Exploring and photographing southwestern PA's abandoned mines, industry, homes...and whatever else we may find. A little history, a little legend...from the most massive structures to the minute details we walk past every day.
I like this post because it is a return to our true exploration roots. Its a good old abandoned house exploration! As always...we give you more! Now, if you've followed the blog for awhile, you may know Evan, Danielle and I are music lovers. Though we lean toward the rock side, this exploration has some ties to Nashville. This old house was used in an actual music video! For us folks in lil' old Greene County, that's pretty cool. What is even cooler is the artist is one of our own!
Brynn Marie is a local girl making a name for herself in the music industry. She is a fantastic singer who grew up just up the road from this house, which is why we figure it was used as the location for her I'm Sorry video. Go to the 2 min 15 second mark to see the house.
Go to www.brynnmarie.com to hear her music,get tour dates and get her debut EP 'Things Change'. She's amazing and making her hometown folks very proud!
Now, on to the house, which was also amazing at one time. I remember picking someone up here in my ambulance days and thinking "Wow,what a cool house". This old farmhouse has seen better days and is actually very dangerous now. The floors have been removed and what remains is very sketchy. Hopefully, someone will fill us in with some info on the house. As always, we recommend that if you do know the house, stay out! We don't want anyone to get hurt. Enjoy the pics and video.
"My love for you is like a truck BERSERKER! Would you like to.........uh, ok"
Sometime in 2020, the empty house mysteriously burned down.
Disclaimer: This post is in no way intended to show the Washington Mall, its current owners, management or tenants in a negative light.
The plight of the American shopping mall is well documented on the internet. Sites like labelscar.com and deadmalls.com not only document the fall of the mall from its former glory but also study the socio-economic factors which cause and result from the closing of our beloved malls. Most all of southwestern PA's malls have seen tough times. Some, like South Hills Village are hanging tough while others, like Fayette County's Laurel Mall have been re purposed as a weekend flea market. It would have been hard to imagine back in the 1980's that a mall would be basically abandoned, but it is more common everyday.
To get an idea of the ultimate dead mall Google 'Dixie Square Mall'. The recently demolished mall was the home of the famous car chase scene in the Blues Brothers movie. Most people don't know the mall was actually closed a full year before the movie was filmed. The mall was made up to appear active for the filming then was literally left behind. Made famous by fans of the movie, its slow multi-decade demise was well documented with entire websites dedicated to the rotting mall.
Today, we ventured to the Washington Mall at the junction of interstates 79 and 70 in Washington, PА. The mall was built in 1968 and has, until the past several years, been a busy center of commerce in the area. The movement of the JC Penny's to the ill-fated Foundry shopping plaza on nearby route 19 seemed the beginning (or end, depending on how you look at it) of the malls hard times. Although the Penny's eventually moved back into their former 3 level mall store, it seems it was too late. Most of the tenants had closed up shop or moved on by then.
The decline of this mall was, too, well documented on the web. If you read the replies to the post on labelscar.com about the Washington Mall, you will follow the decline. One story even tells the tale of a would-be explorer being chased off mall property and down the road by an over zealous security guard (insert your Ben Klingston or Paul Blart joke here!).
We had read both newspaper and internet accounts of the Washington Mall's poor condition and figured we need to document the mall and save the memories. Fortunately, we found the mall was not as bad as reported. It seems to us that some sort of clean up is in progress. The falling ceiling tiles had been removed and the mall seemed mostly clean, although still empty. There were no renegade security guards and other than a small plastic fence, the mall was easily accessible.
If you choose to visit the mall, cross the fence at your own discretion. If renovation is being attempted at the mall, we doubt they want folks strolling through work areas. Hopefully, this post brings some positive attention to the mall. If not, at least we saved some memories!
Some video of our trip below as we walk inside
So just an update as of April, 2014. We headed on back, as D needed something from JoAnne Fabrics (which we hear will be gone soon, and moving to a new location), and noticed a few changes. Our entry point was sealed over w/ a wall......But if you try real hard, you can still get a glimpse inside the mall, just open the door.....
March 2022 update. The mall is still around, however not open to the public like it was in the above material. Gabe's has moved in to the old Toys R Us and operate a distribution center, and there is a new Harbor Freight on the other end of the mall. I've seem recent video on You Tube of a kid who went in from the roof, and it looks positively trashed now. New shots below.
Back entry
Harbor Freight
Penny's is now gone
Looks inviting
If you look at the video in this blog above, you will see this near the end, but shot from the inside. It looks totally different
Old Little Bank
Penny's front
We'll leave a chair out for ya
More little bank
The old Giant Eagle
Old Toys R Us. Now a Gabes distro center
old pole
Nobody cares enough to take the old signs down
Old Shoneys, or was it Big Boy?
From what I understand, this is the security office/vehicles.
