They tore down my old mall in 2012 and the days leading up to its destruction I just go there to walk around and take in the memories. You are so right. The 80s and 90s were the bomb. Couldn’t help but think about going there during my high school days with friends in the early 80s. Go there to meet girls, play games at the arcade, buy clothes and cassettes, eat lunch and see a movie. In the 90s buying my wife get engagement ring, appliances at Sears. Suits at Macys and later on children’s clothing. My barber cut my hair from when I was 15 till his passing in 2017 when I was 51. Just a memory now. Sad seeing being torn down.

@gcr1

4 ай бұрын

Sure is sad seeing this!

I lived there when it opened. It was a big deal. What a wonderful time it was. Nothing at all like today. If you weren't there, you can't possibly imagine.

Me and my 5th grade class had an orchestra concert on that stage….how time flies

Thanks for documenting this. Fiesta Mall meant a lot to me.

Fantastic work on this piece of History. Good bye Fiesta Mall . May you RIP 🪦.

I lived in Mesa from 1999 to 2013 about a mile from Fiesta mall. I clearly remember going to these places. Tragic to see the place deteriorate. Curious to see what they do with it.

@RSTI191

9 ай бұрын

low income housing for all of Biden's illegals..

I remember going to the food court and I'd get a cup of coffee and just sit and watch the people go by. It's sad to see the mall is dead now. So many memories, and now it's all gone.

Hi Tyson good to hear from you. It is sad to see all these older places closed and torn down. I hope you are doing well. Much love.

Way back in the very early eighties, it was reported that 10,000 people stuffed Fiesta to see Jonathon Brandmeier and his crew perform. The stage in front of the elevator didn't exist back then. The stage was set up in the center of the hub, you could see it from all the arms of the mall. I've been going to Fiesta since about 1979, in latter years I go by every now and then. Fiesta never had underground parking, but I do remember when the second story was added over by Dillard's. The best place to park to get into the mall was in the Broadway parking lot. Will I miss it, no. It was like watching anything in decline, after a time you hope it comes to end for it's sake. The neighborhood has going downhill for more than a decade. When I hear people blame Amazon for this, I have to ask them where was Amazon in the mid 1990's. It was by that time most of the malls in Phoenix were torn down, or scaled back. That trend began in the late eighties.

@kathrynkathryn4836

11 ай бұрын

Still a Loon?

@stevewalter1090

5 ай бұрын

I think trend began later because Arrowhead Mall in Glendale was built approx. late 80s. Christown and Metro seemed still to be cookin' then too.

@diggingattycho7908

5 ай бұрын

@@stevewalter1090 Thanks for the reply. It began in 1987, there was a stock market crash and a real estate crash. The real estate market didn't recover until about 1995. It was around 89-90 when malls began cutting back on amenities. It was in that time we lost Metro's ice rink, as an example. There is a lot to this story, sadly it's hard to know the extent of it. I remember whole office towers downtown vacant. Subdivisions were abandoned, along with other commercial projects. My uncle was just getting into larger commercial development, just as he had projects finished it all dropped out from under him. As he told me at the time, there was once a 1000 guys like me. Now there is less than 100. He did survive but you don't want to know how much he lost. Playing the bankruptcy game gave him some reprieve. When you hear stories about all the screwy developers, most of those stories came from that time. Those guys were doing all they could to survive.

@daboz8753

3 ай бұрын

In my experience with my own dying mall, it happened because of drastic refurbishments and extensions to existing malls shortly after the ill fated one was built. Two nearby older malls got insane overhauls, and this was in the mid 90’s, and the ‘newer’ one just couldn’t compete anymore. In a lot of cases it seems an over saturation of shopping centers and the economy just couldn’t sustain itself properly. I don’t really blame Amazon either, but online shopping certainly does play a factor…mostly because malls, while having a GREAT variety in the 80’s and early 90’s, lost most of those ‘speciality’ and unique shops and eventually it was mostly clothing and shoe places. That’s so boring…one of my earliest gripes in the late 90’s just before giving up on malls was the lack of anything beyond clothing stores.😂

Thank you for filming the last days of the Fiesta Mall. I remember hearing from the news in 2008 when a stabbing happened right at the restroom right by the food court, that was awful.

I’m glad you were able to get inside to show us the interior. Could have done without the stabbing story though. Don’t understand how you were brave enough to risk arrest to enter the mall but not so much to go into a dark bathroom you were talking about. Still a nice walk through; much appreciated.

Dark w/haunting sound effects OTHERWISE great to see you preserving history and hear your narration. Thank you, Tyson 🙏

Good to see your channel back up.

Aladdin’s castle, Kings Table, Champs!! Lots of great memories form the 80s and 90s

@steveaustin6786

15 күн бұрын

Oh yeah I remember champs it was on the bottom next to the playground

I lived in Mesa (1994-2007) Fiesta Mall was thriving . My original hometown (Cleveland Ohio) a number of malls have closed including the largest mall (Randall Park Mall) at the time of its opening in 1976.

I live in MT, I’ve never been to this mall, but enjoyed the stories and video just the same. Thanks Tyson! Miss you in true crime!

That is sad to see. It looks like it was a nice place.

I worked as a store manager in retail and was there for the mall grand opening in 1980. Sears (Homar) owned the mall at that time. It was a beautiful mall, very popular and the east valley was a high growth area. Sad to see this happening. Retail and malls just didn’t keep up and stay current.

@gobbletegook

4 ай бұрын

Just posted mine about the SEARS real estate division opening this (and so many others) before I saw yours

Looking into the future for our entire country....this where we are heading folks

Seeing this mall go out of business and now to be permanently erased from the face of the earth is like witnessing the downfall of our nation.

@ghostproductionsmalls

Жыл бұрын

True

@thesunreport

Жыл бұрын

The deaths of these places are an interesting phenomena. I would hazard a guess that part of it is to do with people now buying thngs off the internet. And secondly that the small amounts of money that were regularly spent there, are now being spent on phone and internet services themselves. So in that sense the internet brought two guns for the killing of actual shopping from shops.

@gbolter2800

8 ай бұрын

​@@thesunreportbut malls are still alive in europe

@thesunreport

8 ай бұрын

@@gbolter2800 Not where I live in the UK, the small one here has lost an awful amount of shops, it's very sad.

@gbolter2800

8 ай бұрын

@@thesunreport Idk I seen video about why malls in america dying and in europe they don't

Orange Julius🍊🍊🍊🍊!!!!

@steveaustin6786

15 күн бұрын

The sbarro pizza joint by the restrooms

I was hoping you'd find a way in without getting arrested LOL. The 80's and 90's mall days were good times, my friend. Especially going to Chick Filet since, back then, you could only get one at the mall. It's the end of an era.

Awesome to hear from you Tyson… why are they tearing down and what will replace it? Thank you Tyson and God Bless and Gods Speed 🙏🥰🥰🥰

@CityLifeinAmerica

Жыл бұрын

A mixed use development, which means it’ll be part mall, part apartment, part shopping complex. It would be nice if it retains the Fiesta Mall name like they’re doing with Metrocenter.

@nana_wwg1wga

Жыл бұрын

@@CityLifeinAmerica Thank you 😊

@phedingsfield

Жыл бұрын

​@CityLife in Arizona and paradise valley mall

Thank you for sharing 👍

Although I never was at this mall, I saw my share of malls in Colorado go the same route. In the early 80’s, there were several that were really booming but as we approached 2000 and beyond, many were torn down and rebuilt as big box shopping areas, most of which were open air. After Covid, I returned to my home state of Florida but I still remember all the good times I had at those malls no longer there 😢😢

I SPENT MANY A FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT THERE DURING MY TEENAGE YEARS BACK IN THE 80'S

Just drove by a few weeks ago and it was still up.

Seeing the state of the mall rom the inside is so sad from what I remembered. I'm glad this was captured for posterity, but it really looks like something I'd only expect in the Walking Dead!!

Dude how the heck did you manage to get in? I went there last week trying to shoot some footage but I saw a whole crew of people working on the inside and they have cameras everywhere now.

Is getting inside easy or can you let me know who to contact ?? Would love to fly my drone in there.

Went to this one many times while vacationing or travel for work. Thanx for showing the label scars on the walls...its always hard to remember what was there after so long. This was another SEARS HOLDINGS development...they went around the country buying up real estate and making malls so they (SEARS) could be the anchor and make tons of money. Well, that was then I guess.

I remember the staircase at the 1:20 mark. My friend next door, Jim Cole, and his dad built a wooden go cart, and we would go to the mall on Sundays if I remember right, and go down the road and around to the stairs. We would carry it up to the top and we would do it again. Spent a couple hours doing that. What great memories

This is awesome! How did you get in!?

I don’t think someone tried to burn it down, rather the fire was probably started by homeless people to keep warm in the winter. It’s been really cold here this winter.

@Gruntz00

Жыл бұрын

No your wrong

@Gruntz00

Жыл бұрын

Quit assuming things

@CityLifeinAmerica

Жыл бұрын

@@Gruntz00 it’s also assuming to say someone wanted to burn it down.

@Gruntz00

Жыл бұрын

@@CityLifeinAmerica funny enough i already knew who did it

I lived in Mesa some years ago, and I can remember watching the Fiesta Mall die a long slow death.

It's truly sad to see these brick and mortar malls die. My favorite mall ever was the Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio.

So sad. I grew up going to the mall hanging out at the arcade while my mom shopped. No not this mall, but still the same

What will replace it? Good to see you back on. ❤❤❤❤

@lg403

Жыл бұрын

Probably another amazon fulfillment center

My wife was the manager at the knife shop.

They do not want stores anymore. they want distribution centers every 150 miles...Sad...

Some of these malls close due to poor maintenance and water damage. There a a few malls still thriving in phoenix area.

so many memories as a kid. I remember all the stores and worked at sears for a short time. I only remember it as a busy place. 2006 was a much better world and fiesta mall was still hopping.

@wiseman-qe8we

Жыл бұрын

2006 was a much better world and fiesta mall was operating well.

In the mid-90s I remember going to this mall to view the AIDS quilt displayed in the parking lot. Does anybody else remember this? Every forth or fifth quilt there was a Kleenex box in case people cried, and believe me most of us did.

@AbcDef-iq4no

Жыл бұрын

@@comfeefort I can really appreciate what you went through and thank you for sharing what happened to you and your partner. In the mid-80s, right at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, one of my best friend's lover (Paul) contracted AIDS. It was before anybody knew how it was spread and people thought it was airborne. Paul was a wonderful man who was a teacher and who owned a cool little farm, where nobody would step foot after he was diagnosed. I got so frustrated that I went out there each week and chopped wood, fed the chickens, vacuumed and dusted while my friend spent all his time at the hospital. Paul went quickly, in a matter of months, as a lot of us did at the beginning.

This was the go to mall until they built Superstition Springs (it was closer) but I can still remember the days we spent here. How sad to see it demolished 😢

I want to come visit this place! how did you get in?

Sad. I used to go there almost every weekend.

I see this mall and it is like one I worked in a few times when I lived in Eugene Oregon. I bet this mall has a lot of memories for people when they were younger. I worked at one named Valley River Center in Eugene Oregon. Some good memories and some not so good. Like most things this mall had it's life and then it died. Too bad for the people who grew up going there. It is the end of an era.

It is a shame, so much work went to build those malls, and more and more iff them end up like this one, at best some salvage company should salvage what can be.

My God it looks like century 3

I used to go to that mall for its Abercrombie and Fitch back in 1998!!!!

That was by my home, I went to Denver Buisness College in the east section Fiesta Mall parking lot Many other places on thr Southern and Alma School intersection now gone...Its like my home , were i grew up has been destroyed, leveled. Many others homes are still around, have their memors... but this was my home...gone now.

Not sure what's worse, water damage or vandalism.

480 damn that mall was my childhood I used to work at Dillard's unloading trucks and stocking the store

I guess all bets really are off for going inside now, because now with expensive construction equipment on site, and possible liability from exposing asbestos, they’re more likely to prosecute from anyone going inside. The best time to have tried to go in was a few weeks ago.

@ghostproductionsmalls

Жыл бұрын

They are also taking down Metrocenter Mall as well this is a sigh of a lazy society

❤

How did you get someone to let you in? If you don't mind me asking.

As an Arizonan, when I heard about this,it made me sad 😞

So now what are they going to tear it down and may i ask why did this Mall close for

Good luck with this new channel.

Good memories at Fiesta Mall 😁

They’re not tearing it down they’re turning Dillards into the possible hotel they’re talking about or another store they were talking about also

How did you get in to the mall?

Is there ANY chance the citizens can unite and fight to restore the glory of Fiesta Mall?

@wiseman-qe8we

Жыл бұрын

hahah I dont think so

Reminds me a lot of century iii in some regards, wonder if Debartolo built this one…

@benjaminvlz

5 ай бұрын

Homart Development Company, which was a subsidiary of Sears at the time, built this mall.

😢

The fiesta is over.

I used to work in that plaza and on the 10th floor of the Bank of America

Puentes Hills Mall is coming like this

So sad😢i

Oh well!

RIP U.S. elevator

I live in phoenix desert sky mall sucks as hell alot crimes happen there like kidnapping and shooting

@lg403

Жыл бұрын

It‘s almost like the good people don‘t leave their House anymore, only crackheads and psychos

I baught alot of stuff at that mall

You have to go back at night....

Never mind the Asbestos warning signs 😅

Such a waste of a mall that was built in the late 70's we are still using malls that were built in the late 50's early 60's and they are building more new malls here in Alberta.

@nickk1406

Жыл бұрын

We have Southdale Mall in Edina Minnesota, which was open in 1952 still humming along fine.

If you go back hmu!

Group of kids used to go there every day messing with the mall they turned the power on and made bong fires in the middle and vandalized the whole thing breaking all the glass and spray painting racial things they messed the whole thing up if the mall was untouched it may have went back into business sad to see it go tho

They should turn it into an airsoft field. It might draw people in from all over. Been there many times as a kid but to be fair, all malls are either dead or dying a slow painful death these days.

Nothing stays the same... feel you brother..... sixty's we're pretty good also..... Best is yet to come... Grand Master Ultra Maga Donald Trump will return believe that Pilgrims. Gun's and Bibles Americans Amen.... Stay healthy safe travels ... OG SS gone the old curmudgeons down the road........

I was living on McKlintock and Southern in Tempe when it was built. Spent my HS years and most my paychecks there in the 80’s

I grew up in both Mesa and Scottsdale from 1972 to 2017 I scored so much p*zzi when I was 15 at that Mall ha ha ha then they built the BofA tower accross the street I filled up the fountain with dish soap.

@DontcallmeaCuck

9 ай бұрын

We are looking for you

@user-kz4ll8of3k

9 ай бұрын

Oh no worries I am here and i did it more than once ha ha ha ha I did it on Halloween when they had leds lights in the fountain lol@@DontcallmeaCuck

@DontcallmeaCuck

9 ай бұрын

@@user-kz4ll8of3k This isn’t gonna be good for your permanent record . Some colleges don’t like these types of blemishes . We will have some PD officers come and talk to you and what other accomplices that may have been involved

@user-kz4ll8of3k

9 ай бұрын

Cool can't wait ha ha ha ha Make sure the P8do's at Mesa PD know first.@@DontcallmeaCuck

Nothing stays the same except the unexpected.....on the other hand private enterprise should figure a way to make money on these empty malls everywhere. One day 🤠 hahaha aaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeee the old curmudgeons down the road.....,

You tried, which I appreciate, but your narration is like those clickbait articles that take 25 pages and diverts before getting to the story. 😂😂 Also, were you part of the demo crew? Otherwise, it's pretty reckles to go into a building as equipment is literally pulling it down. Dudes in the cranes and everything. So bold!! 😂😂

8:35 looks like vandals are bad at spelling.

They are so worried about money and Mesa doesn't need anymore apartments and crap they need more places for the homeless people that is the biggest mistake they are doing that is why I hate Mesa so much too many apartments and too many churches and not enough places to get these homeless people off the streets and what if it was their son or daughter or their mother or father on the street I hope the people that are greedy and tearing this place rot in hell

British Knights were the shit!

@map3384

10 ай бұрын

I had all but forgotten about that brand.

So many malls closing down- days of Amazon Delivery!

@janetsalazar1210

Жыл бұрын

😢😢😢