The Not-So-Abandoned Washington Mall, Washington, PA.

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.

Century III Mall...

 We haven't had any good old exploration posts lately. Mostly because Evan has been working away and Danielle has been bouncing between work and school. But don't fret! We have some cool stuff coming up very soon. In the mean time, we decided to do a little shopping...so to speak. Our Washington Mall post was way more popular than we expected, so after hearing some stories about the alleged decline of the Century 3 Mall near Pittsburgh,we made a trip down to check it out.

 This post has been laying around in our 'to do' bin for awhile but with news of a new developer eyeing the massive mall, we thought now would be as good a time as any. This visit was done at the end of last summer and really wasn't planned out.We weren't even sure if we were allowed to take photos or video in the mall, so we kind of snuck around...which always makes it more fun.

 Like the Washington Mall, we heard through various sources that Century III mall was not doing too well. I had even heard a rumor  the whole mall was slated to be demolished. We are happy to report , it is nowhere near that bad. Like most malls,it is suffering from the recent economic issues. Many stores are closed and it even appears that one section of the mall has been sealed off. The day we stopped ,it seemed fairly busy with plenty of folks shopping.We shot a quick video and grabbed a few photos before hitting the cool comic book store. So,here is our Century III Mall trip and a few quick facts.

The Century III Mall planning began in 1976 and opened in 1979. It is located in West Mifflin,Pa along busy Rt. 51.The entire mall is constructed on a former slag pile known as Browns Dump. This is where the molten leftovers of steel production were dumped. To stabilize the site, concrete was pumped into the ground to fill abandoned coal mines near the dump site. Rumor is that the ground contains more concrete than the mall itself! One of the slag cars remains on display on the road that leads up to the Wal Mart behind the mall. Evan's Dad recalls watching the night sky light up from the train cars dumping the molten slag. (See,we did tie this post into our coal/steel heritage!)

When the mall opened,it was a big deal. People came from as far as Ohio and West Virginia to see it. By far the largest mall in the Pittsburgh area, it was certainly  the place to shop. The three level mall was 1,290,000 square feet and featured over 200 stores.All the major chains had a store in the mall. Gimbles, Kaufmans,Montgomery Wards as well as others have rotated through the mall's history (many in the same spot!).  The mall also housed Pittsburgh favorite National Record Mart as well as Camelot Music,Waldens Books and so many other great stores (back when we had things like record and book stores - damn internet!). C3 was the first mall I remember with an actual food court. We always parked near that entrance and it smelled so good when you walked in! Made you wanna spend money! In the 80s, C3 was Heaven on Earth for a teenager.Not bad for a former slag dump!

 I remember taking my first trip to the mall with my Mom,sisters and neighbor. Way before the new toll road,we took 21 to Uniontown and hit Rt. 51 to the mall. It seemed like it took forever to get there from Rices Landing! Getting to go to Century III was a big deal for us. Having grown up with Uniontown, Laurel, Washington and Franklin malls (now Crown Center) ,Century III was massive! We would have to pick locations and times to meet up so no one would get lost. I got my Dungeons and Dragons game there at a really cool hobby store on the first floor on the food court end. My other favorite,as mentioned in the video, was Cutlery World. A store where wanna-be ninjas,like myself,could by throwing stars and Rambo knives! Just what every kid needs! 

Years later, Century III was the cool place to go when we were old enough to drive. It was always fun when someone scored Mom's car for a  Saturday trip to C3. By then, we were more into Merry-Go-Round for parachute pants and the Art Explosion to check out the coolest Patrick Nagel prints. You could kill hours there, shopping,eating and never had to leave the mall. I remember a stage where musicians and dance schools would preform. The place was especially awesome at Christmas when it was fully decorated.There was a large sculpture that stood in the center of the mall that is now gone.I was told it was made from leftover signage,but am not sure if that is true. 

Visit   http://www.flickr.com/photos/c3nostalgia/

 for more classic shots of the mall.

So,although it is just an old shopping mall to some, Century III holds an important place in the hearts of us SWPA'ers! A place of great memories and a salute to the rich steel producing history of Pittsburgh. Stop by this holiday season and show the old girl some love. Lets keep our fingers crossed that she'll make a comeback! Please,share your Century III stories with us! 

Clean up on Aisle 2! Dunbar, PA's famous Pechin's!

 Danielle, Evan and I decided to do some shopping and the Laurel Mall flea market didn't disappoint.  D found some sweet new exploration footwear as well as some Spuds McKenzie glasses.  Evan scored a Stoney's tray and just wait 'till you see the gnarly purple carpet I'm getting for the Shaggin' Wagon!

 Anyway, while we were checking out the Star Wars toys and digging on the vintage vibe of Laurel Mall, we decided to pay homage to a local shopping mecca.  A place everyone has memories of, both good and,well.... Eating in the cafeteria was a rite of passage. Feed your family for about $5...really.  This was a place where you could buy groceries, shoes, golf clubs, a gun and beer all in one place...way before Wal-Mart!

 I'm of course speaking of the legendary Pechin's Shopping Village.  Located in Dunbar, Pa. near the Fayette County Fairgrounds, Pechin's was not just a store, it was an adventure!  Founded in 1947 as Pechin Grocery by Sullivan "Sully" D'Amico in a former train depot, the place was a staple for Moms and Grandmas in the tri-state area.  Pechins was famous for low prices and infamous for being janky as hell! But thats what made it great!   There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the location of goods in the grocery store.  I think they just dropped a pallet where there was room.  Maybe it was a brilliant way to make shoppers roll the entire wooden floor in search of what they needed, picking up items as they went? Nah, probably not.  Evan recalls "old timers" telling how you could see the creek through the holes in the floor.  The buggies look as if they were patched together from different stores and you NEVER,  I MEAN NEVER, went to Pechins on the first of the month!

 Every year, we would head to 7-Springs and stop at Pechins for beer.  The challenge was to eat $5 worth of food in the cafeteria.  Keep in mind...hamburgers were 20 cents, cheeseburgers 25 cents.  I never even came close...The food was actually pretty good. If I remember... those prices lived on until the end of the original plaza.

 Following the death of Mr. D'Amico in 2005, Pechins moved to the afore mentioned Laurel Mall. Occupying the former Montgomery Wards.  The store lives on, but with much less character.  A salvage company moved into the original site not long after and began the process of clearing out the shelves, cases and fixtures.  Then, on June 6th, 2006, a fire swept through the former shopping plaza destroying most of the buildings and nearby trucks and equipment.  We grabbed some pix of whats left, which isn't much.  Share your Pechins story...cuz we know you got one!!

Found this inside the resturaunt shot online...

The two pictures below, courtesy of Jay Miller...Just look how busy, and it was always like this.