diana_park•25d agoProlific Poster

Debate: Dead mall parking lot vs the actual mall interior - which is sadder?

I went to the old Franklin Park Mall last weekend and something hit me. The empty parking lot with cracks and weeds felt more depressing than the gutted inside with its missing ceiling tiles. Like outside you see the decay in real time but inside it's just a shell of what was. Anyone else think the parking lot tells a better story of failure than the mall itself?

2 comments

2 Comments

leeknight25d ago

Yeah you ever notice how the parking lot tells the whole story before you even walk in? I used to think the empty hallways inside were the saddest part, but you changed my mind here. Outside that pavement is literally falling apart, grass pushing through the cracks, lines barely visible. It's like the building gave up on trying to look normal long before the inside did. The inside just looks abandoned, but the lot looks like it's slowly getting swallowed back by nature. That's a tougher kind of sad, way more final.

lisa82025d ago

Have you ever actually tried to walk across a dead mall parking lot in the rain? The potholes fill up and you end up soaking your shoes, and the lines are so faded you can't even tell where a spot ends. That's the real kicker for me. The inside might be gutted but at least you're on dry ground with a roof over your head. But that lot is just sitting there getting wrecked by weather and time. If you want to see a place truly give up, just look at the pavement cracking apart with nobody around to patch it. It's like the concrete itself is admitting nobody cares anymore.