Cascade Galleria, New Castle, PA - Dead Mall and Monument to 1970's Consumerism - Expedition Log #15 

There was a Japanese Steakhouse right before the entrance of Sears. That door under the stairs used to be a pay bathroom. The wall directly beyond that staircase, wasn’t there. “Murphy’s five and dime” and Thrift Drug were down past that staircase. They used to set up a “petting zoo”, so to speak, every year as well. The town also had several department stores. I believe the buildings that housed those are still erect. New Castle used to be a thriving town. Among the other businesses you named, Rockwell closing was also a huge loss. I would venture to say, that mill’s closure really threw New Castle into a tailspin. Thanks for the video.... Brought back a lot of memories.

This is eerie and creepy. When there's nobody else around, it feels almost like you're the last man on Earth in one of those post-apocalyptic movies. You're the Omega Man of malls.

Your channel is so good! Don't know why I love watching old malls so much.

Loved the video of the mall. I have such sentimental feelings, as I was born and raised in New Castle. I dwell in Illinois. I do come home occasionally. Thank so much.

I remember shopping at the Murphy's there as a kid......and I always talked my dad into a slice of Mr. Pizza......after he bought me a new book ☺

Oh man it feels so great to discover yet another high-quality dead mall RU-vidr! Just an advice, it'd be even better if you were able to show your conversations with the locals since they all seemed to be eager to share what they know about the place, and it adds a human/local touch to the video. Please keep on going and visit more dead malls!

Great footage and some decent historical information. Something wonderful about malls built in the 70's (without major renovation)

Good job. Thanks for sharing, For some reason I just can't stop watching these dead mall videos. They are nostalgic and sad at the same time.

new castle was where i was born. the town is so small and has that kind of spooky ghosttown feel (especially “abandoned” places like cascade galleria and rockwell factory) the town used to be booming until rockwell closed causing a bunch of people to lose their jobs. now its just filled with fights but it will always have a special place in my heart.

2:34 Orange Julius! Loved that place as a kid. I remember the old Dunkin' Donuts commercial, too.

Oh this is awesome. Brings back memories especially seeing orange Julius. Reminds me of the orange juilius in the echelon mall in voorhees nj. That also reminded me of Strawbridge and Clothier in The Cherry Hill Mall which used to have a restaurant in it on the upstairs level. I still remember going there for lunch with my Mom and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich 🥪 which was made with Dijon mustard and Swiss cheese. Til this day I've never forgotten it. These are such precious memories these malls bring ...especially of my childhood growing up in Southern NJ I went to the Echelon Mall every weekend and the Cherry Hill Mall very often. Occasionally we went to Moorestown Mall. I wish icould have one day at the mall again with my Mom. I miss her terribly.

Wow. That pizza place looks very much like the one in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Even the pizza itself looks the same.

Me and my aunt go there and walk around every day to exercise 😁

Oh man, I remember being in that mall as a kid. My mom brought me to get my hair cut at that Salon, thing is she didn't tell me that, so when I found out, my eyes got big and I started running to that fountain at the end. DAMN was that so long ago, must have been 2001-02

I also remember you had to pay a dime to use the public restroom . Or send the youngest of your group under the stall door to open it from the inside.

My Uncle managed the GC Murphys at the mall in the 1980’s. Thinking around 85.

I saw the Marie Osmond Concert!! LOL And still have photo's of me and Santa from the Mall!

I have adhd so I rarely can sit still long enough to watch a whole video. Somehow though I watch every second of your videos. Your research and in depth presentation really keeps me engaged. I look forward to more of your videos

I adore the charms of our retro malls. At a time when the retro designs is all the rage, why these type of old school malls go into renovation always leaves me scratching my head lol. Well, the malls that haven't suffered the tragic fate by the DEAD MALL stamp across their entrance doors that is. Sigh. So sad.

Thank you for going to New Castle, my hometown.

Ahh I remember that place so much. I grew up in New Wilmington only about 20 minutes north of New Castle. I cant believe it looks the same.

I remember when I was young there was an dead mall here in Greensburg PA called "GreenGate Mall" it's been torn down and is now a Wal-Mart but I remember going to gun shows and flea markets in the old sears part and I remember being fascinated by the way the mall looked dark and abandoned in the rest of building

Another AWESOME Mall tour, and this Mall has a really cool Retro Vibe! That pizza looked delicious, and great to see the beauty shop with its original owner is still there. And Sal, thank you for all of the great history you provide on this Mall video and on all of your video's and my whole family loves your soothing voice - we could listen to you all day long, and on a lot of weekends when we are off work and have no school, we do watch you all day long and enjoy your videos very much! We also liked seeing your Dad on that other video We're going to keep watching , and now on to the next great Sal Video.........

Pastel tile planter's and begonias are what springs to mind whenever I think of the term 'dead mall'. They all have them 60's 70's 80's even 90s.

My hometown! Did not expect to see this at all today! The door under the steps were to the bathrooms which at one point you had to pay too use according to my mom.

Thanks for the this bro. I remember as kid going here with my parents.

That pizza looked amazing! I lived right outside of Akron Ohio so I know the rust belt well. I left in 2010 and I know it’s gone downhill so much since we left. This mall would’ve been so awesome back in the 70s! I wish the recession had not hit this area so hard. I just hope one day that it’ll get better!

Worked in New Castle in 2014, and ate at the pizza place often. We had offices in a building called the Riverplex, two blocks away on South Mill Street. Was a slightly smaller retail building with several shops and restaurants, but was also the location of the first Warner Bros theatre. There's a museum there now. If you're ever that way again, you should check it out.

You are awesome! Thanks for your contemplative and observational style, your videos are really fun to watch. Great content! I'm totally fascinated by these places and it's clear that you care about your subject. Please keep going!!

Good to see the pizza still looks good there.

Just found you today. Love the detail you put into your video. You Sir have a subscriber! Awesome job!

I came up to New Castle on summer vacation (live here now). I remember going to the town mall when I was little - there used to be near the front entrance I think - a Flintsone's phone. Maybe 4 phones? You'd pick up a phone and talk to a character

Now this is an awesome find. It would be awesome if more stores came in and brought the mall back to life. There are very few malls left like this one. Thanks for sharing it with us.

New Castle and the Towne Mall are a mere shell of what it was. When that mall opened, the city was already in decline, with a population of just under 40,000, but now it's barely above 20,000. I used to play in the arcade next to Mr. Pizza, and eat at the G.C. Murphy lunch counter. I am happy that some of the original decor, including the fountain is still intact. But hey, at least there's still Beer 4 Less where Jaunt Iggle used to be.

Sal....Great job celebrating the development of the American Mall in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. Truly an American cultural masterpiece that, as you sadly noted, has faded. Great job noting the heyday of the Mall.

Really good on the research. Enjoying your videos

That pizza looked sooooooo good! 🙄🍕

Great video. Brings me back man

Lucky to have found your channel! You notice even the details as wallpapers, colors, style and even a lot of history. Also the sound effects put me there and I can imagine browsing through a sears store. Aesthetically perfect video. I love to see the details how people back then built things especially in the 70s and earlier. Like the salon, would love to get my hair done there! Thanks for the cool videos!👌

Thumbs up for giving these guys business!

Totally get that retro vibe, really digging the wallpaper. Really depressing how many jobs left the area. So that mall’s undoing had not so much to do with on-line shopping, that place must have been the place to go in it’s day. Another great job Sal. Oh to have seen dough ball. Good God

The stairs in the mall led to the mall management/John Blackson's offices. My dad worked for John in those offices for several years and remember going up there as a kid.

All your vids are so interesting. You tell a great historical insight mate. Greetings from Melbourne Australia.

Blackberry storm or the original orange Julius...so good.

I really like the information you present during your videos. I grew up with malls but there is a lot I didn’t know about them. I do hope they can keep this mall going!

I used to live in downtown New Castle and I've never even seen it. I didn't even drive past it. I can't believe I missed this.

I used to go to the Sears store as a kid with my parents. The mall was crowded back then, I would look at the Ted Williams hunting & fishing equipment.

Fantastic! Great video.

Your research and presentation are second to none in any media. Well done!

Wow, that music reminds me of our last few trips out to Schuylkill Mall..

Damn its weird seeing the mall like this. I was just down at the family dollar the other day

I used to shop at Sears and the Health Hut and Rite Aid at the Town Mall.

I remember playing the arcades and eating pizza at that mall as a kid in the 1980s.

Your narratives are quite good.

Just found your channel. Great work!

Love that the beauty shop is still open after so long - beauty shop customers are some of the loyalest out there!

I use to love going there as a kid. Seeing Santa or the Easter Bunny up on that stage on the fountain was just magical. Then you go to the toy store and candy store. Get pizza and if all of us kids behaved we was allowed to pick out something at Murphy's. And this was in the 1980s. I think it could come back if the right people work on it.

Ahh this makes my heart hurt. I grew up in New Castle (in the '70s and '80s) and The Towne Mall was the place to be! "The Rivit" had all the new designer jeans. I love the writing in the back hallway that's still there from "The Sweet Shop" they had the best candy! At Christmas time my dad had a kiosk where he(we) sold candles...all Christmas shapes, animal shapes all made out of wax. We still have some of them! Now I wish I had a slice of Mr. Pizza! The owner was from New York and made real New York slices with hand tossed dough as you stated. Wow. Thank you for the tour, thank you for the memories. I can still hear the fountain. I loved that sound, you could hear it through most of the mall. So sad.

My favourite aesthetic...1960's - 70's! I was a teen in the early 70's, and spent many happy hours with friends, in the local mall. It really did have a party like atmosphere.

great info, love the bgm, and very good camera work.

I’m head of maintenance at this mall and many things have changed and this will be up an coming mall again we have many clients and a lot of remodeling this is now owned by Svn and great owners. Maybe come back in about a year will have new parking lots and roofs.

I really appreciate a small editing detail I noticed you often do. It’s when you have the “mall music” playing and change the reverb to match the location. Like how it was dropped when you walked outside, as if it was heard from a speaker at the door and then added in again when you walked back inside. Your small touches are what set you part. It’s great ambiance that feels natural and immersive.

Nice research! I like the backstory.

If you ever get a chance to travel to Canada. Go to the Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa. Once a busy mall, now is pretty dead.

Great vid man!

Amarillo Tx had a mall with that same type of architecture, the Skylights high on the walls and what not.. I remember it having a Best, Montgomery Wards, along with a Furrs Cafeteria and the first Hastings video store that is no longer around either as of 2017 or so.

Love your Videos, Sal. I feel that the 1970s Audio or Advertising would have it feel like a haven and I wonder if future shoppers would love/appreciate the nostalgic astethic?

Born and raised in New Castle. As kids, my mom would take us to the mall every two weeks to cash my dads check. The first thing we would want to do is go into the candy store! I used to get my hair cut at the salon and we would eat at Mr. Pizzas! Memories really do last a lifetime!

I just found this channel. I love it!

I grew up in New Castle in the 60s when it was a thriving town. Moved in 1970.

New Castle is a shame. A few people have bought up the buildings downtown. They are a mess. Also some of the businessmen and politicians have stopped business from coming into New Castle. And look what we have now. The city roads are filled with potholes. Where is all the money going?

Love a good 70s mall . So few are left . Many here in Kansas and I suppose elsewhere have been closed off in the center and refaced as a strip mall mainly with businesses and a restaurant or two. I was born in 66 so these are the malls I remember in grade school before the bigger 80s malls took over . I seem to remember a backlash about the “Devil” mascot for Orange Julius . Lol. The donut baker “you think the time to make the donuts guy is sexy “ from the Wedding Singer lol. That wall paper was pretty great ! I have read that the KC metro area was one of the most over malled areas in the u.s. I remember many of smaller suburban malls there similar to Cascade that sadly are gone or repurposed. Enjoy your channel !

Used to pass this place every Sunday for about a year going to see my ex. I thought the place was completely shuttered but, now that I know that it's still open, I might go up to New Castle again and take a look.

I miss those old fountains.. We had them center court in Deptford NJ... And we did the same thing... Shut them off for Santa and other events.. And our Grade-School band played there!! Probably ripped out late 80's; also about the time they stated on the new food court...

I had a chance to visit Cascade Galleria this past weekend. Immediately upon walking in, I was hit with a familiar smell...the smell of a pizzeria combined with mildly stale air common with low-traffic malls. It was the exact same smell that the Washington Mall to the south used to have when it was open. I was already hit with nostalgia before I even had a chance to look at the interior. The ceilings above the center court are really cool, with the curved wooden beams and wood plank ceiling, nestled next to the glass that separated the roof from the wall, again sharing some design element to Washington Mall. The place was clean and pretty well maintained. With the recessed arc lighting, I'd love to see what the place looks like at night. Of course, we had to try the pizza. The lunch special was two slices of regular pizza and a drink for $4. Though I'm not a fan of greasy pizza, it was really good. While we were eating, a lady walked in and ordered a couple slices to go. Passively listening to the conversation, she was from eastern PA but commented on how Town Mall Pizza was the best she's had. It's a perfect example of what business should be: cheap, good, and quick, which is possible with low overhead. By the stairwell, there is a lot of drywall taking up the main concourse of the mall. This area is office space, though I forget for what. Many people that work there were taking laps around the mall during their lunch break, some grabbing some pizza as they walked past. There is more office space in the old Sears, which is a worker's compensation office. Across from the pizza shop is a post office, and a Family Dollar has a store outside the mall. Sadly, the beauty salon is no longer there. Overall, this is a really cool place to check out, especially if you're a fan of the smaller, local malls. You don't always need massive buildings like Century III to have unique architecture. Century III, by the way, remains closed and all interior stores have been given 30 days to vacate. J.C. Penney and Dick's remain open.

Good liminal shots right there!

Sal, love your videos, if you get over to the other side of Ohio, near the Michigan and Indiana borders, there are a bunch of dead malls, especially in the Toledo, OH and Detroit, MI areas! Woodland Mall in Bowling Green, OH opened with a Hills dept. store, Elder-Beerman, and JC Penney and now only has a Dunham's Sporting Goods as it's sole anchor, and is about 30% full, mostly local stores, and was built in the 80's.......Also Woodville Mall in Woodville, OH was thriving as recently as 10 years ago, but had roof leak problems and was shut down by the health dept, it is an 80's time capsule as well, but may be hard to get inside, same with Tiffin Mall and Findlay mall, of Tiffin, OH and Findlay, OH ......especially Findlay Village Mall, it had at one time Best Buy, JC Penney, and Kmart as anchors, and was thriving as late at the late 90's, but is mostly empty now, all these are great reasons to visit northwest ohio.

Wow! I was born in New Castle like, Pennsylvania and I love to see news stories and videos like this about my city. I love video about urban exploring and businesses closing (Company Man is a good channel that comes to mind) so this channel is perfect for me. How long have you been making videos and do you live in the Rust Belt?

The pizza shop was called the devil s den when the mall opened up before the pizza shop took over and it was mr pizza .

There's only one toilet in the whole mall! This place reminds me of the one I used to go to (now demolished) which was so 1970's too.

Was just in this mall as I was driving by so I thought I’d check it out. It’s like straight out of the 1970s. The retail/food place left is a weird little pizza shop.

Just one thumb up? Come on, a pizza like that should get two.

Ahhh... That pizza!!! 😵😵😵 We have a pizza place at the Meadowbrook Mall (Bridgeport, WV) that makes the best slices around, it's amazing!

In the late 1960s when the mall was built higher paying blue collar jobs were plentiful, and Youngstown, Sharon and New Castle made up a prosperous area. In the early 1980s when the steel mills closed and the other manufacturing left this region the standard of living declined and there was a steep decline in population. Wal-Mart penetrated this area in the very late 1980s and very early 1990s and there were not enough shoppers with enough disposable income to support both Wal-Mart, the other discount retailers and the mall. That mall could become a good location for small technology firms to come into the area as well as back office operations of banks or call centers. That could create employment and there would be more businesses paying taxes to support school and other public services.

I was down there today and theres some new small businesses opened up and more coming soon. I seen them working on it today. Its coming back at least a little bit.

Charleston, w.va. Town center mall. great place for a video.

Looked like a near wreck at 1:07. Great video

They had a G.C. Murphy's? there was one at Seminary South mall in Ft. Worth in early sixty's -mid seventy's. They had everything, even Beatle wigs!

I graduated in 74 and spent many days at the mall. The problem was the mall was too small at the start Southern Park and Eastwood were way bigger and had much cooler stores sold way cooler clothes. The Towne Mall couldnt compete. As anchor stores Sears was tiny compared to the stores in ohio, GC Murphy was not the kind of high end store people are used to seeing as an anchor store like the other malls had with Kaufmanns, The May Co, Joseph Hornes etc. Even the smaller stores like Musicland and Rivit were not like National Record Mart and Merry go Round it kind of felt like it wasnt going to make it right from the start

visit Anaheim Plaza in the 70's and 80's in Orange County California

love the pizza story :P

Do you do a lot of exploring in the Sharon, New Castle area? I spent many a summer in the area.

The Santa event was done in my mall near me too.. I believe they stopped doing that though

You Should Visit The Mall District In Washington D.C It Would Be Fun

2021. I live down the street from here. This coming Monday ill see if Town mall pizza is still a thing.

Just last week I was in the South Shore Plaza Mall (Braintree, MA). It is a Simon Mall-but something strange happened-at 10 AM, the fire alarms went off-I asked a shopkeeper and he said "it happens all the time". This is pretty sick-what happens if there is a real fire? tells you that Simon is cutting corners-malls are dying.

~What kind of Pokemon are you~ lmao interesting music choice.

Home town mall, and it's the least scary place in New Castle, GOD HELP US

Great informative content as usual. What are the chances of you heading over to Akron and doing a video of Chapel Hill Mall?

The mall broke ground the same day Pennrose Mall, another dead mall, opened in Reidsville, NC.