Exploring Massive Sears Tower Complex in Los Angeles California Urbex Offlimits 

My grandparents used to live just off of Olympic Blvd about 10 minutes to the East. My mom and us kids would visit them 4-5 times a week. One of the highlights of a visit was when my Mom and Grandmother would pack us kids up in Mom's car and we would go the Sears Tower. There was always something interesting to see and Grandma would always buy us popcorn. Life was so much simpler back in the 60's.

Just imagine 1000s of peoples lives that were supported by Sears employment over the decades. Thousands of families raised, millions of memories. Thanks for your great work.

Those "lower floors" with all the columns were "fulfillment" floors and yes, those circular slides did indeed takes catalog orders down to the shipping Rea to be loaded on trucks. I was up in those floors back in 1978 as a member of a Junior Achievement group sponsored by Sears. We "worked" inside those floors and were taught how to develop, make, and market a product. Even at that time, most of their mail order business had ceased, but a few floors were still used for storage.

im 54, I grew up here , as a 6 yr old passed this on a daily and even then as a little kid this Building always looked massive ,vintage and so intriguing ! I wanna say this is part of what makes LA

I, like probably most kids who drove by it, was OBSESSED with that building. I only went in it once, to my knowledge, when I was a VERY young child. I remember being beyond thrilled that I was going to finally get to go into this magical world. Who knew it could get any better. I discovered my Aunt worked there, and I don't think there was anyone around who could have missed my excitement at making this discovery. I was not a Sears fan as a kid at all, but THAT Sears. I loved that Sears!! Lol

The possibilities are endless!! That building is absolutely stunning!! to bad no one has done anything to it!! that tower space would make an awesome public space like a restaurant or a small music venue!!

My late mother used to work for that Sears location, and I used to go there with her when I was a kid. Its sad and embarrassing what the owners did to the company, although it’s pretty cool to see the inside of the building.

So cool. As an LA native who used to go there as a kid, I absolutely love this. Especially since I pass by there once a week and think "I wanna go inside". Used to go there as a kid.

There is still soooooo much you need to see! I worked there for about 5 years. I had the elevator key that would take me up, the 3 floor 5 and 8 were the most interesting floors! Fucking amazing! Watching this brought back the same feeling I’d get every time I was up there! I’m surprised I never got caught cuz I was up there every time I had the chance . I was soooo lucky to have walked all of that! I did get lost tho

I'm obsessed with this building. Thanks for going there - I hope you go back and capture more of it.

That SEARS light on the roof is so cool at night.😊👍

I grew up in Montebello, back in the 60's and 70's. My mom along with my brother and I, would ride the bus to the Sears tower store to do our "back to school" shopping for clothes. We would always get a bag of the chocolate covered honeycomb to bring home. Good times.

My parents took me shopping there for school clothes in 1969 at the retail store. Great memories.

That was my dad’s number one store. To shop,we lived off Whittier blvd. And when we went to sears he’d would get me a toy or a bag of popcorn. It was dam good popcorn. But the stairs to get to the main doors 😮. My dad had two credit cards, sears and 76 gas. Sears sold craftsman tools. The best tools ever made. You can see building from the LA fwys. Brings back memories.

I've always wondered what was on the inside of that huge Sears building! Thanks for the tour!

Good video but, by the time you uploaded it last September, the Sears retail store had already closed permanently in April 2021. I made one last visit before it closed, as that was the Sears store we would go to when I was growing up because it was the closest to where we lived. Great memories. It was sad to see it close.

Having worked for the railroad I've looked at that building for 35 years and FINALLY get to see what's inside! The 'Telecom' equipt on the roof could very well still be in service. All it needs is 110AC and provides lease income for the current property owner. Thanks for the video !

Thanks for sharing this! I was eyeballing that tower when I lived in LA. Cool to see the inside!

Dude, I've wanted in there for a decade or more. Nice work!! Best video of that Sears that I've seen. I'm truly envious. 👍👍

I remember going to it, used to be a very vibrant place, with lots of lights. Holidays were the best times.

Loved going to Sears as a kid, the building had/has character. Walking up the stairs, smelling popcorn 🍿 yum. Going passed the candy counters 😮, seeing all the clothes and shoes 😊 my favorite section were the tractor/grass mowers, I wanted one 😂🎉

I worked at Hobart Yard in LA for the AT&SF/BNSF Telecom Department from 1995 through retirement in 2021 and I used to drive right past this building on the way home from work. When my brother in law was a boy, he’s 80 now, his Dad used to take him to this store to pick things up and he said that at one time in the heyday of Sears they used to have at least one of every item, no matter how large, in this store. This was back when America was a country and not a totally money grubbing techno oligarchy. The cool thing about those steel columns cover in cast concrete is that this was a common practice in building construction back in the 20’s and 30’s. The old building that Grainger supply used to be located in at their Los Angeles location before they moved looked like this inside. The whole place has the feel like you’re in the original Blade Runner movie.

Worked there for Barry’s security in like 2003. Worked the basement level for fire watch. Explored some of the Rooms upstairs and seen a lot. Some of the rooms look like parking lots. There was also one room that looked like a meeting room as well

Thank you for this, growing up in LA in the 90s, Sears was the go to for holiday clothes for my parents. This Sears during the holiday season was so warm and festive its sad to see that we wont ever experience it again. My parents always remind my sisters and I of two memories that stand out to them whenever we drive by. Once when my older sister was a baby in a stroller she lost a shoe in the store. Rolled in with both, rolled out with one 😅 and when they had a circus in the parking lot, and me in my excitement to go for the very first time, broke free from my mothers hand, and ran to the tent. I proceeded to trip over the large ropes holding up the tent and ate sht 😂 ended being my first trip to the ER instead.

Oh man I love that pillar slide. My parents threw me down that thing so many times to get rid of me, but I always came back.

Thanks for the to tour. I worked in the mail room in '69 and would have the freight elevator operator take me up to the tower where I would have my lunch on the balcony behind the giant SEARS letters. What a view.

Worked in it after the Northridge earthquake. We had to remove a good portion of the conveyor system. The upper floors still had desks with personal items in them. It signified the glory days of the LACMDC.

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!! What a great adventure!! I wish I was there!!! THANKS!!!!♥

At 1:07 them wood shelves are nice ...

THE POPCORN WAS GREAT

Thanks for doing this. Super cool.

IIRC the large rectangular building that says Dependable (?) on it was Sears newer distribution center they built since the building you explored was outdated for distribution. Pretty sad Sears went kaput. The Sears catalog was always looked at until they discontinued it sometime in the 80's, at least the large one they sent out. You could order anything out of it and have it delivered. If they went to a online catalog when people started using the internet they might still be up and running today.

I could see that tower from my house when I was a kid living in LA and I always wondered what was in the upper floors, great video, thanks!!

I’ve been wanting to go to this tower as well. Get some good shots of this and the skyline from there. Also want to fly my drone from here. It’s a great location.

worked there, for 23 years, loved it🙂

A very cool video thanks for the tour 👍

always pass by this sears building. This building has seen so much through history. Just very eerie lol. Since its been around for a long time.

I remember my mom and me would go eat at the food court by the entrance. Good ol days.

Amazing video!!! 🔥🔥

That slide is so cool !

When I designed clothing, our design and show rooms were in Vernon. I drove by this building for year’s. T

Thanks I used to drive by that building ......it was a pretty rough neighborhood and its great to see inside 😊

Thanks for this bro.

I remember shopping there with my mom.

Very cool view from the roof 👍

Very Neat! Nice post! I grew up in South L.A County (Compton/Lynwood) area. Sometimes my family would go up into Downtown for a ride and shopping. Yes, this retail SEARS was on our list. Then, Lunch at Phillipe's on Alameda....Famous French Dip Sandwiches !! Yum!

Very cool video of the building.😊👍

I wonder if some new use could be designed for this structure. When Sears was in decline, an Accountant for Sears I had known who worked for Sears in Chicago had suggested putting the Catalog on line and join with other suppliers to market and distribute products over the I net using a Sears site. It was dismissed by upper management as a pie in the sky project. His argument is that Sears had customer trust and name recognition. Sears was too heavily invested in Bricks and Mortar.

And yes the columns are cool.👍

Me and my friends are gonna check this place out this place looks sick hopefully it ain't renovated or demolished

I worked in the first floor and basement level. It was just to watch out if there was a fire down in the lower level rooms where all the machines were. I worked in Barry’s security in 2003. The basement level had a divided gate to the Sears back stock area. Restrooms also when you flush the toilet, it flushes forever. I wish back then we had camera video phones to record. I was only 19 working for security.

Very cool.i worked there prepping for a movie shoot about 5 yrs ago interesting place for sure

We used to go there as kids, never realized how big that building is.

I miss sears. One had a basement that had all the tools and lawn care stuff. There was a popcorn machine and hot dogs too.

That's really cool. The extremely tall ceilings are odd, lots of wasted space.

We used to shop there when I was a kid in the 70s.

Just found your channel & subbed. Interesting places. I hope you get more views & subs

Thank you bro

Is that building in Alhambra, the Wlshire area or... ? Strange. Sears was in a position to have evolved into what Amazon is today, but they blew it!

All of the Tele communication arrays and antennas 📡 on rooftop still being used for the area. Crazy

My dad bought me a Super Nintendo at this sears! Great memories

I worked there from 1968 till it closed 1992. Those chutes were to throw soft line items like down to the first floor where they were packed for for shipping in the basement. That is where they were loaded into ups and usps trucks for shipping . We also sorted and shipped to stores in bigger boxes . The other warehouse acr The other warehouse the annex shipped larger items , the tin corrugated buildings were for returns.

I went up a few yrs back and I remember the small stairwell leading up to the tower roof was sketchy AF, felt like it would come off the wall and I'd fall. We went up at night tho

Got my first tie and my first bike from here!

Huh! Always had this big curiosity about the building grew up near the tower my mom used to tell me that each floor had different old furniture and clothes from different years that didn’t sell lol Always wanted to visit the old LA County Hospital I would run around as a kid there to never got a chance to see the morgue though. Thanks for the video my dude!

I worked for Sears 2003-2007 I would come and do the midnight inventory on most of the stores Torrence, Carson, Downey, Buena Park, City of Industry, and Downtown LA. there was also whittier and Montebello Sears but those oddly belonged to a different district. I got to work at the downtown building several times for a 2 or 3 week span. id always go and check out all the other floors while working the Dept. store and the Auto center that was on the opposite corner. Ill never forget one floor i got off on a floor that was FULL! and im not exagerating this floor must have had 2 or 3 thousand maniquins it was super scary to go there. sometimes id also take girls on dates there and sneak off into the abandoned areas and give them a little tour and then you know what.... but I do have alot of memories of this place. theres another place that was just as creepy and is currently being demolished out in Downey you should know what im talking about @Urbex_offlimits.

Still looks good

Very cool you waiting until dark. Get in that slide and go !!!

This would make great Loft Condo’s. It’s a real loft building too, no the fakie lofts made of wood and plastered to look as though they were this kind of building. The tower would make an incredible penthouse. It’s in very good shape too. I see some leaky red tank. That would be a water take and that should be emptied entirely. It’s no longer needed. It’s leaking water will rot the steel all the way down.

Last time I remember hearing on the news at the old Sears store was bought find the developer I want to convert it into an apartment building but that did go haven't

My aunt worked in shipping for over 20yrs there till she got laid off when they were "closing" the building the first time

Pretty cool that the sign still lights up. I thought that was photoshopped in the thumbnail

At one time I think in late 90s Oscar De la Hoya tried to buy the building or did then sold it. Great views of the city from there. I'm 55 love this building I lived in Montebello ca

Why does this give me TWD vibes. But I worked for Sears but in another location and we use to come to this store because we had storage space. It was crazy we went two floors below street level and if I'm not mistaken every sears in SoCal had an assigned area for storage. I loved the building but it was a bit scary. I always looked forward to going there.. I was more use to the part of that sears that was open to the public. As a kid, my mom n her sister would take us and we would stay downstairs in the arcade, if we had any extra money we would buy popcorn or candy. Must say that when all the games were in use, I liked the Heckle and Jeckle machine. You could see one or two cartoons for a quarter. It's sad to see this building like this but all in the name of progress. Right?🤷‍♀️

We use to go to that sears with my parents n aunt when we were kids

It looks like the building could be converted into apartments or condos.👍

I used to stop there for school clothes. Christmas, everything

I remember my parents used to take me there.

This needs to be retro-fitted and turned into functional condominiums.

My brother use to work there back in the 1980s.

Yes I know where place I was live in Los Angeles before and my family live close to the place build about 20 min

Did alot of shopping there

That place looks haunted,i bet if you visit at 3:00 am some ghosts will manifest.

My unt and grandma used to live by that street in the 80's.

I wonder if you could restore power to the elevators. Theres obviously still power connected for the sign so i bet its just a matter of flipping the right breakers 🤔.

2:10. Rotary phone action. Nice.

I think the worst part about that great old building is the gang violence in that area of Boyle Heights now. That's why so many are skeptical as to whether it's worth investing in and reopening the building as some other kind of a business or even housing

Use to see this as a kid a few blocks away. Saw that and heard bullets also lol…

Be safe and careful.😊👍🙏

My father would buy his craftsman tools there back in the 70s

There are currently plans to turn the building into a mixed residential/ business complex

I used to shop there with my grandmother 😀

Lol i worked on that building and did the Demo inside when it had all the walls up 👍

is it still possible to explore? security seems super tight now cameras everywhere.

as a kid I always liked looking at the sears catalogs, makes me sad they could have been amazon with all locations open, if management wasn't dumb as a F'N rock ,

They should make it in to a tourist attraction !!!!

😮did you turn on the SEARS sign 😅

Like the 5:06 mark or 5:19 mark could be converted into a condo👍

How easy is it to sneak in tho? 👀 I’m tempted but am lowkey scared of getting caught

Thinking of hitting this spot this weekend, Gonna try climb it behind the building in the parking lot where the old entrance to the store was. Is this possible still?