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Old 03-30-2017, 10:55 AM
 
101 posts, read 142,678 times
Reputation: 62

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Hi All,


I am planning a weekend trip to Chicago. One of the things I have planned is to do some photography and videos of urban landscapes along with some abandoned or industrial sites. One area of interest are abandoned motels/hotels and dead/dying shopping centers. I am unfamiliar with the metro and was wondering if anyone knows of such places. This is strictly for photography and videos. Are there any places like that around Chicago. One thing though is I want to avoid dangerous areas where there might be a problem with crime.


Thanks all.
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Old 03-30-2017, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Chicago
439 posts, read 953,744 times
Reputation: 188
You might be best off heading to Gary, Indiana about 30 miles from Chicago. It seems like theres more abandoned there than open and most sites seem pretty easy to get into.
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Old 03-30-2017, 02:50 PM
 
Location: Sweet Home Chicago!
6,721 posts, read 6,473,186 times
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Gary is less than safe though, but I guess just about anywhere you're going to find abandoned buildings will be sketchy.

The Abandoned Ruins In This Indiana City Are Oddly Beautiful

http://desertedplaces.blogspot.com/2...y-indiana.html

Too late for the Dixie Square Mall, which is where some scenes from The Blues Brothers were filmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Square_Mall


There is a semi abandoned mall near St. Charles, but it's not all that interesting since it's still semi-maintained. It's definitely a flashback to the 90's though and is open and safe to roam around.

https://www.google.com/search?q=char...ih=423&dpr=1.5

Last edited by flamadiddle; 03-30-2017 at 03:52 PM..
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Old 03-30-2017, 03:35 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,115,418 times
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Huh... I saw a book in B&N like what this guy is doing... Abandoned America... Chronicling the economic destruction of America...
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Old 03-30-2017, 05:52 PM
 
Location: Chatham, Chicago
796 posts, read 929,764 times
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dixie square mall was abandoned for decades in harvey before it was finally demolished in 2012. there's plenty of videos on youtube of folks exploring it.
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Old 03-30-2017, 06:24 PM
 
4,087 posts, read 3,238,228 times
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You can yahoo search all the dead malls in CHICAGOLAND. But me, I could shed a tear. Ahhh, the 80s. 90s. Your community got a mall? You were living the American Middle-class dream.

The meeting places of the 80s 90s
Its 50s 60s diners drive-ins and dives

Now they just prove our middle-class has been soooo squeezed. You either go very high-end or WalMart to shop, on-line is easy and convenient but NEVER a just now almost OLD-FASHIONED DAYS GONE BY.....

http://chicago.curbed.com/2014/11/18...re-nothing-new

PHOTOS: Inside the abandoned Lincoln Mall in Matteson, 2 years after it closed | WGN-TV

Photos inside Chicago's abandoned mall - Business Insider

The quintessential abandoned mall born in the 1960s was the Dixie Square Mall used for the iconic Blues Brothers Mall police chase through. Already closed in the 80s. Was re-stored for the movies scenes and left go back to its death state afterwards. It was finally demolished after 30 years of abandonment In 2012 or 13.

Abandoned: Dixie Square Mall | Sometimes Interesting

Dead Mall: Exploration of the abandoned Dixie Square Mall – City Eyes


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYa2Z2tfVjc

I hope some of the classic 80s American Malls..... are TRULY PRESEREVED IN TIME. Kept as they are. Roofs kept repaired are key. Maybe in 30-years become THEME PARKS to A AMERICA ONCE ENVIED.

Then by the time much of the world got their own. Ours were DOA. RIP now.

Such Irony, the Malls killed many neighborhood downtown shopping and hurt big city neighborhood shopping intersections. Then had a squeezed middle-class and the internet kill it.

The neighborhood shopping intersections did live on in much of Chicago. But so many malls mostly suburban. Did not.

Sometimes the more we gain means why we lose was not really worth it. A fake gaining we see by technology? But at least out big city downtowns are renewing big time.

If in downtown Chicago? Visit the State St Macy's (formally Chicago's Marshall Field's) it is the Granddaddy of the Grand olé Shopping Mall as one multi-story shopping MALL. Some original shops and features restored.

Glad it was preserved by Macy's and Tourist want to see a piece of 1800s through to today's vibrant Chicago core.
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Old 04-04-2017, 05:16 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,115,418 times
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The Food Court in the Mall in Kankakee / Bourbonaise is dead. Visited Lansing buying my Cargo Trailer and I passed a big empty barren lot... Looked on the map and it was a dead former GM Plant.
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