Ford City Mall History - Is it abandoned?!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.พ. 2024
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I miss malls. Evergreen Plaza gone, Lincoln Mall in Matteson gone, River Oaks and Ford City just not the same anymore.
It’s kind of sad to see the rapid decline of the mall. I remember growing up and going there. The old ride o go around and the entertainment. The food court was pretty good too. I miss the old vibes going there. Orland Square was also a good mall going to, but Ford City definitely was my childhood favorite.
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Man! I ain’t been to FCM in a minute! Hitting all the old haunts.
it’s so wild! was such a memory rush being in there
Love this kind of stuff! More please! And I won't be mad if ya'll record a tour thru them malls. Love y'all!@@77FlavorsChi
The underground tunnels that connected the shopping areas was originally test cells to test the jet engines produced there. My dad worked there. This mall was also the factory where the Tucker was built in the late 40's.
So glad to find this. I spent my childhood mid-70s through 80s in peacock alley. Used to take the bus from Chicago Ridge. It was a great time to be a kid.
Oh shit. Here we go! 10 min from this location.
I remember going there on Sundays after church. There are so many album photos of us when little, going to take pics with Santa, I saw my first movie Lion King when it came out in the theater there, would love the little camp they had there…sigh so sad to see malls deteriorating
Love your channel. Please keep up your great channel. 🤗
It’s about crime. People are still shopping. Also Peacock Alley closed in the early 2010s. I remember when the stores in the basement went upstairs because everyone left. Now the hood is destroying Chicago Ridge Mall like they did at Ford City and Evergreen.
It’s crazy it took so long for the streets near Ford City to get repaired but let be honest the streets in that area are dependent on shoppers and who wants to shop at a mall where there was riots and easy access from the 79th street bus
Crime is also affecting other suburbs…shootings and looting and brawls happen almost every other weekend in North Riverside Mall.
@@mayraplascencia2007 Yes from the hood of the west side ghettos
Back in the 70s all my girlfriends and I would spend Saturdays there. We loved the clothing store called Lerners.Thise we’re the days.🥰☀️👋
You two are so informative and interesting. I love y'all energy. Thanks for your time and effort! The history of this place is awesome to me. I enjoyed this content. My mom drove the 79th street bus years ago and my husband took me on our first date there over 22 years ago lol! I haven't been there in quite some time. This made my day thanks.
oh wow!! thank you so much! those are some special memories
In the 70's my friends and I would ride our bikes inside from one end of the mall to the other, including thru the two huge fountains that were on either end back then. We would access the tunnels at the end of Peacock Alley and walk all the way to the bowling alley where a chain link fence blocked further access. We would sneak behind the counter at Orange Julius and unplug the machines. They would take a hour to figure out that's what happened, no matter how many times we did it. Their was a shop called Tabacco Teepee in the center of the mall. We would sneak peaks at the playboy magazines they had on display. We would buy Covered Wagon cigars which were huge novelty cigars like you would see on the 3 stooges and walk from end to end smoking them. Every Saturday there was Bottle cap movies at 8am at the theatre. 7 Pepsi bottle caps to get in. The movies were all the worst b movies available, but we went just to have fun. Alot of other memories than that, but it's a shame to see it like that now. Thanx for sharing.
Grew up here, the signage always reminded me of Universal Studios or something epic. Would you ever do a story on Haunted Trails or Kiddieland while you're down memory lane? 😅
right?! so cool!! yes absolutely! stay tuned
Cool video! Guys looked like you had a lot of fun making this. Can you do a video on River Oaks mall?
Yes we can!
Under the mall there’s tunnels that lead to the tootsie roll factory and under the gym, explored it a couple months with my friends, very interesting and unknown to the public
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Tootsie roll industries is still there it was separate from the mall
The lower level originally opened as peacock alley
Wow what a difference from the last time I was there in early 1976 before I went active duty in the USAF in June. Connections at that time was called Peacock Alley with a lot of Spencers type stores and wannabe head shops throughout it. The front of the mall at the time had Weiboldts as an anchor and the downstairs of Weiboldts was an S&H Green Stamps redemption store. At one time there was an Olson Electronics in the mall as well, one of the competitors of Radio Shack. Along Cicero across from the mall there used to be a Millionaire's Club as well back then closer to the Tootsie side of the Cicero frontage. I lived near 65th and Austin (Clearing) and we would ride bikes down 65th to Cicero then past the Cracker Jack plant (one of my aunts worked there for a while) then over the bridge that went over the railyard and then we would pass Tootsie Roll (another of my aunts worked there at Tootsie at the time) and my dad's partner (my dad was a CPD patrolman from 56 to 96) lived just south of the mall around 79th. I miss that period of growing up in Chicago around Midway and Ford City and the factories in Bedford Park but I wouldn't live there now. I retired from the USAF in 1995 and went south to rural central KY. During high school ( I went to Kennedy on 56th and Narragansett) I worked at the now-gone Candlelight Dinner Playhouse and Forum Playhouse near Archer Ave on Harlem Ave and there was a Prince Castle Ice Cream place right next to the Forum end of the building. BTW Tucker bought the plant after the engine plant was closed but he only got like 50 cars built before he lost it thanks to the federal SEC. I heard that Ford (FoMoCo) bought it back and was going to build cars there but ended up selling it again and I guess the mall sprang up from it.
BTW I'm old enough to remember when EJ Korvettes was around and when KMart was still SS Kresge's in a strip mall before KMart was a thing.
So many third places gone when they were destination places to go out, especially the youth. Places of hospitality where you can spend a few bucks.
so true!
Most anchors own their own property and don’t rent from the mall which causes issues. Many Carson’s are empty bc the mall can’t control it unless they gone through courts to get it
oh interesting
Ford City was the best until you finally get you driver's license and were able to go to Orland Park or Chicago Ridge 😆
It’s the 79th CTA bus that caused most of the issues in this mall.😂
lol smh…
I went there 3 months ago it was so empty 😭
yea it kind of is. but lowkey better than a lot of malls
Stratford Square Mall is even more of a ghost town. Not sure how the stores still in these malls can make rent.
yea it’s wild. i’m pretty sure the anchor store is what covers majority of the cost
Tootsie Roll Industries is still located behind Ford City. 7401 S. Cicero Ave.
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How was the food court at the mall?
we didn’t make it that far 😂
There’s only TWO restaurants left in the food court. It’s so sad. Most of the store have left.
Ah fort shitty. The glory days of when it was bussin. It went to shit as soon as they closed down Tilt Arcade
I think it's getting abandoned I have been there to get my school uniforms
I still eat at their food court (because i hate crowds)
If this mall should close it would be good for the migrants and homeless center
So would the other side of the Mexican border. Ford city would make a good prison though.
I would love to see Ford City Mall be 65 years old in 2025.
Same!
I wish you would have walked around and showed us more of the mall instead of sitting there talking into the camera.
A few things:
1) appreciate you watching the video
2) the security was nice enough to allow us to continue creating this even tho we showed up unannounced
3) we are small creators doing the bet we can, so while we appreciate feedback, we also like the fact that we are doing the best we can when nobody asked to do this in the first place. Feel free to watch other things if you need more or deeper information or heck grab your own camera and fill in any blanks you think we missed on your own time.
Thanks! 🫡
@@77FlavorsChi Just saying, I think everyone would love to see more of the mall. Appreciate your effort anyway.