I Accidentally Got Valley View Mall in Dallas, Texas DEMOLISHED (probably).
Life is strange. Sometimes a string of small events culminate into larger ones and that’s what today’s post is about: the story behind how I accidentally got Valley View Mall in Dallas, Texas demolished, (probably). Join me on this strange journey into how a spur-of-the-moment decision and a nostalgic urban adventure-themed video spawned a possible litigation from the city of Dallas, as well as multiple news articles and radio discussions on this topic. This includes being mentioned in the Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, and more. Let’s dive in.
A glimpse of things to come…
On a Sunday, not too long ago, my friend Holland, A.K.A. “The Helicopter Bear” and I ventured out into the world looking to create an urban exploration video for my YouTube channel. We decided on the dilapidated Tri-City Hospital in Dallas, Texas however, things didn’t work out as planned.
Tri-City Hospital Ruins
Once we arrived, we realized there wasn’t a way in without hopping the fence. Being an avid skateboarder, skate-culture often encourages jumping fences, though at 35 years old, it didn’t seem like a risk I wanted to take. Additionally, there wasn’t anywhere to park unless we wanted to leave the car in front of someone’s house in the surrounding neighborhood, which we decided against, so we moved on.
We were still determined to indulge in a bit of urbexing that day.
There was a storm drain tunnel just off of Jupiter Road in Garland, Texas that I had skated in front of in the past and always wanted to explore. (I made 2 separate videos about this skate spot entitled, “Garland Moss Ditch” & “13 Best Ditches to Skate in Dallas Texas Area!”) The entrance is alluring with spray painted art and two different directions to explore. Remembering this mysterious portal to the unknown, we headed to the Jupiter Tunnels for a second attempt at filming an adventure.
We parked in a nearby industrial parking lot, gathered our primitive spelunking gear, and made our way to the ominous precipice of darkness, (what a pedantic sentence this has become.) Holland and I felt obligated to take a YouTube thumbnail picture that was later never used, until this article.
The YouTube thumbnail that never was…
We took a few more photos and entered the tunnel to the right. Our feet shuffled through a thin layer of moss that layered the ground, but that wasn’t the big issue; the murky water that rose to our ankles was. We hurried on into the darkness with our headlamps as our only salvation. The water got deeper and the walls filled with scattering cockroaches. About ten minutes in, we noticed small fish swimming between our legs.
Holland made a fishy friend.
It was about then when we reached a joint conclusion: not only was this tunnel uninspiring to make a video around, but the tunnel seemed to slowly be leading us to the lower decks of the Titanic in the latter half of the film.
Mission failed, but we gave this urban adventure thing one more go.
Let down from two failed urbex attempts, we brainstormed back at the car as to what our next move would be. I recalled a video/article idea I had jotted down last year about a local mall in disrepair that meant a lot to me, as I spent many weekends and evenings there in my adolescence.
After suggesting we head there, Holland agreed and we drove another twenty minutes to the subject of today’s post: Valley View Mall.
Photo by Matthew T. Rader before this part of Valley View was destroyed.
Driving up, we were surprised by what we saw. It looked like a bomb had gone off on one side, though the rest stood firm as if to reassure us it wasn’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon. The only thing that separated us and the forgotten structure was an acre of grass, full of water from the last week’s storms.
We found parking, walked across the near-abandoned mall perimeter road, and walked through the swamp-like field to an entrance that looked as though a battering ram had opened it.
One of the many wide-open entrances to Valley View Mall now.
To follow the rest of our odyssey through the neglected shopping center that is Valley View Mall, I’ll refer you to the video below that collates our excursion in it’s entirety.
So, let’s get to what happened AFTER this video came out…
Following the release of my video above, I began getting messaged links to D Magazine from friends and YouTube subscribers sharing how the online magazine covered my YouTube adventure. This blew me away that this made it to D Magazine.
Read the full article HERE.
While I don’t agree with the article’s title including the phrase, “Break Into” because there was no “breaking” involved, I understand the need to embellish the truth for a reader’s attention. Regardless of this fact, I was still shocked to see my name in a D Magazine article.
Apparently, my video got the attention of the city attorney’s office as well, because in the article, the writer goes on to explain that they are threatening the property owners with litigation if the building is not fully demolished in the next couple weeks. From my personal experience, being in what was left of the mall, I would fully agree with tearing it down in its current state.
As you’ll see in my video and in the photos below, Holland and I found blood stains in a few places, bullet holes in the old glass elevator, and many other indications of a building that could facilitate dangerous behavior if left in its current disrepair.
Fake or not, this circle of blood in the mall’s concourse was a bit frightening.
The bullet holes in the glass elevator were disturbing as well.
On a more positive note though…
After releasing the video, I saw an outpour of viewer’s nostalgia in the video’s YouTube comments as well as received a plethora of positive private messages from people who had watched my video and wanted to share their own memories of the once great mall.
As I explained in my video, this was my driving force behind documenting what’s left of Valley View Mall before it eventually becomes completely destroyed; it’s why I make most of my YouTube videos around nostalgic subject matter - it fills me with absolute joy to create them and to share my adventures with everyone so that it may kindle a precious thought or remembrance once lost.
It all comes down to this: I hope I brighten a few Dallas resident’s days with positive memories of a place we used to meet, socialize, shop, and overall, enjoy as a community. Thanks for reading and watching. R.I.P. Valley View Mall <3
Press Coverage:
Disclaimer: As mentioned in the video, I don’t suggest exploring what’s left of Valley View as it is very dangerous. Not only does each section look as if it could fall apart at any moment, but as with any aging structure, the possibility of asbestos is likely.
