes only ones
This my town
I used to love this mall
Had the best chinese food ever
You talking about the chinease restaurant in the top corner of the 2nd floor right near the exit ?
@@uriah9638 Mr. You's chinese food
Was open till the last day
Helped that the bus stops were right outside on their side. Then they moved and killed lotta shops
@@ragingwerewolfdude3797 ahaaa yep. I used to catch the bus from Arroyo Valley high school and go there to get food after class
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@uriah9638 you went from Arroyo Valley all the way to down town? God damn dude. Wasn't that a good half hour at least?
So many childhood memories. We forget at times how important it is to archive videos and pictures. History preserved...
The Harris department store was a beautiful building there. Got to go inside when they had the tea room and hair salon upstairs back in the 90’s before they closed.
Indeed that harris building was beautiful to say the least.
I pass by this mall everyday, I would've thought it was packed full with crachheads like the vampires from 'I Am Legend', San Berdino for ya 🙃
Nope no crackheads at the mall because it has its security still watching the grounds, I'm thinking he asked for permission to video tape inside 😊
It is after dark just eat lunch under a shaded tree in daylight and look at the pavement you will see the what is left from the night before. It is so so sad.
The city was run into the ground. The place is a shit hole and the local... oh man. Ghetto is putting it nicely. If you live there do everything you can to get out
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
In 1986, who would have thought the mall would be like this in 2021?
Right??!
I did
I was born in 86
In 1986 I was working at Spencer's as a teenager.. I really thought malls were here to stay.
These videos bring back SOOO many memories for me, my mom was working in that mall from 1999- when it was getting ready to close and I just remember being a kid on summer vacation being at her store everyday , all day running up and down the mall. I had friends who’s parents owned stores in there too and we just had a blast every summer 😩
I was there at that time.....which store?
@@ACEDIAMOND666 it was downstairs right behind the carousel called City Styles , it was a clothing store
@@liaarvizu6466 how old are you?I had great Memories of the Carousel 🎠in the 90's and Mt wards and The Street Clothes in the bottom store right by the Carousel
@@Rambo-hz4yk 21
@@liaarvizu6466 girl what do remember about this mall? You weren’t even alive when it was popping 😂
My Grandma worked for Montgomery Wards in this Mall In the 80's and 90"s. So many memories
You picked a really good time to document this mall. With all of the leaks and standing water inside of the building the condition of the interior is going to rapidly decline without intervention. This place is such a nice time capsule.
I lived in San Bernardo until this past September 2020 just north of the Mall. The mall is located right in the middle of the homeless, drugs, crime, prostitution etc. The mayor didn't know what to do with it and SB went through bankruptcy. Last I heard, they were going to tear it down and build low cost housing and business offices hoping for new businesses to open up in the area, but I will tell you now that wont happen because the city will not take care the problems downtown has such as the homeless, drugs, etc...
@Piernas Locas true! Totally agree!🤔
I’m currently working on a construction project near downtown. The place is a dump through and through. The locals are ghetto as hell and don’t take care of the city, aside from the politicians running it to the ground. There is literally no nice areas in the whole city except for a small area on Valencia at the foothill of the arrowhead. If you live there. I feel sorry for you.
Yeah and there’s just no money in the budget and it’s not likely they’d spend it on demolishing an old building before putting those much needed funds to so emerging actually useful for the county (hopefully)
Do you think there will be downtown gentrification? Many investors are still betting this will come sooner than you think.
@@ZoneOne2150 And Rosena Ranch on 15, San Bernardino's only new home area to compete with other cities on 15.
I remember going to the mall on Saturday with my friends when I was 15, I’m now 58. So sad to see this. I Even to my kids to the movie theater they had there. Wow🥺🥺
Born and raised in San Bernardino, raising my family here too. I had so many flashbacks watching the old video footage. It was so much fun hanging out at the mall all day. Getting dressed up to take pictures with our friends. It had a theater inside. Then it got too ghetto and the Inland Center Mall opened with all this mall had to offer plus an arcade called Aladdin's Castle. So, we kids all hung out over there instead. Better stores and atmosphere at Inland Center, Carousel Mall couldn't compete. All the years here, not once did I get on that Carousel. I even worked in this mall for a few months. Quit and got a job in Inland Center.
You walking through the mall, I remember every corner, every hall, every staircase; I remember what store was where and what I bought from said store. It was nice remembering my youth. Thanks for the vid!
That’s why I do what I do, Are you still local? I would like to give you something from the mall
@@AcesAdventures1 yes I am. Still live here.
@@mariabanuelos54 send me a DM on Instagram, @acesadventures1
I remember Aladdin's Castle. In the "basement" of the mall. I especially remember that arcade in the mid 80s. The had just installed a new game called "Dragon's Lair". It's claim to fame was that the images looked more like TV/Movie animation - than the typical pixels at the time. Much, much more fluid screen movements. The couple of months or so after it was installed, there were people constantly 3 or 4 rows deep trying to watch the monitor while it was being played. The owners placed 2 or 3 additional monitors (or mirrors?) about 10 feet up in the air above the actual machine so that people didn't have to crowd so closely to see the "cutting edge" action on the screen. It was insane.
Worked at the Carl’s Jr. in the mall for 4 years when I was younger brings back a lot of memories thank you doing this.
Is by chance ur name "Charles" Chuck Graham?
I'm trying to find an old buddy of mine so named?
Plz let me know.
Hello again, my name is Ron and Chuck and I used to ride our motorcycles together, along with our wives after we both got married. I really hope this is my buddy - "Chuck!"
Lmk
@@BugzBunnywazaHare which wife the first or second one. I know both an no man sorry I am not chuck but I do know who he is and do know both wife’s as well. If you really want to know how and why you can always go listen to my podcast cast. You won’t hear his name in there for privacy purposes. You might even get a story in there of how things went after that first marriage. It’s called from trailer trash to kicking ass. But you will even hear the Carl’s Jr story. For context and trust purposes I will tell you I know he worked there when it was central city mall during that first marriage.
Ok. So, not too sure if I'm talking to the right person?
I think his 1st wife's name was: Joyce? Not sure about his 2nd one. My 1st wife an I moved up north an I lost touch with him.
I don't need/want to listen to a podcast. I just need to know if we worked together at Carl's Jr, in the Central City Mall?
If this or if you know him, what was the name of the manager that we worked for? That will confirm if you know me?
@@BugzBunnywazaHare ok you confirmed. Yes it was Joyce I am actually a relative. But unfortunately have not seen him in 10 years he left Joyce after there first child was born in 77. Last I heard he was living in Hemet Ironically I ended up working at the same Carl’s Jr in the late 95. If I hear from him will let you know you’re looking out for him. Please do the same.
I believe it all started with the closure of the Air Force base. That’s when San Bernardino did it’s decline down bill from that point on.
The closure of Norton Air Force Base was the demise of Inland Empire.
@@lashawncook5724 I recall because my older brother was in the Air Force at that time. And then once Norton Air Force base closed. That began the descent down hill .
And brand new homes in Rancho Cucamonga built in the early-1990s caused white flight out of San Bernardino.
@@lashawncook5724 Actually it was the closure of Kaiser Steel in 1985.
@@waltchan Cucamonga is now more diverse than LA
I grew up going to that mall as a teenager in the 80’s. Good times. Sad to see the changes.
I remember following you and watching as you went to the thong department to try them on but never purchase one. 😅🤣😂
I also went there in the 80s and 90s. Back than that mall was packed with shops and shoppers. Compared to now it was a different world in total. Makes me sad when i see this.
@Piernas Locas hey a little boy trying to be a man... how sweet.
@Piernas Locas you should look in the mirror and remember that the person to say things of that nature often are fighting their own demons of sexual molestation. Go find that family member who put his fingers in your sugar bowl. With a name like yours I'm sure you'll find him next to the salsa
@Piernas Locas Hispanics try so hard. 😅🤣😂
Last time I been here when it was a mall-mall was like 94' as a 4 year old. I used to love this mall. Now I'm 30 and everytime I see it (along with all of downtown) I think to my self. Wtf happened to my hometown.
Someone told me last thing opened in there was a Chinese restaurant lol. So sad.
Everytime I pass by 2nd Street I look at it.
The ghetto.
Ya the Chinese restaurant hung on til the end. And somehow I believe that old school Daniels jerwelry
@@aricrbell haha oh shit.
@@aricrbell ... and the shoe repair store with the old man.
Greed and Racism just my 2 cents
That’s my dad Steve painting at the end. RIP 😢
Aww my condolences to you
No way! Cool!
What painting, what do you mean
@@AcesAdventures1 The office scene, where the secretaries were goofing around playing PAC-Man on their computers.
Hey Alina, is there a way i can contact you
The good ol -Central City Mall-was my mall !! So many memories.. first visited it in 82 when I was 5. I still remember that day ..The Movie theater Downstairs , Kay bee toys upstairs. Was alive and fun throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s. Sucks they are gonna tear it down.
You should seen what was there before they build that darn thang!
@@jogmas12 was before my time , but I know what was before. I’ve researched San Bernardino history. 3rd street ran thru it. Harris building on the corner is all that remains.
I remember the theater--saw The Little Mermaid there. And loved KB Toys. Also the coin store and See's Candy with the cardboard house I used to play in.
Awesome explore 🙌🏻🙌🏻
My parents had a business in this mall in the mid 70's, we were across from Howard Johnson's restaurant. Saw Star Wars at the theater there to. Lots of memories...mostly of when it was Central City Mall.
Wow! that mall will always and forever be “Central City Mall” to me... I’m really showing my age!
Same here. I even remember the cheesy "Central City Mall" jingle music they would play through the PA system in the parking lots. What I would give to be able to hear that again. Even back then, I sensed the struggle to overhaul the "identity" as a result of financial struggles. When they went "all in" for the neon lit Carousel motif, I just knew somehow that was the beginning of the end. Just seemed too desperate.
I'm a 70s kid. So many stores I'd love to list as near and dear from that time. Just a handful here:
Toy World (before KB Toys)
Musicland (before Sam Goodys)
Busy Bee Hobbies
Orange Julius
Carl's Jr.
Woolworth (loved that it was a "discount" store with 2 floors)
Montgomery Ward (got some REALLY cheesy low budget school clothes from there - Yikes!)
Walden Books
Lou Miller's Levis
...and of course - the movie theatre(s)
Probably others that time has erased from my memory. Wouldn't mind hearing from others to knock those cobwebs loose.
Same! But hey! You still look great! 👊
I passed that mall several times, it’s in arguably the scariest part of town lol
It’s definitely scary. I always get a weird vibe passing by
I wanna go in and explore again with my friends
The city is making a comeback. Check out the Breeze Way. There’s this stigma that downtown is really bad. But I encourage you to check it out again.
Um there is scarier streets in San Bernardino lol
@@alondraaguilar6915 cant argue against that
I used to run an office at that mall back in the mid 2000s when it was no longer a regular mall. Office space was cheap as hell. A 1000sq foot space had $800/month rent with utilities included as the city ran the utilities at that that point. Most of the 1st floor became school district offices at that point as well. Leaving the office after dark was sketchy as hell through the service areas as the service doors to the back parking lots were never locked so you never knew who was roaming the back service areas. Overall it was sad seeing the mall as a broken down building as I remember it being the place to be at in the early 90s. Hopefully the corrupt city officials finally make something out of this instead of letting it keep dying and not serving any purpose.
"Corrupt city officials." Being some one who was born and raised in San Bernardino, this hurts. I moved away in '10 and it makes me sad to see the state the city is in when ever I come back to visit.
I was in San Bernardino 1976 to 91. My only reason to visit San Bernardino is Rosa Maria's by West Sierra. Best super burritos ever.
I was just wondering if the place had good bones so that it could be rehabbed and then in 2022 become office space, or a school (they did this in Pomona) or perhaps a DCFS location. There will be plenty of county type facilities that could use this sort of space, think of it, tons of parking, bathrooms are already there, etc.
I use to audit the military credit unions in the early 90's and we use to go there for lunch. In the '00 years I would visit the IRS in that black building. The one and only time I stepped foot in there I saw the conversion and I was shocked!
The corrupted officials would let you do anything to that place as long as they could pocketed something from you... other than that, take a walk regardless how great your ideas were.
Love the music and the feel of this video. When I was an adolescent, that was the first big deal, you know? Getting to go to the mall by yourself with your friends.
This was AMAZING!!! I especially love that there is music throughout except for when there is dialogue. The vintage footage was perfect as well. Nice!!!
The use of paper towels for paint in that old office prank video was the most brilliant amateur filmmaker trick I’v seen!
Lmao i think it was fax paper!
omg yes! i thought it was pretty clever too 😂
Thank you... although the contrast of the mall's present condition and the vintage footage is so said to watch, it is such a treat for people who has been here before.
Do not fear, Anthony “Ace”: we’re all out here watching and enjoying these time capsules (and that’s what they really are) of a time long gone. If anyone is watching and is bad mouthing and trolling you, just let them go back to their troll hole where they belong. There’s a LOT more of us appreciating your videos than there’ll ever be of them. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks Jane!
Oh my gosh. The intro to this video is SO cool. Major “Stranger Things” vibes. Love it! Like many of you, I spent a lot of time at this mall growing up. And also the Inland Center Mall. My grandfather actually helped to build the Inland Center Mall in the 1960’s. These places are time capsules of a time and place in our lives where people came together, just as we are coming together here now. ! My dad sent me this video today. So many nostalgic emotions. Thank you for this awesome footage and amazing memories!
Same! Also grew up going to the Redlands Mall! Have always wanted to explore that since it’s been abandoned
@@emmaearthling444 That’s so cool! I would also love to see abandoned Redlands Mall.
Oh, wow! My granddad worked on the Inland Center mall too! He placed the tiles I know that for sure.
pretty sure he used the stranger things music they did for 2nd or 3rd season (not the stranger things intro but the other music)
@@MinmoKitty No way! I wonder if our grandfathers knew each other back in the day. What a small world!!
Great video!! I grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley and lived walking distance to the Montgomery Wards in Rosemead, California. Great memories of walking to that Wards with my mom in the early 90's and buying a Super Nintendo! Keep up the great work, Ace!
I don’t know this mall, but it makes me sad to see it like this. Especially the photoshop! I remember back in the early 90’s - those shops were everywhere! I can still smell the fresh printed photos that came from those shops. 😔
Oh yeah I hated getting my picture taken at the Sears Photo Centers
Star Image lol..
Was there for a summer car show event put on by stater bros.it was fun but that weekend was like 108 it was bakeing.
If you think the mall is sad you should see the rest of the city.
This was my childhood mall. I've seen it in all stages now.
This mall always struggled. I used to know someone that worked in mall management 20 years ago. She mentioned the anchor stores weren't obligated to pay rent to the mall. They were stand-alone stores prior to the mall being built so they weren't part of it, financially speaking.
Yo, Ace, that vintage footage is freaking amazing. I loved it. Certainly doesn’t help that I’m a huge fan of Gruen’s work.
Great video dude.
I remember the animatronic bear that was cool, a batman returns meet and greet KB toys, Walden books, Woolworths, and a movie theater inside. Also, hot dog on a stick and orange julius. I can remember vividly walking around with my mom, supposedly the propery was built on a marsh or swamp and the pumps are under the court house or something similar. There was a fudruckers across the street. The staircase in Harris was so immaculate. The whole Harris building was Victorian. Very cool mall in its heyday.
One of the best dead mall vids out there. A true gem 💎. Many thanks for making such a great piece! ❤
I just showed my father this vid and he was in awe.
Also I just got to the Wards section. I cannot believe you got inside. It brought back a flood of memories and tears. Thank you SO much for posting this. You have no idea what it means to those of us who grew up in the area.
I’m always amazed when they tear down malls to build malls.
It could be put to use for something radically new. As radical as what "the mall" was at it's inception to the public. After the collapse of the roman empire, Old basilicas that were property of the roman empire were used by the newly emerged christian church to build what are now cathedrals. While I'm not saying to literally build churches, we could in a sense build new forms of civic centers.
@@ocnus1.61 Yes true. There’s a huge mall they turned into an apartment building somewhere on the East Coast. The tenants literally live in what we’re once the individual stores.
Thank you for posting this. Carousel Mall was a big part of my childhood. Well done 👍
It boggles my mind they tear down all these malls.. so much could be done with them.. the big department anchor stores could hold indoor flea markets.. the rest could be used for office space and apartments.. maybe for those that need to be close to work for mobility reasons.. etc.. here they have gyms and practice area for pitching baseball.. one time an indoor ice rink.. think outside the box people..
makeing. Some amazing stuff done with shut down buildings. Up in victorville they took a old target and made it a indoor car lot.and in Vegas I saw a small not to old bank turned into a goodwill Express.
San Bernardino just too poor. I believe still one of the poorest in the entire country. The city council were caught stealing money back in 2011, bankrupt my entire city. Real messed up
Have you ever been to that area of San Bernardino? Much better to get rid of it.
i was thinking of a VR themepark / Rave .. the 'doomed' mall adventure.. 25 min stroll around with a headset and laser gun. Ghosts, Demons, Haunting Sound Cues ... TEAM play, LEADERBOARD and most important streaming support & Sponsers
Loved everything about this tour.Such waves of nostalgia for those of us lucky enough to have lived the dream.It was an era of decadence.
My hometown. LOTS of memories in this mall. I mean...TONS!
Thank you for this 🖤
Excellent video. Cool abandoned Wards footage. It is shocking how much the place has deteriorated. Sad. Great old and new footage. Thanks.
WOW~This brings back great memories! This was are hangout in the 70s, 80s.....Sad to see it go, but times have changed....
This is heartbreaking. I took dates the movies there in the 80's. I saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High there, Friday the 13th Part 3 on Friday the 13th, so many movies. My mom worked at the mall for a while, I worked security there for a while. Thanks putting this video up. It's bringing back so many memories.
I showed my Mom this vid and she named all the stores from the intro. Esp “ZODYS”! She almost teared up viewing this. As kids, we have tons of pics in this mall. Esp the children’s train station downstairs 🚂. 🥲
You’re very pretty, I miss the IE.
Yeah I cried a little to remembering happy times
@@beliefispower8251 think we need to ban social media and just go back to local shopping
@@johnames6430 I so Agree lol. I'm committed to that...🤗
@@beliefispower8251 are we committed though? It's cheaper and more convenient to buy online. We need some other reason to gather I think.
I think this is probably the best video you’ve made so far. Loved the music and what I felt was a big bump up in your production presentation. Great job.
Never thought I would hear Frank Zappa in one of your productions. The story of "San Berdino" has always been a favorite. Imagine being arrested for vulgar lyrics today in a sting operation no less! This is one of your best videos ever, Anthony. I haven't been to Carousel but I found myself getting misty eyed over the place. Glad the Ward's sign was preserved. Ward's memorabilia is getting almost as scarce as Ames stuff these days.
Frank Zappa was into dark sh*t .. !
"....the rest of their lives in San Ber'dino..." (just the way it was sung - not poor spelling). Was raised in San Bernardino. Knew of the song. Of course the lyrics caught my ear. The mention seemed equally specific and odd. Had no idea of the inspiration. I'm glad to have been educated after all these years.
I was put into a foster care system here, came and visit my case worker every weekend and my eyes always glowed with joy every time 😔 this mall will always be a special place to me 🖤🖤
So happy to have had a chance to watch this! I am still reeling over that found footage you got - an absolute time machine! I wonder if the office guy painting his wall knew his co-worked would be filming that day?! So fascinating. I also appreciated your personal endeavor to find "what makes each mall different" as a driving force in your process of documentation and discovery... there certainly IS a lot of sameness, and being able to highlight those differences - from the aesthetics to the presence of particular stores (OMG Montgomery Ward!) is what makes your work fascinating and a joy to watch. Great work on this portrait of Carousel Mall! :)
Fantastic job, Anthony! You always come with some amazing work. The fact that there was any remnants of Wards in there was left for you guys to find. Thanks for sharing all of this. Please continue preserving mall history! We all enjoy it!
Hello Anthony, great video...I worked at JCPENNEY from 84 to 88 and remember the when the City thrived with jobs and commerce. When Santa Fe Railroad closed their engine yard and Norton Air Force Base closed the decline began. I have great memories of this place.
Maybe you were working when they were filming! It was mid December 87
@@AcesAdventures1 I worked night's at package pickup, back then, unless it was a weekend day. I do remember that the mall was a madhouse during the holidays.
I love the music in this clip. It makes me so nostalgic for the 80' s. It is so sad to see what the mall was like them and what it looks like now, empty, abandoned, and that carousel😢
What kind of music would you call that ? I was born in 2000 but it makes me feel like I’m driving through neon lit Miami in the 80s 😭😭
Might be a bit bias since I grew up in the area but this is one of your best videos! The 80’s footage was a gem and really shows the mall’s peak. Would love to see the same for following videos!
I used hang out there in high school in the 80s I went to San Bernardino HS
So many memories in that mall. Among other things, it's where I first saw Star Wars in the summer of 1977. That was back when it was still the Central City Mall.
I am so in awe of everything you've captured in 2017, VHS videos from the past, and now. Thank you for documenting all of this. People worked here, shopped here, had family photos taken, and selected prom dresses. WOW. I am checking out my area's lost shopping malls and I hope to document a new era of a lost times. I love finding an Aladdin's Castle with the color schemes still present, and Sandburg Mall in Galesburg, IL has just that.
four twenty-six am ― another night in. sitting in the darkness while sipping a third glass of straight whiskey. im watching carousel mall and wallowing in nostalgia for a time i never lived in .
Woke up this morning to my childhood, WOW so many memories in that mall. That's when things were good even if it was bad, we did not know. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!!!!
Thank you for this video..It brings back so many memories.I used to go this mall all the time, when I was little and also my teenage years. It makes me sad to see it like this.
It's so interesting to see the mall all alive and well in the 80s and early 90s, and then... seeing how it is now. Enjoyed the vid, thanks for it, I will definitely stay tuned for the next one.
I seriously love the new intro, Anthony. This is hardcore-80s.
I went to this mall as a kid in the 90's. I would always ride the mini carousel in there. A memory i forgot i had. lol
Aw I grew up going there. My mom worked there during the 80s. I still live near here and it's so sad to drive through downtown now compared to the 90s. I remember the carosel and it even had a movie theater and a little ferris wheel. Even now in 2022 you can still see the Montgomery ward sign on the outside of the mall. It's crazy because the other mall right up the street that's been there almost as long is still going.
Love this! Brings back so many memories I had as a kid with my grandma 🤙🏼
Thanks for this amazing video. As a san Bernardino resident this mall was part of my childhood! So sad because in a way the death of this mall literally mimics whats happening to our city all together. 💔
@Piernas Locas you seriously are delirious because am a women of color you think you know my vote? Go harass or advice those who asked your opinion.
It almost seemed like the way Carousel Mall went, so went the rest of San Bernardino. Like an unfortunate portent of doom. I share your heartbreak. It's like looking at my childhood through a shattered mirror. Distorted - and unreal. (spoken as a Former resident). But it doesn't make the hurting any less. Take care.
P.S. Ignore the hater. Seems like one that would look for ANY excuse to get angry. Peace.
Are you Gaby from Lesley's Bakery in San Bernardino?
dope video. absolutely love the transitions from the old commercial and commercial music then what it looks like today with the song fading away. top notch vid brotha
I miss this mall. So many great memories!
Thank you. Extremely well put together and I could’ve watched another 30 minutes. While I don’t live in the area anymore your comments at the end brought a ton of emotion to me. So many memories with my parents eating at the Kings Buffet. We were fortunate as a family to have experience many aspects of the mall. As we got older and the crime increased my parents moved us out of San Bernardino and to a coastal city in San Diego county. The stories we tell my nieces and nephews about living in San Bernardino is something they just can’t fathom. The decay of what the city has become is heart breaking and sad. I still have family in the area and will never forget the Central City Mall (I could never call it the Carousel Mall). Thank you for the preservation!
Dam this place was my childhood holy hell didn’t know they were shutting down completely but then again that shows how often I pay attention to it lol 😯 awesome video man !
I'm born and raised in SB, Waterman Garderns, lil Africa, west side, the flats, over by Date st. The mall been shut down for a few years now.
I have also lived near here and have seen it my whole life. It has been closed down for years now. The carousel was sitting in the mall desolate and creepy for a long time and the last remaining shops and chinese restaurant seemed to have closed quietly 😞 very sad.
Skateboard mecca! Route 66 Rendezvous! The MEMORIES!!💜💜✊🏽✌🏽 Awesome job!!!
What an absolutely beautiful place! Too bad it's going to cease to exist.... 😢 Man I love retro malls. 😔
Music is perfect. Vid hit me right in the nostalgia.
The last purchase I made at this mall was my daughters wedding dress at one of last dress shops before the mall close.
Last thing I bought here was from the Rainbow shop
She stilled married?
@@highlymedicated2438 bruh
@@highlymedicated2438 that’s a good question tbh
This brought so many memories back. I use to go here as a kid shopping with my family. Christmas time was the best because we would meet my aunt's and cousins here and shop the whole day and eat lunch. It's so sad to see how it's looks today. Thank you for this amazing video!
Wow what an awesome video. I used to go here often in the 90s as a kid with my family. Around 2015 or 2016 I revisited the mall but only a few stores were open like the jewelry and chinese food restaurant on the top floor. Now it's all boarded up and surrounded with the homeless that SB is known for.
What an amazing video you threw in vintage footage aswell which makes for such a gem of video thank you I’m glad I found it I have nice memories at that mall and you brought them back it’s sad to see it being tore down now 😢hopefully they build something great there
You unlocked a memory I didn't even know I had-my parents would have to go to San Bernardino for business every year and I would always hang out at this mall-it was already so dead and that was at least 15 years before they closed.
Ive always remembered this place but suddenly started remembing things on a dejavu kind of way while watching this video its, wierd
My hometown. Use to hang out at this mall alot in the 90's as a teenager. Thanks for the memories.
I was always at Carousel Mall back in the 80's. I was 18 back in 1982,and was always looking for penny stamps at Fred Coops,on the lower level in the corner. I remember eating honey style hot dogs at Carl's Jr. I took my brother to see Scarface with Al Pacino there. That place was my stomping grounds. I remember buying records and cassettes at the licorice records I believe on the top floor close to Motgomery Wards.. going there with my Dad...all the memories.
They need to turn old malls into artist loft /condos / apartments. Im sure the investors would make their money back. IF you renovated the entire interior to include a couple of places to eat a community type club with immenities
Great presentation of a place I remember so well growing up here in san berdoo as they call it. I especially miss the grand antique store, theatre, and of course the magical carrousel ride, some of the footage is hilarious! Great music too. Hate too see it go, so much potential here. For what it's worth great job in reminiscing the carrousel mall experience.
I don’t know why I love these videos
Haven’t worked in a mall since ‘86 but I always loved when I came in to work & the guys @ the pizza parlor would greet me by shouting out “Hey Duckie!!!” & I’d respond w F Y Blaine
Wow 🙉 I just found you. I love old malls and buildings. amazing how much stuff is left behind 🤯. great job with the flashbacks..took me back to my 20's🤣
This was one of the coolest malls I had ever been too. Loved it as a child, it’s a shame to see it like this now though. Awesome video!
I met Santa in that mall and even used to shop there it’s crazy how time really takes control over everything. Great video by the way insanely well done!
I love this video. It makes me sad though to see my childhood memories like that.
Thank you so much for making this. I have literally never commented on a UA-cam video before, but this means so much to me. My family and I had been going here since it was Central City and I spent a lot of time here growing up. It breaks my heart to see what it became, but I'm so grateful that this video exists. Even seeing how the freeway exit used to look made me feel like I was back in my childhood. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. You have no idea how much it means. I'm absolutely gonna share this with my whole family.
These are the stories that make it all worth it, tell your family hello for me
In the early 2000s growing up in rialto this was the spot pops would take me and my lil bro to buy x-men and dragon ball z toys in one of the toy stores. All there is now is smoked out homeless people
Same! I also grew up in Rialto so we went there occasionally and I can still remember the smell of the Chinese food that was there until the very end 😭
@@jackiewright7795 Ahh the chinese food spot yup i remember that lol they should consider restoring it Unfortunately its San Bernadino 🤦🏽♂️
@ILLPHAQUP Secombe lake has always remained the same since i can remember
@ILLPHAQUP this was ealry 2000s i remember it being a cesspool of bodies in the lake and tweakers
wow! so cool reading someone else who grew up in rialto too around those years, cheers!
I now know at 50 what love it or leave it means i truly do i had fun as a teen hanging out there thx for the memories do something good with the space the residents of San Bernardino deserve better than a closed mall dont u think we all do i grew up there thx for reading mark plotkin ❤😊
Great Video. I especially enjoyed the vintage 1986 video footage. That was how I remember this mall as a kid. Always busy and lots of people. The nearby Inland Center Mall was opened in 1966, 6 years before Central City/Carousel so it can't really be blamed for taking business away except that it was close by already, when this mall opened in 1972 but I think the city thought they could get people to go to Central City/Carousel instead of Inland Center because it was newer and more modern with the two-story design and more appealing architecture and the 4 screen inside theatre which Inland Center did not have. I think two more reasons many people forget of why the decline of this mall besides the many other reasons people mention is first that people from the High Desert/Victor Valley went here regularly to shop until 1987 when Victorville finally got their own full sized mall with the exact same anchor stores as Central City/Carousel plus a Mervyns and Sears. Our Montgomery Ward was actually located in an outdoor strip mall next to the Mall of Victor Valley instead of inside it. Second is in 1996 the gigantic Ontario Mills Mall opened 20 miles away which offered all the shopping plus multiple dining/restaurants as well, that Central City/Carousel couldn't offer. Those two things surely effected business. I know living in the High Desert since 1979 we went to both Central City/Carousel Mall and Inland Center regularly on the weekends and sometimes during the week until 1987. It depended on which stores my mother wanted to go to. If she wanted Montgomery Wards, JC Penny or Harris we went to Central City/Carousel. If she wanted to go to Broadway, May Co. or Sears we went to Inland Center Mall. I'm sure many others from the High Desert/Victor Valley did the same as these two malls and Montclair Mall were the closest malls to the High Desert. I don't count Barstow Mall because nobody I knew from the High Desert went there. I personally as kid enjoyed the Central City/ Carousel Mall more than Inland Center as I used to play on the stairs, escalators and that really cool glass elevator. It just had a lot more character than Inland Center. Every entrance to the mall was different and unique. It will always be Central City Mall to me and not Carousel as that rename happened 4 years after I stopped going there in 1987. I am personally sad to see it close and eventually be demolished. I have many memories from my childhood there.
Holy shit indent your paragraphs. Instant migraine
That was so awesome that you got into the Wards! I grew up with that store so I've been hoping to see someone get into one, I'm glad you did! This was probably my favorite video of your's so far. Thank you for doing this!!