The Iverson Mall | D.C. and its First Dead Mall | Expedition Log #27 

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Premiere for this episode! I think it's a fantastic format, and despite the hiccups, I will be doing it again for a few going forward. You all positively rock, and I can't wait to show you the next ExLog...the lovely Ocean City Maryland and its petite Gold Coast Mall...Coming soon!

I’ve been living in this area all of my life. I’m 24 now. I’ve been to Iverson Mall more times than I can count. It definitely is an community mall and a little decent for quick pick ups. I hear from the older people in my family that the mall was amazing back in the 70s-80s. I haven’t been there in years, but it definitely has an old timey feel. I believe this mall could rebrand itself. All it needs is the complete renovation and updated stores

You make watching dead malls enjoyable! Keep them coming!

As of today April 30, 2020.......someone set fire to the first parking garage you walked up to and they found a body in there.

Sal, consider covering the Marlow Heights Shopping Center next door. It has a rich history you may find interesting, especially because they have their own police department that also patrols the neighboring communities.

Oh yeah, looks like a great place to leave the kids. Not sketchy at all! 👌

Most of that money got pocketed, but at least there's a chipotle. I live in the area of Iverson mall. Its trying to hang on don't know for how long. Tyson's Corner isn't treated like this because most of their stores are high end and cater to the upper class / rich people.

William Shatner doing multiple takes of an appliance ad . . . now, THAT is priceless. The decaying mall in Wash DC, perhaps the saddest example yet out of the entire collection I've watched so far.

Oh man. Iverson used to be a somewhat decent place for us in southern PG County to shop. Woodward & Lothrop (Woodies) was three levels, and was the only place to buy designer name clothing in the ‘80s. It’s very sad seeing it in its current condition...with Burlington occupying just the middle floor. Pagoda 7 was a very nice Chinese restaurant on the lower level, across from where GNC is now. My family had many, many nice dinners there together in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I can still hear the sound that the original handrails would make as you’d slap them while walking from Woodies to Walden Books just across the connector above Iverson Street. Drove my poor mother crazy!! Hahahaha Those were such great times.

Thank you for sharing the history about the mall I used to hang out in. This was a thriving mall in the 80s and part of the 90s. We were children and teenagers going to tnis mall. We used to take pics with Santa. Get those good ole snickerdoodles cookies. The best in the area. It's sad to see this. I pass by this mall and never go in now. I haven't been in since mid 90s. By that time we were going put to Tysons or Landmark Malls. It was a great mall. We had fun in this mall. So sad. So sad to see our childhood memories just fad away. 🙁

Well i learned something new about my neighborhood mall

There's no hope for this mall. No amount of investment will save it.

"Mr Gorbachev tear down this mall "

I feel like this mall is one of those underground malls only locals near by would know it

This mall as been like this for YEARS! I doubt this mall will every close. Especially since it's a landmark 🤷🏽‍♀️

Your music is always so on-point. I don't know how you do it.

The Galleria Vittorio in Milan is absolutely beautiful, and so well cared for.

Despite this mall being really old, dirty and dated, this place actually has a glimpse of hope in surviving compared to a lot of these dying malls. Between its location and neighborhood foot traffic, it looks just as busy as the average mall in today's time. What's also doing this mall favors is its a community mall! Community malls and Outlet malls are the most successful malls in general in today's economy, its usually the big metropolitan area malls that are dying a death in this new online shopping economy. Granted when this mall was originally built it was THE mall in the DC area aside from Landmark mall south of the city. Even though this mall has a horrible layout due to its 1960's design, its smaller size I think is going to help it survive. Bigger is not better when it comes to a malls future going forward, the overhead of keeping these mostly empty huge malls operational is too much of a financial burden. I'm also happy to see Prince George's County stepping in and trying to help keep this place going in the hopes of creating jobs in the community, I just hope the new mall owners do the right thing with the money and not just pocket tax payer cash! I don't know if Maryland has a historical society for landmarks and old buildings but if MD does the mall is over 50years old, the owners should look into it and possibly declare it a historical site? They're not many malls left standing from the 70's let alone from the 60's! Thanks for another great mall video Sal! To all of those cringing looking at this video because the mall is located in a black neighborhood, every neighborhood in America should feel blessed to have a mall that's still surviving these days if you're still lucky enough to have one.

Really enjoyed this. Creepy stairs down to Foreman Mills does not look safe.....Could use it as a set for a horror film add a few shopping zombies!

This is the *ugliest* mall I have ever seen, even without the trash! It looks like a dilapidated airport terminal from the 1960s, that became obsolete when a newer more modern terminal replaced it in the late 1980s or 1990s. All the flag caries like American, Delta and United have not served the terminal for three decades. But the terminal has limped on have dead for 30 years , saved only by a rotating cast of budget airlines. But these budget airlines have only ever occupied the last 3 or 4 gates of a 20 gate concourse that was never remodeled once. The space from Gate 1 to Gate 16 is completely mothballed, dirty and extremely tired. only till you reach gates 17 thru 20 does the old terminal feel alive again.

So many people! I live in a small town in Tennessee and even our bigger cities aren’t huge that are near us. This week we visited the oldest frame house in Tennessee that predates the Declaration of Independence. It’s only 30 minutes from my home and seeing Washington DC today was incredible. I’ve never been to the capital but I want to visit. This is an incredible mall. It really isn’t clean which is sad seeing garbage just sitting there. If they cared for the place it would be so much nicer. I love the way it goes over the street that’s pretty awesome. We have a discount chain Gabe’s here but it’s very clean and not grimy at all. I get a whole lot of clothes and accessories there. That foreman mills just looks junky. I couldn’t believe that was a childcare center. 🤔 2018 nothing changed cleaning and paint like you said but it needs work! When you went back was that childcare place open? I wanted to thank you again for another great mall!! I really enjoyed watching it.

Another good one! Your TOTAL SAVE comment made me laugh out loud lol

I have a lot of memories in that mall

Sal, you are creating such informative, interesting videos! You OWN this format! I also LOVE the creepy music you find for these videos!! It’s like OMG! I would be so creeped out walking into a dead mall with the music you have playing! 🤣🤣😝👍

Iverson Mall is in a high crime neighborhood. I know this because I grew up in Prince George's County, MD.

Fantastic video. I love hearing the info and history that you present. It makes it so much more interesting.

Just watched the video, you did it again sal. Loved every minute of it. Keep it coming!

Awesome video Sal. Your hard work is paying off.

Did you at least try the snickerdoodle cookies? I swear they're singlehandedly keeping Iverson alive!

This is your best presentation yet. I especially loved the city scenes and history. If they would at the very least paint the rest of this place, use a power washer on parts of it and clean up the garbage this mall wouldn't be too bad as it is without updating it. This was well worth the wait. Great job dude!

Again...nicely done! Your background information on the malls adds so much more to watching these!

Great video. Very interesting. Thanks so much for filming.

I lived in southern md this was the first mall we had here .My mom would take us school shopping at this mall we were so happy funny how the malls has changed by the malls today .Also crime and drugs took part of the that area over then but now much calmer .To mad they can’t get bigger name retailers to come back bring jobs honest money to this area I’d shop there just for the memories.

The interior of this mall looks like a beefed up version of the Echelon Mall (now Voorhees Town Center) in Voorhees, NJ from before half of it was demolished and the other half remodeled. Parts of the architecture seem really similar and the flooring with the tan tiles and alternating red ones along the edges is almost EXACTLY how the floors in Echelon used to be. So even though I’ve never been to this mall, it was a weird trip down memory lane. Thanks for the video

Great video and love all the info you give throughout each video keep up the great work!!

I really liked the music in this log. My favorite so far!

You have some excellent knowledge with every video you film . I can definitely learn from you

You're really good at what you do 👏 🌺🌻🌺

What an awesome Expedition. It really is such an interesting structure

Interesting mall! I do got to say that it's almost like one of a kind. Definitely unique for a shopping mall!

Sal- hey man! Thanks for another quality upload. All of them are. I wish you the best amigo! Your edits, commentary, filming, you name it; is on point. I hope more people see your channel, and truly wish you the best in your RU-vid endeavour.

another first class vid Sal!! very enjoyable and informative! ♥

Fantastic work as per usual

Okay that introduction was worth the wait I'm going to miss the live streams but enjoy hearing the history of the how it all came to be 👍

You are just one of the most informative and enjoyable RU-vid I know great video by the way

Love your channel. Always have since I found it.

I love your mall videos! New subscriber keep it coming it’s awesome

I use to work at Last Stop back in the day .. the mall had the best Cookies

The audio transition at 6:56 is why you are so amazing! The atmosphere you create is exactly right. I was in a mall today for the first time in a long time and all I could think of was your videos. Please keep it up. Your hard work is appreciated. Edit: I’m from Philadelphia but I live close enough to the border that I grew up going to the Plymouth meeting mall and the Willow grove mall. I also grew up going to the gallery mall down town made famous by fresh prince. The Plymouth meeting mall died for a bit but lego land has brought it back a bit. I don’t know. It’s still eerie to me with its double decker merry go round.

I actually grew up on Iverson st and lived a 10 minute walking distance from Iverson Mall. I used to go there often with my mom and grandma, and when I got a little older I would go by myself to go to Kay-Bee toy store to buy video games. I can tell you this...I highly doubt that mall will ever improve, and if they just so happen to rebuild and redo its image, it won't pick up much traffic. The surrounding neighborhood leaves this "vibe" that in turn, produces low quality stores and the like. Every time I decide to visit, just to relive the memories, there's always this feeling of emptiness, it's hard to explain. But anyways, thank you for doing this video...I hope you plan to re-visit the mall to see if anything has changed.

We moved to Suitland in 1965 when the only thing there was the bank on the right side. When the mall was finally built, going there on a Saturday night with the family was a huge thing. There were some really nice upscale stores at one time. I remember a piano store on the lower level. I bought an expensive camera at Ritz prior to a trip in '89. I seem to recall a George's appliance shop on the right side near Woodies. All in all, it was our place to go for our shopping needs. I still live in Suitland and the only reason I go there now is Mama Lucia's pizza.

I love your videos and live streams!

This is so sad, I grew up in Oxon Hill and my family shopped at Marlow Heights and Iverson Mall from 1966 until we moved around 1990. Many many great memories.

Iverson is a mall that has suffered not from a lack of traffic, but a lack of decent customers with enough income to spend. It's reduced to almost nothing but deep-discount stores, and those end up in space where the rent is cheap for lack of business to pay for them. Most surviving malls need a core of middle-class or better customers (see Tysons/Tysons Galleria or Fair Oaks for example) or a reputation for good shopping opportunities for "tourism" (Potomac Mills). Malls like this, regardless of location, have neither and languish.

Wow how quick things change. A lot of the stores from your video are gone now. I just walked around there 2 weeks ago. You should revisit and compare.

I grew up in this area and went to this mall in the 80s and 90s. There wasn't much there then especially after the Woodward & Lorthrop "Woodies" left (Burlington location in the video.) I went there a couple days ago for some snickerdoodles at the cookie store inside the mall. This place has the been there for a long time. In the 80s there was a Kay Jewels, Montgomery Wards, Pet store, Hair Cuttery, Roy Rogers, and a couple of Foot Locker shoe stores. I would catch the P12 bus to get to the mall. I have a lot of good memories going to this mall. I hope that it is fully renovated sometime soon.

Very nice explore!!

I live in Oxon Hill MD thanks for the video

went to this mall to explore back in the fall of 2016 when I was living in Silver Spring Maryland. It was scary as shit

I can't wait, Sal!

I used to live right around the corner from this mall. Went to G Gardner Shugart and Potomac High but graduated from ERHS.

Thanks for this video Sal. I watch it with very mixed feelings. This used to by "my" mall as a kid. I grew up in nearby Oxon Hill and used to hang at Iverson ALL the time. So sad to see it in this shape. I remember when it was actually cool!

Yeah, I can see getting chased by someone in that parking garage, always use the buddy system.

Even though this mall is still active, it’s very depressing in its appearance.

@11:10, inside the overlook, is where I saw a girl who lived about 25 yards away from our back door on Bruce Street, South East, DC. for the last time. Her name was Joanne.

I move into Maryland from DC in 1978 Iverson Mall had nice stores and was a welcoming place, but in years it started to change as well as the faces and stores.

When you said it straddles the street I was like "Oh it does a Guldford" (Guilford mall near Vancouver BC does this)

I am from DC been here all my life and never I mean never heard about this mall. O well I missed it. Good video thou

The first time I went to this mall, it had the staple mall shops....but after Wards closed, they left one by one. It’s old food court used to be one big Arby’s.

GREAT work, as always, Sal! You are now my favorite urbex channel! So, I have a theory on that awful childcare place. Maybe it was a sting operation by Child Protective Services. Basically, if you would leave your kids there, you can’t have them anymore! 😂😂

One of your best expedition videos, Sal. One suggestion: put a list of the songs you used in the video description. Who does that "What About Love" song that starts at 18:18 ?

i just binge watched this entire playlist today. it's something i've always been interested in but i didn't know there was a community for. my two local malls always flip flopped in popularity until the east mall got a von maur for an anchor (early 2000s). ever since, the west side mall has just slowly died. towne west square (simon even dropped them) just declared bankruptcy and defaulted on their bank loan. it's pretty much a dead mall now. the small sears anchor turned into a country nightclub that got shut down due to violence, and more recently, the large dillard's across the way moved into it as a clearance hub. the only main anchor with interior access is a small one-story jcpenny's. there is an attached dick's sporting goods and a large magazine order call center with no interior access in the other two "anchor" sections. dillard's main anchor was the largest and it's sitting empty now. east side mall still has all four anchors open (jcpenny's, sears, dillard's, and von maur).

You should check out the Boulevard at the Cap Center. It was already pretty rough, but it's getting worse since Woodmore was built.

Malls are a thing of the past, I’m afraid. The owner would do better by transforming the property to residential use.

I honestly thought the mall was still existent because of there snicker doodles lol I hope you were able to try them When you visited Iverson Mall is still known for the cookies 🍪 lol

I grew up in the 70's walking distance from Iverson Mall. I miss the Woodie's, Pagoda 7, record store, arcade above (?) the recruiting center, ice cream shop, the old piano store, Spencer's, the fountain was huge, and that raised platform where Santa would sit.

I love your videos Sal, so keep on delivering. I notice you film more in the east. I would love to see future videos of both Lynnhaven and Pembroke Malls in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I was in the Navy for eight years, and my first four year I was stationed in the Virginia Beach area (1990-1994). I have so many great memories of the area. I google search both malls and noticed they have changed Lynnhaven Mall was always very busy, while Pembroke Mall was busy, but quieter. Could you please do videos on the current status of these wonderful malls? That would be just awesome! Thanks again for the videos.

firstly: goddamn i miss home. secondly: ain't nobody gonna mess with a well dressed dude walkin around this place! thanks a mil for bringin back good memories! ;p

Went to this mall when I was a kid through teenage years. Left in the 1980s. Bad crime area.

Cool mall video :)

😂 i love the Apple II ad

Let me guess? There was no renovation since than. A couple splash of paints and what not. Still. Nothing to say WOW!!! Anywhere.

Back in the 80's, I use to live for Woodie's clearance section at Iverson. Sad all the malls are dead.

I love the font they used on the Iverson Mall sign...and the shatner outtakes...But those mall guts...yuck. 10:50 Heisenberg was here!

I had no idea that any Rose’s department stores were still open. We used to have several of them on Eastern Shore when we lived there back in the 90’s, but all of them had been killed off by Walmart.

19:39 after the 2018 section started I asked myself multiple times if you were going to show an update of it.

I can't wait to see if they update this mall. I heard alot about this mall when i was in dc but never got chance to see any malls in dc. This is really sad that who brought this mall never keep their promise. It like they don't care if this mall stay or go away

The place looked dreary. The parking garage lighting you showed was current LED technology with a programmable sensor. I'm surprised they made an upgrade like that.

Sadly, this mall will never get a re-investment. Its likely going to be demolished eventually. I grew up in the MD/DC region and the area around the Iverson Mall became incredibly dangerous during the mid-80s and remains so today.

This is my hometown stomping growd. RIP Iverson Mall

Yeeeeah, that child care place... Who would leave their kids in there!? Especially with that guy that confronted you? Yikes. Might as well leave the kids in an old abandoned building... Oh, wait.

I remember going here when I was a kid back in the 70s and very early 80s. It was beautiful back then. A small mall in terms of scale. However, it has beautiful fountains inside, and I remember all the coins that people threw in there. Whenever I would go there with my mom, I would beg her for change that I could toss into the fountains. They had tile bottoms with lights. It was magical. I also remember the different shows they would have there, like art shows and gemstone shows. I remember playing Dig Dug in the arcade there in the early 80s. After mid 1980s, it started to go down hill. By the 90s, it was doomed. I went there a while back, just for old time's sake, and it was pitiful. So run down, and depressing. The fountains were all gone. I am actually surprised it hasn't been torn down yet. It's only a matter of time before it is torn down and revitalized. However, that area is so economically depressed, I doubt any investor would want to revitalize it right now. Such a shame.

@16:25 is that the 4 million dollar efficient lighting, and that red blinker must be the hi tech security system?

Total Save sounds like it would comparable to an Ollie's Bargain Outlet

I absolutely love your mall content. It seems your interest goes way back, but when did you start producing & posting the videos? In some of the videos you mention visiting the locations, shooting video and speaking with management long before the death spiral begins. What made you begin contacting some of the facilities management and ownership long before Joe Public would recognize the malls problems? Keep up the great work and I’ll keep watching and visiting your sponsors.

Do you know when in 2017 you visited Iverson Mall? Thanks and nice video

This mall was fine until Naylor Road Metro opened in the 2000s. Then for a reasonable bus/train ride you could get to a better mall. Seems like the $30 million was used to renovate the Food Court into a Delivery App Hub and -- the bathrooms. All of the Food Places except The Great Cookie, Bojangles, Mama Lucia and Pro Cakes are new and they all (plus Bojangles and The Great Cookie) deliver. Burlington moved a few miles down the road to the revitalized strip mall now known as "The Landing" in Clinton. It was replaced by a Foreman Mills-like discount store called Shoppers World.

Does anyone know what those windows above the stores inside of the mall are for? I will be honest I grew up near this mall and I have ALWAYS wanted to know what those windows are for. Even more interesting would be how do you get to where those windows are? I wonder if there is a really cool set of stairs hidden somewhere behind a door that leads up there. I wonder if it looks and smells like the 70s and 80s since they never update anything, lol.

Excellent work as usual. Was that child care place around on your second visit?

Times were pretty tough for Shatner from the time the original Star Trek was cancelled and Star Trek the Motion Picture. Commercials were about the only work he could get.