DEAD MALL SERIES : Tour of the SUNRISE MALL from THE LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN (1985) 

Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at ru-vid.com/show-UCfCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!

I would love to see a mall be preserved for the era and be turned into a sort of museum with products widely used in the era.

I have a severe anxiety problem and your mall videos help me calm down and relax. I cannot thank you enough for them.

"Escalators can never break down, they can only become stairs" - Mitch Hedberg.

As a citizen of Corpus Christi I have to say that driving by this mall is one of the most depressing parts of my day

FYI, Helen Slater was in town for the 2018 Corpus Christi Comic Con and stopped by good ol' Sunrise Mall. Per the Caller Times, she said, "First of all, I'm very sad that there's not more shops that are thriving (at Sunrise Mall). But for me, it's really wild to see the double escalators, the beautiful atrium and just how much it hasn't really changed."

The fella from the arcade at the end of the video has owned and operated the joint since 1986 he told me he's supported his family with the business for many years. The real time machine is inside that arcade he has left it untouched since 86 and he even has all the neon light and signs and original machines since he opened. -Dan Bell I thank you for this video, huge fan of your work sir.

Join me on my second channel - www.RU-vid.com/DanBellFilmIt. FAIR IS FAIR!

Dan Bell, thought maybe you’d like to know that on January 15 they are gonna hold an event at the Sunrise Mall called “Walk Around Sunrise Mall Like It’s The 80s”. There’s about 4,000 people interested in going. What it is , they want everyone attending to dress up 80s style cloths and fill the mall like the scene from The Legend of Billie Jean and walk around the mall. They’re also going to show The Legend Of Billie Jean. Let’s see how January 15 the Sunrise Mall can go back to the 80s for a few hours.

every time I watch the dead mall series I always want to rip off all the neon signs and keep them in my room lol

Had a girlfriend who worked in a jewelry store on the first floor next the Florshiem store. Leaned on the glass wall at the top of the escalator several times trying to gather courage to go say hello to her.

I lived in Corpus during my teen years (early to mid 80s) & spent plenty of weekends hanging out at Sunrise Mall (Padre Staples, too) with my friends. Many memories left in that building! Thank you, Dan, for this awesome time capsule!!!

Can someone tell me why dead malls are so entertaining to watch?

Man '80s malls sure loved their earth-tones didn't they? It's like a late '00s First Person Shooter :D Terracotta tiles, hold railings and wood planks to sit on.

my friends and i went to sunrise the other day just to mess around, and my friend jumped into the huge fountain for fun (where the mallrats were seen in the film) because they had recently turned off all the fountains and took out all the plants inside. It's just so weird feeling a wave of nostalgia hit me, even though I wasn't even born until around 15 years after the movie was released.

Black mold on the ceiling, and they wonder why people don't go to these places LMAO

The mall should embrace it's forgotten notoriety from the film and hold a Billie Jean festival- have a screening at the theatre, reenact scenes from the movie. It could bring in some money to the mall since there is a lot of interest in 80's retro culture and the movie has a cult following. Also if it were possible to travel back in time to the 80's like how Christopher Reeve did in the movie Somewhere in Time this mall would be the perfect place to do it.

Mmm, that pepperoni pretzel looks so good.

This is your best ones yet in the series Dan! I grew up in malls in the 80's, and I was geeking out hard with this. The colors, the hard angles, the tile floors and the almost time capsule like quality of this mall is just incredible. Thank you so much for this one. Like you, this mall and it's history make it one of my favorites. Very nice touch with locating exact spots in the movie and showing how they look today. I can't stop smiling! 😆🖒

One of the most beautiful malls i've ever seen! There could be filmed so many authentic 80's retro music videos and movies.

How are these malls able to keep running, even though they have such low revenue streams?

Ahhh, the simpler times of 80s ; ) I can still remember walking around the mall in the 80s with my Mom, passing women in their pastel skirts with oversized belts, smoking on their Capri or Virginia slims (yes, for all you born in the 90s, you could still smoke in the malls back then) and the men all sportin' their Burt Reynold's mustache's and cutoff jean shorts, or "preppy" guys with sculpted hair and Z Cavaricci pants rolled tightly at the bottom. Those were the days. Big hair, tacky clothes, and everything in excess, exaggerated, and "edgy".

"We can't afford to be innocent stand up and face the enemy It's a do or die situation - we will be invincible" - Admit it, you heard Pat Benatar singing this at least once in your head while watching this video.

OMG!...I was born and raised in Corpus. I use to live near this mall when I was a teen and spent a lot of time there. We moved to NY State when I was 17 and Ive never been back. Im 48 now. I loved the glass elevator. I also loved the movie The legend of Billie Jean. I spent a lot of time on Padre Island. The Harbor bridge use to scare me to death..thank for doing this video.

It's so eerie and melancholy looking at "dead malls" and old movies from back when the malls (and the people in them) were so alive. It's like Greek and Roman Ruins, but those were MY old stomping grounds! It makes me feel ancient! I'm going to watch a special screening of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure at the dead mall where it was filmed in part. I don't have anyone to go with me. All the people I knew back then are dead or gone. I feel like just a ghost from the last millenia. Is this pergatory?

I signed up for the Marines in that mall in 2003. The recruiting offices were on the 2nd floor. We used to PT around the parking lot.

I think my addiction to the dead mall series spawns from years of working in a mall that is now torn down. Anyone else work in a dead mall?

I always wonder how they cover the utility bills let alone the rent.

Love it ! The movie spots are my favorite obviously . The fountain scenes are great

I'm a 90s kid. And this mall was the coolest in the 90s imo. And Halloween was poppin during those times! Now you can't even go in. I really do miss this place. From Riches to the movies this mall was bomb af.

The 80's called, they want their mall back!

Love it Dan. Movie scenes were great, love the attention to detail LOL! Keep it up as always!!

Hey Dan thought I would give you an update from Texas. This mall is now ClOSED. Only the anchors are open

Such a cool idea to juxtapose scenes from the movie with how the mall looks today! But as you said in the video, lots of malls that movies were shot in have now gone or are completely renovated, which is a shame.... I'm obsessed with 80's movies (and I was definitely a teenage 'Mall Rat' back in that decade) so this is a pure nostalgia trip for me!

No real reason you should be in the area, but Cranberry mall in Cranberry PA is incredibly dead and boring. They have a "Cranberry" fountain that has a gross rust/blood red water spewing from it. The floor tiles are that ugly worn burgundy and their food court has 2 shops left.

I grew up in that mall. Used to play video games in Aladdin’s Castle and I may have watch the movie at the dollar cinema. A lot of great times there in the 80’s.

I'm only a teen but it would have been so cool to live back in the 80's! We need time travel

This mall used to be pretty busy when I was a kid. Played pokemon at a card shop that was inside and even remember eating several times on that ship food court. It's sad to see what it is today, but La Palmera has just taken all the mall business away and only Sears and Burlington are left (but I think sears will be gone within a few years). But hey! There is a music school where you can learn how to play an instrument. (The Store infront of you when you walked in)

i love these 1970s malls best... all the earth tones and zigzag planters... #aesthetic goals

La Palmera is pretty nice and has really high end stores for a city the size of Corpus. My son goes to college there and I was really surprised to see how nice it was when I took him shopping. My husband and I lived there for 3 years in the early 90s and Sunrise was already dying, then. Loved Billie Jean and seeing all of the filming location in town - Ocean Drive, the Harbor Bridge, etc.

I watched The Legend Of Billie Jean multiple times on video growing up and I LOVED that movie. Mention it to anyone now and they look at you like you fell out of the sky, even if they are close to you in age. Always good to come across someone else that knows the film

It's official... These videos are my new obsession... Absolutely amazing series Dan.

As a Corpus Christian, I'm so glad for this exposure but so heartbroken at the state of this once gorgeous mall tbh. It's still a hangout spot for a lot of people. It'll be a huge deal when it's done away with.

Sunrise may not be dead for much longer. It's been purchased by a developer out of Houston. So if any of you want to see the Billy Jean sets in real life, best get to the mall pretty soon. It may not be there much longer. The bridge seen in several scenes of the movie is going to be gone pretty soon, too.

Thanks for posting this. I did some lookups, and as of 2019 the mall is entirely closed. At least you got to preserve it at the end.

I'm from Texas. I took a trip to Corpus and visited this mall without knowing where I was, until i found myself in the middle of the same location as the famous mall scene. My mind was blown, and I started to remember all the shots from the movie, imagining all the people and cast that once stood there. It definitely is a step back in time. Very very retro. Everything on the video is legit. It truly is a mall that time forgot.

I'm so freakin blessed to have been part of the coolest, most colorful generations ever!!!! 80's RULES :)

UPDATE: In December of 2017 the only restaurant left "Orange Creations" closed due to the owner passing away suddenly. The following month, January 2018, Sunrise Mall did not renew the contract with Dollar Cinemas because supposedly Sunrise Mall has "plans" to renovate that section of the mall and demolish the parking garage that is linked to that wing of the mall to allow additional room for other stores. In May 2018 Tide Dental left Sunrise Mall and relocated to a shopping center across the street. On June 1, 2018 Chelsea's left Sunrise Mall because according to the owner, Sunrise Mall did not want to fix their air conditioner. So Chelsea's relocated a mile down the road. If Sunrise Mall has plans to renovate then they better start doing something now because it is not looking good. I remember going in the mid to late 90s and it was still packed in my opinion. My dad would always take me and my brother to watch a movie and eat there. Then we would go to Oshman's Sporting Goods (store on the right @5:43) and hangout at the court while he looked at the fishing stuff. We would also visit the arcade, that place was always busy! Great video, Dan, keep them coming!

I know it wouldn't really be pheasable, but it would be cool if they could open these empty malls up to people living on the streets. They'd at least have some shelter.

Glad you documented this, could be the last few years for this place

I went to visit the mall today, but I wasn’t allowed in. The workers were gutting the place. I made some great memories there, now it’s all gone

Quality content as usual!!

♫ "I got it at the Factory." Burlington Coat Factory. We're moooore than great coats! ♫

A symptom of the shrinking middle class. Not as much disposable income. The corporate oligarchy and banksters are making us serfs.

DUDE. Those detailed obsessions! I HAVE THEM TOO. I did make some art with this using old photo's in my own city. I am so happy to know there's someone else obsessing over a darker tile from 40 years ago. Great, thank you. I will grade this as the video that came closest to my personal interests EVER.

This is a fantastic mall. You can't see the people, but you can almost hear the cluttered voices and smell the food court. Great video.

My local Chuck E. Cheese also opened in February 1981 as a Showbiz Pizza Place

it's ashamed malls fade away just like drive in movies.

Omg you were in my city!!!!!!! How did I not know this! You know how badly I've been wanting to meet you 😭

I think the thing that makes stuff like this so cool is that even though that in the past few decades things have changed so incredibly quickly(culture and technology-wise especially) , big structures like this still stand as temples and monuments to what once were so so culturally significant to us. It is sad to see them rot like they do but it also is good symbolism for how these few generations have aged.

Idk why but I get emotional watching this when I’ve never even been there. Like just seeing in the movie how happy people used to be and how that was a place of joy and now it’s dead...

“Billie Jean is not my lover, she’s just a girl that claims that I am the one...” first thing that came to mind lmaoo

“Pretzel World’s pretzels are very, very good.” Just like *AUNTIE* *ANNE’S*

best part has to be at 4:50 I want that pizza pretzel so bad! yet another great video yo!

I hadn't been in there since probably the late '90s on a visit to Corpus Christi, but it seemed to not be quite what it was when I lived there as a kid in the early to mid-'80s. I remember when it was brand new, and was also living there during the time when it was filmed. I remember the filming being talked about at the time. This was the up and coming hot mall, not that old Padre Staples mall! Crazy how the tables turned in the later years. Thanks for looking back on this before it closed down.

I love this mall! It was my very first dead mall to explore and I enjoyed every second of it!

Right now im sitting in a mall using its wifi to watch this ^^

i went to my local dead mall to pay respects and take photos. Valco Mall in Cupertino California. They are going to renovate, but the AMC theatre has this empty thing on life support.

finally! my Friday night mall date with Dan is back! oh how I've missed you

Our mall North County Fair in Escondido opened in 1986, up until a few years was totally vintage they renovated it and brought it to the 21st century. Crazy how those 80s malls all looked so similar

those blue lights on the railings are amazing. i love the 80s colors of brown tiles and red neon

SO many memories here. I was actually in this movie as an extra in the chase scene when I was very little. I remember it well. This was also my friends and I stomping ground all through the 80's and mid 90's. :D

Aww I grew up in Corpus Christi and this mall was a big part of my childhood. ❤️ There’s a wall of terracotta handprints at one of the entrances that has my three year old impression on it! Now that I live far away its really nice to get to see it. And so cool that it looks almost EXACTLY the same as it did in the 80/90’s! ❤️ I always loved that fountain area, It kind of reminds me of old EPCOT. My mom would let us buy cookie sandwiches at the great American cookie store and we would spend hours playing on that ship in the food court. I’ll never forget the day I was walking around on top of the planters with my friends and I stepped on a leaf from a big plant and the mall worker got so mad at me she told me she was going to call the police (I’m sure she wasn’t 😂) but I got so scarred I hid for hours. 😂😂 Thanks for the walk down memory lane. ☺️

You could do a follow up video, the house used in the Legend of Billie Jean, 3801 Ocean Dr, Corpus Christi. It burned with a Doctor and his wife and son inside.

I grew up in south Texas. So I remember this mall well via trips with family and friends. I remember eating at the port. Another thing I remember vividly was all the now empty planters used to be filled with lush greenery and all those brass railings used to be super shiny . Went back to explore in fall 2019. At that point almost everything was gone. Pretzel world was gone access to second floor and port had been completely closed off. Planet fitness, Burlington, and factory shoe store were still there. Rock n roll and war and peace were already closed . Sears was still open they hadn’t declared bankruptcy yet. We tried to look around and snap some pics but security followed us around the entire time.

Gadsden Alabama has a really neat Mall and has been around awhile and carries similar characteristics as this one from the 80s. Once in awhile I'll drive nearly 40 miles to visit Gadsden Mall mainly to relive the 80s. And I always take in a movie at the theater with all the popcorn, soda pop and candy I can handle. In 10 years I doubt anything like these malls around the country will exist. Best to enjoy them while we can.

Oh yeah I use to that mall back in summer along with my family in 1997 I was 17 years old and I bought Dare Devil Comics. Awesome thanks for sharing :D

Group of investors from Dallas are about to buy the Sunrise Mall. Will the sun rise again?

Update: The Interior space of the mall is closed. Prezel world has move to the Corpus Christi Trade Center and Sears Will be closing

Such a time capsule. It's unbelievable that the mall is as close to it's original layout and has escaped renovations.

i really gasped when monroeville mall was mentioned bc i feel like i live in a very irrelevant area and we’re never represented! i’m always terrified it’ll close down one day bc i’ve grown up there and would be so heartbroken without having the ability to go to it. another local mall is going to close shortly, since barely anything is open anymore, and i don’t want to lose either of them. sad times.

One of the main reasons Malls across this country continue to fall, is because these Megamalls were “cities in which no one lives but everyone consumes”. Without its former consumers, the middle class, the mall's have no choice but to mirror their vanishing middle income patrons who have fallen, and continue to slide.

Teen gangs emerged during that era and were cruising Sunrise mall they traveled from the West area of the city. This was the beginning of the end as shoppers stoped going to that mall. Across the freeway a huge outdoor shopping center was built. The Moore plaza the final blow to Sunrise mall

Excellent video Dan. They recently sold the mall with the exception of Sears and Burlington Coat Factory to a Fort Worth developer. WE are all waiting to see what happens to Mall down here in Corpus Christi.

Probably one of my favorite movies from my childhood in the 80's. I'm completely fascinated by the abandoned malls because it's sad but bittersweet at the same time.

Thanks for doing this one! The Legend of Billie Jean is one of my favorite movies ever, and this was so fun, albeit a little sad, to watch!

They should film an episode of Stranger Things season 2 here.

you know, I thought the same thing with the marbles...hmmm...wonder if Dan looked for a marble. Then you said it lol. Truth be known...I would have too.

Greenspoint mall in Houston, dead 💀

This video was posted on our local news' Facebook. I grew up running around this mall when it wasn't quite dead yet. This was actually the cool mall and Padre Staples was lame. It's a huge time capsule and nothing has changed since I was a kid.

And 2 yrs later...this dead mall is even more dead. Amazingly still open. I live near this town.

So cool you came down to my home town. Sad to see this place go so far downhill.

This is the mall my family would go to when I was really young (4 or 5) and watching this video now feels so surreal and dreamlike

I love the sunrise mall. I live here in Corpus Christi and they used to have the dollar movies in there and they recently went out of business, all they have now in there is a shoe wearhouse and a marines store that is now closing. They also used to have a burger place called orange creations but the owner died last year and his mom didn’t want to run the business without him. this mall has so much potential 😢❤️I miss this mall so much , the food court was so awesome....

I went to this mall in 1995 with my dad and my little sister. We had come to Corpus Christi from Austin for a beach vacation but it all got all rainy so we went to the mall for a day. I remember we went to see The Net, that Sandra Bullock movie about identity theft via the internet. hahaha This video brings back memories. oh man

Back when I was in middle school this was my favorite mall. It was nostalgic even then in the late 90's. The biggest problem imo was that they were charging too much for rent and stores began to move out, especially once the bigger stores left. Mervyns's went bankrupt which was a huge hit to the mall as well. I always loved the cascading water fall between the escalators. We would throw pennies to make wishes. Their was an orange julius there that we would grab a drink from and then go spend our allowance at the TILT game room. I remember how they decorated during Christmas when they put in the ocean themed mural at the entrance by the wedding dress store. Surprised he didn't film that on it. The dollar theater was always there as was a DQ and Chik-Fil-A. Sunrise Mall will always continue to be my favorite mall building. I live in Houston now though, plenty of dying malls up here too. I hate that they changed the name of the other CC mall from Padre Staples to La Palmera and got rid of the carrousel anyways. Wish they would lower prices and put a real try and doing up Sunrise again. Many stores that could come into corpus and fill them up and do well.

Helen Slater could really work the short haircut. So pretty.

Mall Cop starring Kevin James hilarious mall movie and I bet the Mall it was filmed at Burlington Mall(not to be confused with Burlington Center Mall) probably still looks exactly the same.

Thank you for doing this video. I grew up going to this mall in the early 90s. Sunrise was a big part of my childhood.

I would watch an unedited compilation of all the footage of this place, personally. Tragically beautiful hallways, I really enjoy the way the skylights let sun to pass into the bottom floor, and those poor trees carry on even when no one’s left. Black mold and collapsing pillars intermix with glossy floors and inviting corners. This building exists in a rare state between ruin and preserved beauty.