The weird echoing sound in the old Northgate food court finally made me realize why I keep going back to dead malls.

I was standing right where the giant fountain used to be in 2009 at Northgate Mall in Seattle last Saturday and the way my steps bounced off the tile brought back a memory of my mom buying me a pretzel at that exact spot, has anyone else had a random sensory flashback hit them mid-exploration?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkernelson1d ago

I’ve been in that EXACT spot at Northgate. The tile pattern near the old food court still has that weird brown and orange swirl right where the fountain base used to be. Grab a pretzel at the Auntie Anne’s kiosk two floors down next time, it hits different after a walk through the empty halls. Those echoes mess with your head, but they’re the only way to keep those old memories from fading. Just watch out for the loose floor tile by the escalators, it catches your heel every time.

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evan_anderson21h ago

Nah, I gotta disagree with you on that pretzel suggestion. That Auntie Anne's kiosk lost its touch like five years ago when they swapped out the butter for that fake spray stuff. The real play is hitting up the hot dog cart by the old Sears entrance, that guy still uses the same griddle from the 90s and you can taste the difference. As for those echoes, I actually think they're overrated. Walking through there now just feels sad and hollow, like the mall itself is waiting for someone to finally pull the plug. Maybe I'm just numb to it after watching it rot for so long.