What freaked me out about the Oldest View was how familiar it was, and then I asked my mom if we'd ever been there before (we'd lived in DFW for 3 yrs when I was a young kid) and she was like: yeah, we used to go there all the time. This is kind of what memory is like, huh. Just fragments left behind.
So true, I lived in Austin and only ever went there once as a kid (we would go to Dallas every summer), but I went there a few times as an adult (I went to college in Dallas at UTD) just to see movies at the AMC, at that point the mall was already abandoned and it felt sooo weird walking through that mall late at night. I even thought about shooting a film or something there, and it felt so surreal to see the Oldest View, once the information of it being in Dallas was given I was like “oh shit”, but it still took me a long time to realize I’d actually been there. It was such a vague memory. Gave me insane chills when I remembered and it’s a big reason why the Oldest View is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever watched.
It’s crazy that experience similar to yours(watching the analog horror about the place you used to visit now gone forever) is limited to small number of people
I used to work at Valley View from 98' to 99'. I was in highschool. Worked at Babbages (think gamestop). It was fun. the manager's were all college kids, and we'd frequently have other employees over when it was super slow. Depending on the employee, some would bring over pizza or smoothies or snacks. Then one day... I got ill. Couldn't work for almost a month... they let me go. Store policy. I went back in maybe a year later, and all the employees were different.. no one recognized me. All new faces. It made me sad, but taught me to appreciate even the small things in life.. even goofy employees and late night game launches. Jeff, Tam, Tyler, Alicia... miss you guys. Hope you're all well wherever you are.
I remember to this day, my pops taking me to valley view mall to get the 3do. The receipt i remember vividly, because even as a child i understood how much money it was -$754! In todays world that would be well over a grand for a gaming console lol but man, i had great times with that system. I also remember the smell in that mall, its so strange. I still pick up the same feelings walking into older malls as well, theres just something about it that transports me back to my childhood. I certainly miss those days, for sure. The nostalgia is real😊
i know EXACTLY how Kane feels in terms of the valley view mall. I have a similar obsession with a closed railway near where I live. The irritation that you missed it, the drive to find everything you possibly can about it. Physical remains, photos, etc and the sense that somehow that mission keeps it alive. Its an odd feeling being obsessed with something so niche that most people wouldn't think twice about. Edit: for those who are interested the railway is called the Welwyn garden city to Dunstable railway.
It's odd, half of me thinks exactly like you, that things like this have purpose and this weird background need to be obsessed over - but half of me realises that it's just debris and plants and doesn't mean a damn thing, and never will again. Brains are weird.
I feel the same way about Rolling Acres mall. It was apparently the best mall ever, and I was too young to remember going there! Anyone a couple years older than me talks about it like it was so special, I wish I could remember it
If this was a farewell to "Oldest View", what a beautiful way to say 'adieu'. This was 19 minutes and 32 seconds of pure, uninterrupted, bittersweet elegy.
10:24 The way these twin buildings in the distance mirror classical Roman styles is a little haunting, but also ironic. Malls used to be everywhere, and now they're slowly collapsing, just like what Rome built. You can see the shadows of both these things everywhere.
In TOV part 3 (The Rolling Giant), the painting "Destruction" by Thomas Cole can be seen. It depicts the fall of Rome, likely a reference to the impermanence of the mall
It was a corpse when it was abandoned destroyed and set for demolition, now the corpse has been cremated and the ashes thrown to the river all that remaining being memories
I'm 26, born in 98 just at the tail end of the then-futuristic mall 90's. And through what I saw that was there when I was a small kid, that is now no longer there, of course I've seen the impermanence of things, especially through the eyes of the older generation I grew up with. Nothing lasts forever. And when you realise that, you become an old soul.
@@noahwhite7766 I believe the Japanese have a phrase called "Mono no aware". The soul of things. It's like appreciating the cherry blossoms because they won't always be there.
This is a testament that when a creator gets too big or has too much success, they can squat down and push out rancid diarrhea and they’ll still have fans who will try to catch it in their gaping mouths. This video was wildly boring and you’re a super glazer if you’re acting like you can appreciate the “art” of it. And yes my opinion is the only one that exists have a nice day.
Its so fascinating to see how quickly nature prevails to mask our abandonment. Seeing cat tails, bushes, and sunflowers grow in-between the concrete that thousands of people used to walk on feels like a masquerade of what once was a bustling shopping mall
It is… most sad, how malls have only really lasted around 40 years. Some may still be around for decades more but the whole push to make malls the big “3rd place” for people just couldn’t anticipate recessions, pandemics, inflation and a terrible way of living. Things get harder to maintain and enjoy as time goes on.. economical challenges, social media and phones hindering social interactions, prices just going up and up and people having less time for recreation. That’s what made me depressed after seeing Pixel’s work. An empty mall. Something so many people put work into to bring people in and together just for it to be.. desolate. I worked at a mall for a couple of years.. it was in an ok state. But it was running on fumes at that point. Stores were closed and every couple of months one more after the other until my own left for a better modern mall in a “modernized” area of town. Being one of the last people of my store before it closed.. during each late close and when my store closed.. I felt sorrow. A deep sadness. Eventually it’s a place no one goes to. Malls are really an our generation thing. Don’t think we’ll see this many in the future. So it’s nice that we had them, memories and all: I found friends, love and community in malls. I hope more people will get those chances as well.
its the car centric design and lack of anything other than shops that killed them, removing the parking lots and adding something like a library and church would make malls the third places they were intended to be, its sad the 70s-90s architecture and distinctive design is being torn down aswell for characterless office complexes
You forgot big box stores and online shopping. When you work for a locally owned electronics store in a mall and everyone starts using their phone to check your prices against everyone's online as they walk around your store, you can't sell anything. There were times we would buy products from Amazon because it was cheaper than the distributor and we would get it faster. The mall I'm most fond of in our town has opened a children's museum, allowed a community college to set up classrooms, and started opening early to allow people to walk around and get in steps without having to worry about the weather. It's helped a little.
This is honestly really sad. Ive never been to this mall personally but all I keep thinking of is the fact that thousands of people enjoyed and made lasting memories in this place.
Ya malls used to be great place where families could meet, catch up on topics, get to know each other and maybe buy a thing or two. It was a place where we went to watch movies together and where a ton of 90’s kids grew up together! It’s sad but, culture shock has killed these places. Everything is at our fingertips, and as a result people don’t go out like they used to. Being an adult and watching these giant complexes get torn down leaves a very uneasy feeling of what the future might become.
This felt like going to a funeral for a friend and for it to be more a celebration of who they were and what they left behind instead of just a group saddened over the loss of them
It is a surreal experience to visit a place that no longer exists. There was an old playground made of wood near where I lived that I used to absolutely adore years ago. It was enormous, and was my favorite playground as a child. I visited the site where it once was recently, and it was nothing but a field of grass. The parking lot was still there next to where it had been, but the playground itself was completely gone with no evidence of its existence, like it had just been deleted in an instant. It felt strange to walk through the field. I could already feel my memory of the place slipping, and even now, small details continue to be lost. It feels like that playground still exists somehow, floating in a void within my mind, slowly crumbling away, and it will one day be completely gone, when I have either forgotten it completely or I am dead.
Maybe that’s the essence of the back rooms. It’s your memory of a place that may no longer exist on this level of reality but in our memories it’s still there we can still travel to that place.
THIS. Down the street from my childhood home were some horse stables we used to call the horse farm, along with a 4 family home at the front. I used to go visit the horses all the time & the owners, a couple names the Wolf's loved when us kids would go & spend time with the horses. After they died the lot stood, empty & abandoned for about a year. We all thought they'd keep the front house up because they used to be part of the underground railroad. From what I read it was purchased by the county through an "Open Space, Recreation, & Historic Preservation Trust" And what did my crappy hometown actually do with it? They used it as a SWAT training place. My brother witnessed a SWAT team come out of the woods across the street & basically rip the place apart. After it was basically deemed unsafe they tore the whole thing down. It's now just an open field. You can now barely see where the driveway was to get to the stables. It's eerie & sad to see.
I once had a "waking dream" come over me where I saw the naked sky through the roof of the house where I was renting a room. skip ~9 years and a few moves later, I drove by to see that the house was demolished to make room for an apartment complex. similar vibe
@@aaronsvoboda5897 just looked them up and they have a big valley view mall exploration video on their homepage so the footage is probably theirs, yeah.
18:48 feels like the broken heart of the place. A Conradian broken animal amongst the dry brush - the carcass of a once noble beast, now nature embraces her with weeds and flowers - in the long hug we all will get by decay and rebirth cycle. Lovely. Beautiful.
It’s such a different vibe when you go back to a place that no longer exists. I use to go to this one library that I have went to since my childhood, it has a play place and everything, it was very vibrant but when I went back everything was muted. They haven’t destroyed it yet but there have been talks about destroying it and making a new library however they are probably gonna make it look dull and generic. Great video, the vibe is pretty sad.
@@mad__crafter8940 So? This isn't lore, this is a video of a man exploring a place that's gone, you can get that vibe and comment on it within the first few minutes.
This was the first mall I wanted to urbex at, before I heard of the oldest view. I was devastated to learn of it's new ownership, renovation, then destruction. It's honestly a tragedy that relics like these are torn down all over America. This series helped me live an old dream of mine. Thanks again man
"It's honestly a tragedy that relics like these are torn down all over America." Those places are certainly good memories, but they were doomed since the begining as places like this were everyone needs to come by car are an abomination ... They contribute the road saturations, downtown abandon and destruction of smaller shops ... Life should not be out of the city and only reacheable by car, it can't work ...
@@MrElbarto75 yes but that is almost completely the car dependent infrastructure and non-architecture related at all, car centrism is bad but theres bettter solutions than the wiping out of entire eras of architecture, we can turn these places into mixed used walkable dense communities without having to eliminate any pre-existing character, maybe the parking lot was bad but the loss of the atrium is an architectural stab wound in the heart of the city of dallas, maybe its not 1800s ornate but it still matters, its not planned the best, but its still a part of the city, we can preserve 50s-1990s architecture without preserving parking lots too
I love how instead of fully becoming "the Backrooms Guy" you made a compelling piece of art about remembrance. With a place that really existed. About people that really existed. This is why I love creative obsession
15:00 You can see a little patch of yellow flowers near the central piece of the wall (and supposedly where the odd altar was located). The flowers resemble the one that the botonist catalogued and the one that cameramans corpse landed near by. It almost feels like they are adorments for a grave, putting to rest the people, the place and the old times; but as well as a remainder that these will linger on no matter how harsh the conditions might be...
It feels weird to acknowledge that the real Valley View's structure was on surface (like every other mall), but because of the Oldest View, it feels natural to imagine the original one was underground too
This makes me feel so much like the Marble Hornets days man... always excited for a new "entry" to conspire more on the lore of everything. this guy really knows how to captivate! I really hope you continue this impressive and expansive success
Valley View wasn’t my mall of choice as a teenager, but I hung out there a fair amount in the 90’s. I haven’t lived in Dallas since 1998, and was completely unaware that it had been demolished. Thus when I watched The Oldest View, I legitimately wondered how the hell you managed to film so much, and such crazy stuff, inside the mall. I was completely oblivious to the fact that it was a CG recreation! Just amazing work, Kane. The crazy chills I got the moment I recognized where you were, hard to describe man.
That's got to be nuts seeing a perfect CGI recreation of somewhere you went all the time once. I sometimes slightly get it when I see locations in harry potter games that I've been to IRL lol
Some are actually part of the mall we never saw before, is like this building has still something to discover, which is funny since it's all ruins now...
Saw some of this on your Instagram story. It looks soulless. Nothing left. So sad to see a part of many peoples lives just disappear. All that is left is memories.
Kinda like what happens when a big studio slurps up an IP and prevents said IP from growing. What exactly is the intellectual property here? Strange alternative dimensions? Store rooms? Hallways?
I love how as Wyatt is finally triying to figure out what the story of this place is he's no longer commentating for his channel. He's focused instead on the story, the memory, the meaning. His journey to the Mall in the Underland gave him that at least. As for the tragedy of the real Valley View center, I've never been there, but I've seen favorite haunts of my childhood destroyed in the name of "progress" it hits deep. Real deep. Great film making and story telling, even though you didn't say a word, Kane.
So sad that this and next generations will never know how amazing malls were. There's simply no where for kids to go to consistently hang out with their friends all day long on the weekends, parents give you a $10 bill and you go catch a movie, go visit your friend who works at the ice cream shop, sneak a peak at a magazine you shouldn't be looking at, pretend to be a mall ninja, go look at cats and hamsters, get a deep fried veggie platter, check out the latest video game system you can't afford, listen to some old due rock out on a synthesized grand piano, drop hours at the arcade...
I think it really depends where you are. There are multiple malls near where I live that are always PACKED with teenagers on the weekends doing exactly what I did 15 years ago with my friends.
@@mirlambdafor sure yeah. I see kids hanging out at the local mall pretty often. I was never allowed to go anywhere, much less the mall where all the "bad kids" hung out, without an adult when I was a kid/teen so I never really got all the hype. Watching this series, I'm nostalgic for what the commenter above described.
I have to disagree, the last remaining mall in my area is a hotbed of gang activity, massive fights breaking out at least twice a week, (usually stabbings happen during these) it's not worth it to go it's just not safe, also, this was a massive problem before the other 3 malls went belly up
This is a graveyard of a site that made many memories for many people. You can feel the activity that took place just by watching this. Decades of activity and life. All that remains are those familiar white floor tiles with the spaced out red tiles. This video hits hard. Thank you, Kane. Some of us needed to see this.
This is how I feel about cemeteries too. I just look across the horizon and imagine all of the lives those people touched and how much they influenced the world around us and then they're just gone. Some far too soon.
As someone who is fond of 3D Modeling, the way Kane Pixels recreated and managed to gave such a message through 3D is amazing, i can't even imagine the hours and the headaches you probably gave into that project, you're truly a inspiration.
likely a few of them are being used for folks to shelter from the elements, also possibly unstable foundations and while funny, falling into one of those would ruin the scene.
Its weird how this whole series can mean so much to me, even though i have never been there, havent even been to the US, yet it is very special to me, thank you kane
I'm from Thailand 🇹🇭. Even though I've never been to this mall in Texas. But because of Ken's video, I realized that this mall looks beautiful and unique. I myself would like to visit this mall when it is still complete. But it's a shame that now I won't be able to go. R.I.P. Valley View Center (1965 - 2023).
The first half of the video, I was just curious as an outsider, waiting for something scary to happen, but as the second half of the video came along I felt a very strong sadness and even found myself crying. When the camera approached the sunflower and there was the pretty shot of the sun and the sunflower, I had wished that the camera man would move forward into the field under the blue sky, because the ruins were painful. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom when we visited her home country after she had not seen it for 15 years. She spoke of how lively it was, how this one household had stayed the same, the exact same for 40 years, despite the inhabitants who built it passing away. I know there is much talk of accepting what once was and moving on, but accepting that is painful, and I don't think it will ever get less painful, but sharing that pain with others whether family, friends, or through art like this makes it something we don't carry alone.
Malls like this are a stark reminder of our own impermanence, and even humankind's own fleeting nature. This one tested my short attention span, but with great audio design it was a perfect watch with another window open on the Wikipedia entry for Valley View Center.
@@jackbucher2049 people used to play light sabers with T12 fluorescent lamps, then take the busted end caps home and connect the starting filament up to a 12V car battery. those were the days. the days of not giving a damn about H&S, not giving a damn about smashing a glass tube running of a relatively high voltage, full of mercury and toxic phosphor dust, and the dangers that arise from that. (although nowadays, i would rather save those old lamps and fixtures from these old buildings and wire power cords to them.,
Kane is honestly so good at this shit I can’t tell how much of this is actual video and how much of this is his creation and it’s really impressive. I recently had a personal experience that I feel like would make a decent short horror film or something like that and my mind immediately jumped to Kane. I don’t know how he does the things he does, but there’s really nobody doing it like him. Thank you for making such cool and interesting content because as long as you keep making it, we’re gonna keep eating it up.
He uses a blend of real life cinematography and Blender (free but very powerful 3D modeling and animation pc software) and he's really good at mixing these and going between them recently!
With a half decent computer and dedication I don't see why anyone couldn't pick up some free tutorials from the community and learn to put a nice little project together. As it's free, powerful, and popular, it has a lot of public support and free resources all over the internet 😊
I love the sound in this video. It feels like we're exploring an existing and working mall. The music with a heavy reverb, the announcement speaker (Dallas Midtown speech I believe), etc. When in fact, we're only seeing the remains of the mall.
To think it was a place where families came together, where people worked, and where friends made memories. Can't say I have been to that particular mall, myself but, still, truly heart breaking stuff.
When I was a kid, we used to ride our motorcycles on the north-western half of that plot of land, which was about a dozen feet lower than the eastern half, and consisted of nothing but dirt. The Eastern half had Sears and some other stores, and eventually the whole thing became one big shopping mall. Actually, a lot of what lie to the north of LBJ freeway consisted of open land back then, which was pretty great for exploring. I used to just take off in one direction on my dirt bike and ride for an hour to see what was there. Of course eventually it was all transformed into the same suburban sprawl that you see everywhere... a never ending expanse of freeways, fast food, cookie cutter houses, parking lots and shopping malls... and cars all crawling over one another like termites. Some day it will all go back to nature, turned to rubble... though who knows when that will be? In the mean time, we just keep devouring more and more, as if there's nothing natural that's worth preserving or leaving alone. So it goes...
This guy manages to make me feel nostalgic for a place I've never been, in a country I've never been to. A pang in the heart for 20 minutes, and these transitions between the photos/videos before the demolition, VS after, are really well mastered to accentuate this effect. Amazing.
Was 100% thinking this was full CG with the lens and saturation 'clipping', but then the sunflower around 13 minutes in and the grass behind it... now I can't tell what's real in my owl life, let alone this video.
@@stevep7346 I just went there in Google Street view, seems pretty real tbh. The latest shots are from 2022 but 90% of the structure has been leveled to the foundation and the rest is clearly partially collapsing. If you were to go there now irl, it's probably all leveled. The buildings in the background, all real. Iunno, seems a lot more likely that he just filmed something from all kinds of angles instead of reconstructing it with software. If he's nearby or has help from a movie production studio, it might be faster and easier than to model and render everything. That's what I'd bet on anyways.
It's surreal I got to see this mall after found footage but before it was demolished. The vibe that the place was loved by people who grew up there and the significance it had to them draws out the feeling of missing something that we all won't be able to experience again except in memories and the works of others. Kane is doing one hell of a memorial for both the people who knew the place and those who just learned about Valley View Mall
to be honest not many series captivate me nowdays but this one takes the cake. i absolutely LOVE this series it seems like such a simple concept but yet it has a MUCH deeper meaning to it its so eerie as well how this place was actually once real and now there's nothing left of it. i guess what im trying to say here is i LOVE what you do and the stories you make are just so cool i would like to see another part to this series but i do understand if the story of TOV is finished. either way i am SO EXCITED for your future projects they make my day keep up the good work!
Thank you Kane. This is what I needed today. I've been really sad recently with it getting worse and I don't have a lot to look forward to right now, but your Oldest View series is one of the few things that brings me joy. Thank you for giving me something to bring me out of my constantly depressed state.
This was an emotional watch. The heartache of visiting something that once was knowing that it never again can be. It’s hard not to feel angry at the perpetrators, as if they took something from you. Thank you Kane
Personally I've been struggling hard these last few years these videos have given me somthing to consistently look forward to through all the bs of life. I just want to say thanks for the great videos and awesome soundtracks to vibe to.
Many people will feel nostalgic and remember this place where they may have been in childhood. I have such nostalgia for the wasteland after the dried-up lake where I fished and swam as a child. But then this lake disappeared.
I cant beleive how deeply you made me think about a shopping center. You're the kind of creative mind the film, entertainment, and especially horror industry need. Highly doubt you'll see this, but please keep up all your hard work and thank you for all the amazing free art you've created.
I recently went to Greece, and visited the ruins in Olympia, where the original olympic games were held. They still do light the torch there for every Olympic games, but all the buildings of course, are gone. It's incredible to think about, for a long time, these feats of human engineering, 45,000 something people would flock to a stadium to watch the spectacle of the games (with surely more around). Now, it's quiet. The stones are pockmarked from the elements, and you have to really use your imagination just to stand there and imagine what it was so long ago. I went to many ruins and just took a moment to really try and imagine it, all those people, all those lives, so long ago standing where I stood. This gives me a similar feeling, at leastt in America, spaces like this are a small part of our modern culture, and to think of how many structures like this have been built up and torn down over the centuries that we are clueless off. For me, is a comfort to see nature try to reclaim it. Life is not permanent, nature isn't either. Enjoy the beauty of an ocean wave as it crashes on the shore, but do not mourn it once it's gone, because there will be more waves to come.
I really want to know how Kane felt. Standing in the bones of a forgotten place, knowing that many people like myself would have never known where it was, what it looked like, or how much it meant to so many people if it weren't for The Oldest View. To have resurrected this place in the minds of those who once traversed its halls and tiled floors while it was alive and healthy, and to have seeded its very soul to those who now lament its passing like a dear friend.
Thanks to the countless content creators and urban explorers who go out of their way to visually preserve the history of our past. Without ya'll these would surly be forgotten.
This video honestly made me think just how much we take things like malls for granted. It’s something that you could never imagine going out of date-I mean, what could possibly take the place of such a titan in our modern culture? There’s an old mall near where I live, practically nothing’s left of it other than some small bit that’s been standing for just about a decade now. A weathered, beaten down shell of its former self. I never cared much for it up until now, and I don’t think I can ever look at it the same again.
I understand you man, I think what we value is the style and aesthetic of buildings and the joy that other people in the past got to live that experience and we wish that for everyone in every time period.
It reminds me of a memory when I was at school, there was an abandoned building right in front of my school and it fascinated me, I wanted to explore it after 3 years of observing it every day, they opened it to the public for a graffiti art exhibition before demolishing the building 2 months later , I am French and I have been a subscriber since 2022, Thank you Kane 💖
I think The Oldest View is a meditation on the impermanence of all things, and that the mall beneath the Earth is a manifestation of the past. These things and places used to exist. They were once real and alive. But as with all things, time will always take its toll. As someone who knows quite a bit about prehistory, it was clear to me that TOV is less about the Giant and more about the passage of time and how no thing will last forever. Time will always keep rolling forward. No pun intended. But that's just a theory.
I remember the wonder and joy I felt going to Valley View when I was little. The Santa photos every year, the AMC at the top floor, the Smoothie King stand, and that one weird Chinese trinket shop. And then to see it in its final days where all that was left was the AMC... Thank you, Kane. I haven't been able to visit one of my favorite places in a long time. Thank you for showing me where it lies now.
I love this, it makes me think about how all we have left of so many buildings both modern and ancient are the floor tiles and murals. The line between a Roman mansion and a Dallas shopping mall isn't that far.
I absolutely adore the contrast between tiling and the sun reflecting on it, like the entire "place" that used to be here is now nothing more than a flat plane the outdoors claiming the inside is immensely interesting to me when it's shown like this
Kane, the way you’ve seamlessly combined the real and the imaginary is wonderful. It’s the kind of thing that only the very best artists can achieve. I hope this series doesn’t turn out to be your best work, but if it does, bravo. Well done.
I went to this mall with my niece.. first and only time. She was about to start HS, and now she's grown, and a mother. I'd never had much of a chance to be an uncle to her, because my brother was trash-- but there was a kinship there. We bonded over makeup and old youtube videos sitting by the AMC while waiting on other family. Just a small personal experience. I used to find a lot of fun and comfort in malls growing up. It's sad seeing them go. This one just taking a fragment of mine, too, along with millions of others. Thank you for recording its memory, and TOV as a whole. Wonderful work, Kane!
There used to be a little walk-up Dairy Queen near my house. It was so close we could even go there after school basketball games, because it was right across the street. But when I was in 7th grade, they demolished it with plans to replace it with something new, but they never rebuilt it. The feeling I get looking at the remains of the mall here is the same feeling I get looking at that vacant lot where the Dairy Queen used to be, a place where so many people went to be happy, now gone.
DFW Native here and someone who grew up in that exact area. Thank you Kane for reminding me of great memories from this mall before the end. Even with your Oldest View series. Even I can still remember exactly where certain stores used to be just by the floor alone. I might be returning to this video alot just for nostalgia
Seeing the remains of this place is almost "calming" in a way? I mean sure it's sad to see the mall not there anymore but the fact that this takes place outside the really feels relieving after being inside for so long. I like the piles of rubble and other remains. There is something appealing about this kind of place that I can't really describe. I also like the flashbacks to inside the mall.
You're such a good filmmaker bro. Literally footage of you walking around had me on the edge of my seat. I felt like at any point something would start chasing you. I moved to Dallas right before you dropped the rolling giant and got into the history of the mall because of you. I'm definitely gonna take a drive over to where it was and check it out.
1:58 those are the sirens that are coming to Arrest Kane for trespassing All jokes aside this was a really beautiful video. This is gonna be a time capsule of history. It’s really bittersweet to see what was once a mall beaming with colours and design that now is just a empty land with Nature taking over until the development of the Dallas Midtown to take place and transform the area to a new era. There’s beauty in seeing this though. Seeing flowers and plants take life with the sun with no clouds. It’s beautiful. I don’t live in the area and obviously I haven’t gone there but I can get that sense of Nostalgia by seeing what it is now with the pictures showing what was there before now gone. Seeing places like malls disappear because if time moving on to advanced technology and systems like online shopping taking its place. It was much more simpler and lively to visit a place beaming with people. I do missed those days but I know that we have moved on that all we have is the memories and feeling. TOV delivered the theme of nostalgia and memories beautifully and I cannot thank you Kane for making it and this to share aswell. In time within our lives We all have to accept impermanence
God bless you Kane for keeping this stuff alive, keeping it's story going. Christmas gifts were sought here, teens had first dates, holiday plans were made, people came to eat and talk. All those echoes are still there.
@@TsunamiRecRoom Just don't exit the mall via the rafters, because although they may be supporting hundreds of tons of earth about them, they won't handle a guy with a backpack climbing on them.
Warning, Yap alarm. I was always under the impression that the visit we get to the recreated Mall was like finding an open mausoleum and delving inside, seeing what you might find among the cobwebs. This, though. This video is a visit to the graveyard, and us having a long look at the headstone. Powerful stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so reliant on visual storytelling convey such a momentous feeling of loss. I’m your typical internet shut-in; I’ve never been a fan of public spaces in general, nevermind a mall. I had no attachment to the concept before this series, but this video is simply the nail in the coffin. I know that “malls” as a concept still exist, but I can’t help but feel like *I’ve* missed something, now. Something that nature, as nature does, has casually gobbled up just as easily as it was tossed aside. Something that we can try to recreate; but that will never truly return to us in its previous form. Even the dead are usually given their final respects before being put into the ground, or the air. This place… doesn’t *feel* like it got its last rites. It feels like a corpse that was left by the side of the road that the underbrush has consumed. But hey, look at me, I’m still yapping and it’s 5 o’clock in the morning, now. Great video!
I’ve never watched footage of someone walking around a quiet demolition site with such rapt attention. The atmosphere with the music toward the end was palpable.
A lot of community structures I remember in my childhood have been torn down, the church where I used to do girl scouts was one of them. It's been replaced with a dog park/playground and its comforting to see people having fun there again every time I walk past. For the Valley View Mall this is such a sad sight, I hope they'll be able to make the space special again.
🌞I like how the Sun is captured in this video. Perfect lighting - no need to go ultra realistic dull-light as the extra yellow saturation accentuates everything.
Yeah, the saturation choices were interesting. Not sure I’m a fan on using HDR for filming it, though. Especially since it overrides the brightness settings on my device.
What is so endearing is, I had gone to that mall back in the day as a kiddo, seeing your vid and realizing where this was the horror itself. Now seeing it demolished has a strange sensation.
Everybody just obsessing over Found Footage part 3. We have just been blessed with another treat such as this, we should feel thankful. FF3 is already on its way, so why hurry?
I’ve walked around aimlessly in the parking lot that used to be Qualcomm stadium. Remembering the memories I’ve had there or saw on tv and imaging the stadium still being there. 40 years of history and millions of people that visited, now just an empty lot.
![เป็นไปได้ไหม - WanMai [Teaser] | 05-12-24](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P5Uto6e453w/mqdefault.jpg)
th-cam.com/play/PLVAh-MgDVqvAwoFF5hJmtRrx86Yw-pdN1.html
@@kanepixels you already know 🔥🔥🔥
🔥
This is a canon part of the oldest view???
Thanks
Is this rendered or the actual location?
I love that you demolished, levelled and removed a building just so we would never find that one inaccuracy in your 3D modelling.
😂 this comment needs to be higher I scrolled way too long to find gold
Bro... 😭💀😭😭💀
@@lakaboss9313 this was literally the second comment I saw scrolling down. I think you got your wish
Ya
666 likes.
What freaked me out about the Oldest View was how familiar it was, and then I asked my mom if we'd ever been there before (we'd lived in DFW for 3 yrs when I was a young kid) and she was like: yeah, we used to go there all the time.
This is kind of what memory is like, huh. Just fragments left behind.
That is incredibly poignant ... and very depressing.
Beautifully stated, though.
“This is kinda what memory is like, just fragments left behind” very well said
So true, I lived in Austin and only ever went there once as a kid (we would go to Dallas every summer), but I went there a few times as an adult (I went to college in Dallas at UTD) just to see movies at the AMC, at that point the mall was already abandoned and it felt sooo weird walking through that mall late at night. I even thought about shooting a film or something there, and it felt so surreal to see the Oldest View, once the information of it being in Dallas was given I was like “oh shit”, but it still took me a long time to realize I’d actually been there. It was such a vague memory. Gave me insane chills when I remembered and it’s a big reason why the Oldest View is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever watched.
It’s crazy that experience similar to yours(watching the analog horror about the place you used to visit now gone forever) is limited to small number of people
Our memories change each time we recall them, so it's best not to remember.
I used to work at Valley View from 98' to 99'. I was in highschool. Worked at Babbages (think gamestop). It was fun. the manager's were all college kids, and we'd frequently have other employees over when it was super slow. Depending on the employee, some would bring over pizza or smoothies or snacks.
Then one day... I got ill. Couldn't work for almost a month... they let me go. Store policy.
I went back in maybe a year later, and all the employees were different.. no one recognized me. All new faces. It made me sad, but taught me to appreciate even the small things in life.. even goofy employees and late night game launches. Jeff, Tam, Tyler, Alicia... miss you guys. Hope you're all well wherever you are.
Nice old days, i feel you man😕
I used to shop there all the time back then! You probably sold me my Sega Dreamcast lol.
I remember to this day, my pops taking me to valley view mall to get the 3do. The receipt i remember vividly, because even as a child i understood how much money it was -$754! In todays world that would be well over a grand for a gaming console lol but man, i had great times with that system. I also remember the smell in that mall, its so strange. I still pick up the same feelings walking into older malls as well, theres just something about it that transports me back to my childhood. I certainly miss those days, for sure. The nostalgia is real😊
Why did they tear it down? Then not build anything else?
Thanks for this. Sharing out memories of good times makes them more vibrant and precious !
i know EXACTLY how Kane feels in terms of the valley view mall. I have a similar obsession with a closed railway near where I live. The irritation that you missed it, the drive to find everything you possibly can about it. Physical remains, photos, etc and the sense that somehow that mission keeps it alive. Its an odd feeling being obsessed with something so niche that most people wouldn't think twice about. Edit: for those who are interested the railway is called the Welwyn garden city to Dunstable railway.
It's odd, half of me thinks exactly like you, that things like this have purpose and this weird background need to be obsessed over - but half of me realises that it's just debris and plants and doesn't mean a damn thing, and never will again. Brains are weird.
I feel the same way towards the titanic
@@ChristoferPezetLol For me it's the history of Iran before Islam.
They shouldn't have torn down that mall😢
I feel the same way about Rolling Acres mall. It was apparently the best mall ever, and I was too young to remember going there! Anyone a couple years older than me talks about it like it was so special, I wish I could remember it
If this was a farewell to "Oldest View", what a beautiful way to say 'adieu'. This was 19 minutes and 32 seconds of pure, uninterrupted, bittersweet elegy.
Nah they still haven't explained what the old structure was.
Beautifully said.❤
@@str8hoffdaboat oh come on man it's over, he is literally showing you the corpse of the structure.
But that rolling thunder at the end 🤔
@@noahdienel2598What? Your assessment makes no sense; the mall shown in the oldest view is literally shown to be hundreds of feet underground
10:24 The way these twin buildings in the distance mirror classical Roman styles is a little haunting, but also ironic. Malls used to be everywhere, and now they're slowly collapsing, just like what Rome built. You can see the shadows of both these things everywhere.
Its sad how they all being replaced by inferior stripmalls
ya busco mi avión
these comments making magnificent reaches
In TOV part 3 (The Rolling Giant), the painting "Destruction" by Thomas Cole can be seen. It depicts the fall of Rome, likely a reference to the impermanence of the mall
Its like the mall is a corpse in the woods being broken down and being over-taken by nature until there’s only hints of what use to be is left
It was a corpse when it was abandoned destroyed and set for demolition, now the corpse has been cremated and the ashes thrown to the river all that remaining being memories
2:09 is that Ryan tryhan?
@@ElyTheCoolDude909no thats kane 😂
@@ChristoferPezetLol I know hehe
TOV lore be like:
Seeing only floor left behind is strangely disturbing
Yes
It'll be unearthed by future archeologists and they'll likely say it was some rich lords house with mosaic tile or somethin
Yeah it’s something a nature lover like Julian Reverchon wouldn’t appreciate.
@@massivememes326Riverin?
Dude, it is!
How does a 19 year old have this much appreciation for the impermanence of things? Like an old soul.
I'm 26, born in 98 just at the tail end of the then-futuristic mall 90's. And through what I saw that was there when I was a small kid, that is now no longer there, of course I've seen the impermanence of things, especially through the eyes of the older generation I grew up with.
Nothing lasts forever. And when you realise that, you become an old soul.
@@noahwhite7766 I believe the Japanese have a phrase called "Mono no aware". The soul of things. It's like appreciating the cherry blossoms because they won't always be there.
This is a testament to how effective music can be. This is just a walk around an empty lot and yet it felt soul crushing by the end.
I'd imagine someone watching this without any context would not feel emotional after watching.
@@balloonpoop I watched this not knowing anything about the series and it was still very soul-crushing to me. I have now binged the whole playlist.
@@KevinBaconWasKevinTaken man
This is a testament that when a creator gets too big or has too much success, they can squat down and push out rancid diarrhea and they’ll still have fans who will try to catch it in their gaping mouths. This video was wildly boring and you’re a super glazer if you’re acting like you can appreciate the “art” of it. And yes my opinion is the only one that exists have a nice day.
Northing last for ever. But your mind last forever
I can’t believe Kane made this at only 19 trillion years old
Much older than recorded history.
(And that's longer than humans have existed on the earth) Hey!
no talking
And that's literally older than the universe😂@@rowboat10
@@AUTTP-DRAKEhe came from Beyond
Its so fascinating to see how quickly nature prevails to mask our abandonment. Seeing cat tails, bushes, and sunflowers grow in-between the concrete that thousands of people used to walk on feels like a masquerade of what once was a bustling shopping mall
Not a masquerade. Here's to new beginnings.
It is… most sad, how malls have only really lasted around 40 years. Some may still be around for decades more but the whole push to make malls the big “3rd place” for people just couldn’t anticipate recessions, pandemics, inflation and a terrible way of living. Things get harder to maintain and enjoy as time goes on.. economical challenges, social media and phones hindering social interactions, prices just going up and up and people having less time for recreation. That’s what made me depressed after seeing Pixel’s work. An empty mall. Something so many people put work into to bring people in and together just for it to be.. desolate. I worked at a mall for a couple of years.. it was in an ok state. But it was running on fumes at that point. Stores were closed and every couple of months one more after the other until my own left for a better modern mall in a “modernized” area of town. Being one of the last people of my store before it closed.. during each late close and when my store closed.. I felt sorrow. A deep sadness. Eventually it’s a place no one goes to. Malls are really an our generation thing. Don’t think we’ll see this many in the future. So it’s nice that we had them, memories and all: I found friends, love and community in malls. I hope more people will get those chances as well.
its the car centric design and lack of anything other than shops that killed them, removing the parking lots and adding something like a library and church would make malls the third places they were intended to be, its sad the 70s-90s architecture and distinctive design is being torn down aswell for characterless office complexes
dno what you mean mate, here in the uk theyre all still standing and very much vibrant
*Amazon
You forgot big box stores and online shopping. When you work for a locally owned electronics store in a mall and everyone starts using their phone to check your prices against everyone's online as they walk around your store, you can't sell anything. There were times we would buy products from Amazon because it was cheaper than the distributor and we would get it faster.
The mall I'm most fond of in our town has opened a children's museum, allowed a community college to set up classrooms, and started opening early to allow people to walk around and get in steps without having to worry about the weather. It's helped a little.
The creator of malls said he regrets ever inventing the..
This is honestly really sad. Ive never been to this mall personally but all I keep thinking of is the fact that thousands of people enjoyed and made lasting memories in this place.
Lasting memories? At a mall?
@@DanieleRocchi yes
@@DanieleRocchi Correct! ✅️✅️✅️
@@DanieleRocchiyup
Ya malls used to be great place where families could meet, catch up on topics, get to know each other and maybe buy a thing or two. It was a place where we went to watch movies together and where a ton of 90’s kids grew up together! It’s sad but, culture shock has killed these places. Everything is at our fingertips, and as a result people don’t go out like they used to. Being an adult and watching these giant complexes get torn down leaves a very uneasy feeling of what the future might become.
This felt like going to a funeral for a friend and for it to be more a celebration of who they were and what they left behind instead of just a group saddened over the loss of them
It is a surreal experience to visit a place that no longer exists.
There was an old playground made of wood near where I lived that I used to absolutely adore years ago. It was enormous, and was my favorite playground as a child.
I visited the site where it once was recently, and it was nothing but a field of grass. The parking lot was still there next to where it had been, but the playground itself was completely gone with no evidence of its existence, like it had just been deleted in an instant.
It felt strange to walk through the field. I could already feel my memory of the place slipping, and even now, small details continue to be lost. It feels like that playground still exists somehow, floating in a void within my mind, slowly crumbling away, and it will one day be completely gone, when I have either forgotten it completely or I am dead.
Very well written. I know that feeling.
Maybe that’s the essence of the back rooms. It’s your memory of a place that may no longer exist on this level of reality but in our memories it’s still there we can still travel to that place.
THIS.
Down the street from my childhood home were some horse stables we used to call the horse farm, along with a 4 family home at the front.
I used to go visit the horses all the time & the owners, a couple names the Wolf's loved when us kids would go & spend time with the horses.
After they died the lot stood, empty & abandoned for about a year. We all thought they'd keep the front house up because they used to be part of the underground railroad. From what I read it was purchased by the county through an "Open Space, Recreation, & Historic Preservation Trust"
And what did my crappy hometown actually do with it? They used it as a SWAT training place. My brother witnessed a SWAT team come out of the woods across the street & basically rip the place apart.
After it was basically deemed unsafe they tore the whole thing down. It's now just an open field. You can now barely see where the driveway was to get to the stables. It's eerie & sad to see.
13:40 was genuinely unsettling, the way it dragged on with his audio made it seem like he was just *there* now.
Fr
It's strange realizing they both physically stood in the same spot, but under different circumstances
I once had a "waking dream" come over me where I saw the naked sky through the roof of the house where I was renting a room. skip ~9 years and a few moves later, I drove by to see that the house was demolished to make room for an apartment complex. similar vibe
Anyone else notice the YT channel Zeroxlulu? Is that supposed to be something or just credit for the clip?
@@aaronsvoboda5897 just looked them up and they have a big valley view mall exploration video on their homepage so the footage is probably theirs, yeah.
18:48 feels like the broken heart of the place. A Conradian broken animal amongst the dry brush - the carcass of a once noble beast, now nature embraces her with weeds and flowers - in the long hug we all will get by decay and rebirth cycle. Lovely. Beautiful.
Tragic
It’s such a different vibe when you go back to a place that no longer exists. I use to go to this one library that I have went to since my childhood, it has a play place and everything, it was very vibrant but when I went back everything was muted. They haven’t destroyed it yet but there have been talks about destroying it and making a new library however they are probably gonna make it look dull and generic.
Great video, the vibe is pretty sad.
my dude there's no way you could have seen the whole video already, stop yapping
@@mad__crafter8940bro why are so pressed there is nothing going on in This video for me to discuss.
Sounds like speculation. Stay grounded bruh.
@@mad__crafter8940 So? This isn't lore, this is a video of a man exploring a place that's gone, you can get that vibe and comment on it within the first few minutes.
@@mad__crafter8940this video is only 19 minutes long so yes it’s possible that he finished it already 😂 you should stop yapping too lol
This was the first mall I wanted to urbex at, before I heard of the oldest view. I was devastated to learn of it's new ownership, renovation, then destruction. It's honestly a tragedy that relics like these are torn down all over America. This series helped me live an old dream of mine. Thanks again man
"It's honestly a tragedy that relics like these are torn down all over America." Those places are certainly good memories, but they were doomed since the begining as places like this were everyone needs to come by car are an abomination ... They contribute the road saturations, downtown abandon and destruction of smaller shops ... Life should not be out of the city and only reacheable by car, it can't work ...
No one cares
@@MrElbarto75 Blame the roads then. Not the places the roads lead to
@@MrElbarto75 yes but that is almost completely the car dependent infrastructure and non-architecture related at all, car centrism is bad but theres bettter solutions than the wiping out of entire eras of architecture, we can turn these places into mixed used walkable dense communities without having to eliminate any pre-existing character, maybe the parking lot was bad but the loss of the atrium is an architectural stab wound in the heart of the city of dallas, maybe its not 1800s ornate but it still matters, its not planned the best, but its still a part of the city, we can preserve 50s-1990s architecture without preserving parking lots too
its a silent architectural tragedy and urban planning revolution, i just wish they could preserve the good of the old while moving on to the new
I love how instead of fully becoming "the Backrooms Guy" you made a compelling piece of art about remembrance. With a place that really existed. About people that really existed. This is why I love creative obsession
15:00 You can see a little patch of yellow flowers near the central piece of the wall (and supposedly where the odd altar was located). The flowers resemble the one that the botonist catalogued and the one that cameramans corpse landed near by. It almost feels like they are adorments for a grave, putting to rest the people, the place and the old times; but as well as a remainder that these will linger on no matter how harsh the conditions might be...
Crazy good eye! i never even saw that shit.
It feels weird to acknowledge that the real Valley View's structure was on surface (like every other mall), but because of the Oldest View, it feels natural to imagine the original one was underground too
This makes me feel so much like the Marble Hornets days man... always excited for a new "entry" to conspire more on the lore of everything. this guy really knows how to captivate! I really hope you continue this impressive and expansive success
Valley View wasn’t my mall of choice as a teenager, but I hung out there a fair amount in the 90’s. I haven’t lived in Dallas since 1998, and was completely unaware that it had been demolished. Thus when I watched The Oldest View, I legitimately wondered how the hell you managed to film so much, and such crazy stuff, inside the mall. I was completely oblivious to the fact that it was a CG recreation! Just amazing work, Kane. The crazy chills I got the moment I recognized where you were, hard to describe man.
That's got to be nuts seeing a perfect CGI recreation of somewhere you went all the time once. I sometimes slightly get it when I see locations in harry potter games that I've been to IRL lol
the shadow on the left at 15:34 - got me questioning if this is secretly part of the oldest view 😭 i've been trained to look for rolling giants
Saw that too and wondered if that was going to go anywhere.
Yeah, got me too. It can’t be Kane’s one so I’m wondering.
This man could film a dog farting and i would still spend an hour trying to find all the secrets
@@jamescassady4629”you see, this fart is very flammable, you know what that means? FISH.
Wait omg how did you catch that so early on😂
You've turned your grief into art, Kane. And it's just beautiful. I think if everyone could do this, the world would be a much better place. Bravo!
I really like how he used pictures and shots from his "Oldest View" series as references for us.
Some are actually part of the mall we never saw before, is like this building has still something to discover, which is funny since it's all ruins now...
It reminds me of walking around my hometown. I have so many memories of places that no longer exist. But they are still there in my mind.
Oldest view lol scary place
Saw some of this on your Instagram story. It looks soulless. Nothing left. So sad to see a part of many peoples lives just disappear. All that is left is memories.
Pics and videos too.
Why nothing left? Basement left! Basement - most interesting part of any abandoned building. Noobs like you always forgets about basement... 🤦♂
idk exactly how it works but they prob took everything out the basement and filled it with concrete pretty much getting rid of it idk
Kinda like what happens when a big studio slurps up an IP and prevents said IP from growing.
What exactly is the intellectual property here? Strange alternative dimensions? Store rooms? Hallways?
Memories is all it’s ever been ❤
I love how as Wyatt is finally triying to figure out what the story of this place is he's no longer commentating for his channel. He's focused instead on the story, the memory, the meaning. His journey to the Mall in the Underland gave him that at least. As for the tragedy of the real Valley View center, I've never been there, but I've seen favorite haunts of my childhood destroyed in the name of "progress" it hits deep. Real deep. Great film making and story telling, even though you didn't say a word, Kane.
So sad that this and next generations will never know how amazing malls were. There's simply no where for kids to go to consistently hang out with their friends all day long on the weekends, parents give you a $10 bill and you go catch a movie, go visit your friend who works at the ice cream shop, sneak a peak at a magazine you shouldn't be looking at, pretend to be a mall ninja, go look at cats and hamsters, get a deep fried veggie platter, check out the latest video game system you can't afford, listen to some old due rock out on a synthesized grand piano, drop hours at the arcade...
I think it really depends where you are. There are multiple malls near where I live that are always PACKED with teenagers on the weekends doing exactly what I did 15 years ago with my friends.
@@mirlambdafor sure yeah. I see kids hanging out at the local mall pretty often. I was never allowed to go anywhere, much less the mall where all the "bad kids" hung out, without an adult when I was a kid/teen so I never really got all the hype. Watching this series, I'm nostalgic for what the commenter above described.
I have to disagree, the last remaining mall in my area is a hotbed of gang activity, massive fights breaking out at least twice a week, (usually stabbings happen during these) it's not worth it to go it's just not safe, also, this was a massive problem before the other 3 malls went belly up
There are other places than malls where kids can hang out together. If you live outside of the U.S that is
I miss those days too. Or the arcades that used to be at the theaters. Like Area 51. Great times!
This is a graveyard of a site that made many memories for many people. You can feel the activity that took place just by watching this. Decades of activity and life. All that remains are those familiar white floor tiles with the spaced out red tiles. This video hits hard. Thank you, Kane. Some of us needed to see this.
This is how I feel about cemeteries too. I just look across the horizon and imagine all of the lives those people touched and how much they influenced the world around us and then they're just gone. Some far too soon.
As someone who is fond of 3D Modeling, the way Kane Pixels recreated and managed to gave such a message through 3D is amazing, i can't even imagine the hours and the headaches you probably gave into that project, you're truly a inspiration.
Wyatt finally tries to understand what happened on may of 2023, and goes to Valley View mall remnants.
Wyatt🚫Gyatt✓
@@screech1738😭😭
Rolling Giant🚫 Rolling Freak✔
the oldest view three takes place in may 2023
i dont think thats wyatt
Have you noticed how much he avoids holes in the ground?
I would too after following on that led to a pocket dimension of the memory of a place.
likely a few of them are being used for folks to shelter from the elements, also possibly unstable foundations and while funny, falling into one of those would ruin the scene.
He is certainly a LOT more careful than his protagonists are.
Help I no clipped into the cavity below the floor of a demolished mall
Its weird how this whole series can mean so much to me, even though i have never been there, havent even been to the US, yet it is very special to me, thank you kane
the saddest episode of Retail Archeology yet, Rest in Peace Valley View Mall, may you live on forever in the stories Kane is making
I'm from Thailand 🇹🇭. Even though I've never been to this mall in Texas. But because of Ken's video, I realized that this mall looks beautiful and unique. I myself would like to visit this mall when it is still complete. But it's a shame that now I won't be able to go. R.I.P. Valley View Center (1965 - 2023).
I spent so much of my early twenties at Valley View. It feels so strange how something I can picture so clearly in my mind is just a lot now.
This makes you nostalgic for a place you've never been.
The word for that is _Anemoia,_ according to 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows'
@@markzambelli Intriguing! Thanks for that information!
Same here. I don't even live on the same continent.
The first half of the video, I was just curious as an outsider, waiting for something scary to happen, but as the second half of the video came along I felt a very strong sadness and even found myself crying. When the camera approached the sunflower and there was the pretty shot of the sun and the sunflower, I had wished that the camera man would move forward into the field under the blue sky, because the ruins were painful. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom when we visited her home country after she had not seen it for 15 years. She spoke of how lively it was, how this one household had stayed the same, the exact same for 40 years, despite the inhabitants who built it passing away. I know there is much talk of accepting what once was and moving on, but accepting that is painful, and I don't think it will ever get less painful, but sharing that pain with others whether family, friends, or through art like this makes it something we don't carry alone.
Yeah places change too much over time😢
we should accept moving on, but we should also practice some level of architectural preservation
Malls like this are a stark reminder of our own impermanence, and even humankind's own fleeting nature.
This one tested my short attention span, but with great audio design it was a perfect watch with another window open on the Wikipedia entry for Valley View Center.
"you're still on this damn computer ? Back in my days we used to play outside"
The outside in question:
Omg so true I can’t stress that enough tbh it’s a pet peeve of mine and I’m only 15 lol
This is a dream location for kids to fuck around.
I think he's still on his computer. This looks vaguely CGI'ish to me.
@@Tyneras I don't even see stuff like large sticks on the ground for imaginary sword-fights and the like. it's just floor tiles.
@@jackbucher2049 people used to play light sabers with T12 fluorescent lamps, then take the busted end caps home and connect the starting filament up to a 12V car battery. those were the days. the days of not giving a damn about H&S, not giving a damn about smashing a glass tube running of a relatively high voltage, full of mercury and toxic phosphor dust, and the dangers that arise from that. (although nowadays, i would rather save those old lamps and fixtures from these old buildings and wire power cords to them.,
Seeing the remains of the mall feels like it’s a completely different area, it’s unrecognizable
Kane is honestly so good at this shit I can’t tell how much of this is actual video and how much of this is his creation and it’s really impressive. I recently had a personal experience that I feel like would make a decent short horror film or something like that and my mind immediately jumped to Kane. I don’t know how he does the things he does, but there’s really nobody doing it like him. Thank you for making such cool and interesting content because as long as you keep making it, we’re gonna keep eating it up.
He uses a blend of real life cinematography and Blender (free but very powerful 3D modeling and animation pc software) and he's really good at mixing these and going between them recently!
With a half decent computer and dedication I don't see why anyone couldn't pick up some free tutorials from the community and learn to put a nice little project together. As it's free, powerful, and popular, it has a lot of public support and free resources all over the internet 😊
I love the sound in this video. It feels like we're exploring an existing and working mall. The music with a heavy reverb, the announcement speaker (Dallas Midtown speech I believe), etc. When in fact, we're only seeing the remains of the mall.
Dude yes! Love that ambient sound, just like in his Oldest View video. It’s like hearing the spirit of the mall itself reaching out to you.
That ambient noise is actually spectacular I feel like It conveys what it needs to perfectly
I can't believe this video was made entirely in blender too! I swear it's like Dallas is almost a real place
I knew something looked off with this. 😂😂
@@coco-loves-pink-wine5266 Yeah wtf is a Dallas
@@LuciusFilmexa city in texas
@@tango7404 haha yeah "texas"
@@tango7404 fake news
To think it was a place where families came together, where people worked, and where friends made memories. Can't say I have been to that particular mall, myself but, still, truly heart breaking stuff.
I spent 20 whole minutes watching this guy walk around the ruins of a mall
Im ok for waiting but…4months for this?? A Little bit disappointed
I've only spent 16 minutes so far...
I spent about 8 minutes. 3x PLAYBACK BBY!!
@@arr84.design Kane doesnt owe you anything. Stfu
@@arr84.designBut hey, it’s pretty neat for us urbex fans. Never got to see the site upclose post-demolition
When I was a kid, we used to ride our motorcycles on the north-western half of that plot of land, which was about a dozen feet lower than the eastern half, and consisted of nothing but dirt. The Eastern half had Sears and some other stores, and eventually the whole thing became one big shopping mall. Actually, a lot of what lie to the north of LBJ freeway consisted of open land back then, which was pretty great for exploring. I used to just take off in one direction on my dirt bike and ride for an hour to see what was there. Of course eventually it was all transformed into the same suburban sprawl that you see everywhere... a never ending expanse of freeways, fast food, cookie cutter houses, parking lots and shopping malls... and cars all crawling over one another like termites. Some day it will all go back to nature, turned to rubble... though who knows when that will be? In the mean time, we just keep devouring more and more, as if there's nothing natural that's worth preserving or leaving alone. So it goes...
Stories say if you walk around there, you can still hear the rolling of the giant's wheels
The urban legend to give life back to the lifeless. So that future generations might remember a fleeting glimpse of what has passed.
I'm so happy that you told about this fascinating legacy, Kane!
Stop botting for views
This guy manages to make me feel nostalgic for a place I've never been, in a country I've never been to.
A pang in the heart for 20 minutes, and these transitions between the photos/videos before the demolition, VS after, are really well mastered to accentuate this effect.
Amazing.
Was 100% thinking this was full CG with the lens and saturation 'clipping', but then the sunflower around 13 minutes in and the grass behind it... now I can't tell what's real in my owl life, let alone this video.
Same here!
😂😂kids
Same bro i have no clue what’s real anymore 😭
The sunflower wasn't pointed at the sun. That was a clue it isn't real. None of it was.
@@stevep7346 I just went there in Google Street view, seems pretty real tbh. The latest shots are from 2022 but 90% of the structure has been leveled to the foundation and the rest is clearly partially collapsing. If you were to go there now irl, it's probably all leveled. The buildings in the background, all real. Iunno, seems a lot more likely that he just filmed something from all kinds of angles instead of reconstructing it with software.
If he's nearby or has help from a movie production studio, it might be faster and easier than to model and render everything. That's what I'd bet on anyways.
It's surreal I got to see this mall after found footage but before it was demolished. The vibe that the place was loved by people who grew up there and the significance it had to them draws out the feeling of missing something that we all won't be able to experience again except in memories and the works of others. Kane is doing one hell of a memorial for both the people who knew the place and those who just learned about Valley View Mall
to be honest not many series captivate me nowdays but this one takes the cake. i absolutely LOVE this series it seems like such a simple concept but yet it has a MUCH deeper meaning to it its so eerie as well how this place was actually once real and now there's nothing left of it. i guess what im trying to say here is i LOVE what you do and the stories you make are just so cool i would like to see another part to this series but i do understand if the story of TOV is finished. either way i am SO EXCITED for your future projects they make my day keep up the good work!
Thank you Kane. This is what I needed today. I've been really sad recently with it getting worse and I don't have a lot to look forward to right now, but your Oldest View series is one of the few things that brings me joy. Thank you for giving me something to bring me out of my constantly depressed state.
Hang in there. 🫂 You're never truly alone.
This was an emotional watch. The heartache of visiting something that once was knowing that it never again can be. It’s hard not to feel angry at the perpetrators, as if they took something from you. Thank you Kane
Personally I've been struggling hard these last few years these videos have given me somthing to consistently look forward to through all the bs of life. I just want to say thanks for the great videos and awesome soundtracks to vibe to.
Many people will feel nostalgic and remember this place where they may have been in childhood. I have such nostalgia for the wasteland after the dried-up lake where I fished and swam as a child. But then this lake disappeared.
I think this is an example that nothing can stay forever 😔😔😔
@@gamerhorror45Like the song Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears says, nothing ever lasts forever.
I cant beleive how deeply you made me think about a shopping center. You're the kind of creative mind the film, entertainment, and especially horror industry need. Highly doubt you'll see this, but please keep up all your hard work and thank you for all the amazing free art you've created.
I recently went to Greece, and visited the ruins in Olympia, where the original olympic games were held. They still do light the torch there for every Olympic games, but all the buildings of course, are gone. It's incredible to think about, for a long time, these feats of human engineering, 45,000 something people would flock to a stadium to watch the spectacle of the games (with surely more around). Now, it's quiet. The stones are pockmarked from the elements, and you have to really use your imagination just to stand there and imagine what it was so long ago. I went to many ruins and just took a moment to really try and imagine it, all those people, all those lives, so long ago standing where I stood. This gives me a similar feeling, at leastt in America, spaces like this are a small part of our modern culture, and to think of how many structures like this have been built up and torn down over the centuries that we are clueless off. For me, is a comfort to see nature try to reclaim it. Life is not permanent, nature isn't either. Enjoy the beauty of an ocean wave as it crashes on the shore, but do not mourn it once it's gone, because there will be more waves to come.
I really want to know how Kane felt. Standing in the bones of a forgotten place, knowing that many people like myself would have never known where it was, what it looked like, or how much it meant to so many people if it weren't for The Oldest View. To have resurrected this place in the minds of those who once traversed its halls and tiled floors while it was alive and healthy, and to have seeded its very soul to those who now lament its passing like a dear friend.
Thanks to the countless content creators and urban explorers who go out of their way to visually preserve the history of our past. Without ya'll these would surly be forgotten.
This video honestly made me think just how much we take things like malls for granted. It’s something that you could never imagine going out of date-I mean, what could possibly take the place of such a titan in our modern culture?
There’s an old mall near where I live, practically nothing’s left of it other than some small bit that’s been standing for just about a decade now. A weathered, beaten down shell of its former self. I never cared much for it up until now, and I don’t think I can ever look at it the same again.
I understand you man, I think what we value is the style and aesthetic of buildings and the joy that other people in the past got to live that experience and we wish that for everyone in every time period.
It reminds me of a memory when I was at school, there was an abandoned building right in front of my school and it fascinated me, I wanted to explore it after 3 years of observing it every day, they opened it to the public for a graffiti art exhibition before demolishing the building 2 months later , I am French and I have been a subscriber since 2022, Thank you Kane 💖
Can we just appreciate how much work goes into these projects 🙏 kudos to kane man
I think The Oldest View is a meditation on the impermanence of all things, and that the mall beneath the Earth is a manifestation of the past. These things and places used to exist. They were once real and alive. But as with all things, time will always take its toll. As someone who knows quite a bit about prehistory, it was clear to me that TOV is less about the Giant and more about the passage of time and how no thing will last forever. Time will always keep rolling forward. No pun intended. But that's just a theory.
I remember the wonder and joy I felt going to Valley View when I was little. The Santa photos every year, the AMC at the top floor, the Smoothie King stand, and that one weird Chinese trinket shop. And then to see it in its final days where all that was left was the AMC... Thank you, Kane. I haven't been able to visit one of my favorite places in a long time. Thank you for showing me where it lies now.
I love this, it makes me think about how all we have left of so many buildings both modern and ancient are the floor tiles and murals. The line between a Roman mansion and a Dallas shopping mall isn't that far.
Despite the complete emptiness, a thousand memories are left there, and they feel oddly tangible
I absolutely adore the contrast between tiling and the sun reflecting on it, like the entire "place" that used to be here is now nothing more than a flat plane
the outdoors claiming the inside is immensely interesting to me when it's shown like this
R.I.P. Valley View Center Mall 🌲 🌳
August 1973 - January 2022
You were a Giant inspiration to many..
A haunting lingering resonance of what was, forever alive in our memories like the echoes of childhood.
Thanks for the beautiful video ☕
Waiting patiently for Found Footage 3
Same here
Same
Real
Yes
Fr bro
Sound design on this video is absolutely amazing.
Kane, the way you’ve seamlessly combined the real and the imaginary is wonderful. It’s the kind of thing that only the very best artists can achieve. I hope this series doesn’t turn out to be your best work, but if it does, bravo. Well done.
I went to this mall with my niece.. first and only time. She was about to start HS, and now she's grown, and a mother. I'd never had much of a chance to be an uncle to her, because my brother was trash-- but there was a kinship there. We bonded over makeup and old youtube videos sitting by the AMC while waiting on other family.
Just a small personal experience. I used to find a lot of fun and comfort in malls growing up. It's sad seeing them go. This one just taking a fragment of mine, too, along with millions of others. Thank you for recording its memory, and TOV as a whole. Wonderful work, Kane!
There used to be a little walk-up Dairy Queen near my house. It was so close we could even go there after school basketball games, because it was right across the street. But when I was in 7th grade, they demolished it with plans to replace it with something new, but they never rebuilt it. The feeling I get looking at the remains of the mall here is the same feeling I get looking at that vacant lot where the Dairy Queen used to be, a place where so many people went to be happy, now gone.
DFW Native here and someone who grew up in that exact area.
Thank you Kane for reminding me of great memories from this mall before the end. Even with your Oldest View series.
Even I can still remember exactly where certain stores used to be just by the floor alone. I might be returning to this video alot just for nostalgia
The shot of the flower around 13:00 is so beautiful! Great eye man!
Seeing the remains of this place is almost "calming" in a way? I mean sure it's sad to see the mall not there anymore but the fact that this takes place outside the really feels relieving after being inside for so long. I like the piles of rubble and other remains. There is something appealing about this kind of place that I can't really describe. I also like the flashbacks to inside the mall.
You're such a good filmmaker bro. Literally footage of you walking around had me on the edge of my seat. I felt like at any point something would start chasing you. I moved to Dallas right before you dropped the rolling giant and got into the history of the mall because of you. I'm definitely gonna take a drive over to where it was and check it out.
1:58 those are the sirens that are coming to Arrest Kane for trespassing
All jokes aside this was a really beautiful video. This is gonna be a time capsule of history. It’s really bittersweet to see what was once a mall beaming with colours and design that now is just a empty land with Nature taking over until the development of the Dallas Midtown to take place and transform the area to a new era. There’s beauty in seeing this though. Seeing flowers and plants take life with the sun with no clouds. It’s beautiful.
I don’t live in the area and obviously I haven’t gone there but I can get that sense of Nostalgia by seeing what it is now with the pictures showing what was there before now gone. Seeing places like malls disappear because if time moving on to advanced technology and systems like online shopping taking its place. It was much more simpler and lively to visit a place beaming with people. I do missed those days but I know that we have moved on that all we have is the memories and feeling.
TOV delivered the theme of nostalgia and memories beautifully and I cannot thank you Kane for making it and this to share aswell.
In time within our lives We all have to accept impermanence
real
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I saw that Dr. Pepper bottle, my knee-jerk assumption was "was all of this just an ad for Dr. Pepper?"
God bless you Kane for keeping this stuff alive, keeping it's story going. Christmas gifts were sought here, teens had first dates, holiday plans were made, people came to eat and talk. All those echoes are still there.
I wish the mall wasn't demolished so I could take a trip and see it. R.I.P the Valley View Mall.
Now it's The Mall In The Ocean.
And get attacked by a rolling giant?
Yeeeeaaahhh... uhhhhhhh...
@Human..Being... nah it's cool we are friends
@@TsunamiRecRoom Just don't exit the mall via the rafters, because although they may be supporting hundreds of tons of earth about them, they won't handle a guy with a backpack climbing on them.
rip
Warning, Yap alarm.
I was always under the impression that the visit we get to the recreated Mall was like finding an open mausoleum and delving inside, seeing what you might find among the cobwebs.
This, though. This video is a visit to the graveyard, and us having a long look at the headstone. Powerful stuff.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so reliant on visual storytelling convey such a momentous feeling of loss. I’m your typical internet shut-in; I’ve never been a fan of public spaces in general, nevermind a mall. I had no attachment to the concept before this series, but this video is simply the nail in the coffin.
I know that “malls” as a concept still exist, but I can’t help but feel like *I’ve* missed something, now. Something that nature, as nature does, has casually gobbled up just as easily as it was tossed aside. Something that we can try to recreate; but that will never truly return to us in its previous form.
Even the dead are usually given their final respects before being put into the ground, or the air. This place… doesn’t *feel* like it got its last rites. It feels like a corpse that was left by the side of the road that the underbrush has consumed.
But hey, look at me, I’m still yapping and it’s 5 o’clock in the morning, now. Great video!
Not yapping, spitting pure fresh facts that I agree with
The way this mall is represented is almost ghostly, It's almost as if the nature of the mall never left.
i concur. replying just because i feel a personal connection to this comment :3
I love the transitions between timelines and perspective. Makes it feel unnervingly human like your other content.
Never before has a random stroll through an abandoned lot felt so strangely meaningful
I’ve never watched footage of someone walking around a quiet demolition site with such rapt attention. The atmosphere with the music toward the end was palpable.
A lot of community structures I remember in my childhood have been torn down, the church where I used to do girl scouts was one of them. It's been replaced with a dog park/playground and its comforting to see people having fun there again every time I walk past. For the Valley View Mall this is such a sad sight, I hope they'll be able to make the space special again.
Now I realize how sad it is, looking at where Kane took this place from. Now I understand why it's so hard to accept....
🌞I like how the Sun is captured in this video. Perfect lighting - no need to go ultra realistic dull-light as the extra yellow saturation accentuates everything.
Yeah, the saturation choices were interesting. Not sure I’m a fan on using HDR for filming it, though. Especially since it overrides the brightness settings on my device.
What is so endearing is, I had gone to that mall back in the day as a kiddo, seeing your vid and realizing where this was the horror itself. Now seeing it demolished has a strange sensation.
Never been happier to be awake this early to head to the gym. Here for the Kane upload!
Yo I’m at the gym rn just seeing kane upload too lmao
Lunch break for me. 2am here. Have my "Lunch" and watch another Kane Pixels video.
@@d00ro779oi 💪🏾 stay strong. Never know when you might no-clip
That's why I'm up too
@@samuraiska320 Yikes, here's hoping you get plenty of rest
Everybody just obsessing over Found Footage part 3. We have just been blessed with another treat such as this, we should feel thankful. FF3 is already on its way, so why hurry?
I’ve walked around aimlessly in the parking lot that used to be Qualcomm stadium. Remembering the memories I’ve had there or saw on tv and imaging the stadium still being there. 40 years of history and millions of people that visited, now just an empty lot.