Dixie Square Mall: From Shopping Center to Blues Brothers Wreck
Harvey's Dixie Square Mall opened in 1966, closed in 1978, starred in The Blues Brothers' famous chase, then sat abandoned for 33 years. The full story of Chicagoland's most famous dead mall.
Every Chicagoland kid who grew up in the '80s has seen it, even if they never shopped there: the mall where Jake and Elwood Blues tear through the storefronts in their battered Bluesmobile, cop cars right behind them. That was the real Dixie Square Mall in Harvey. And by the time the movie was filmed, the mall was already dead.
A south suburban mall opens
Dixie Square Mall opened on August 31, 1966, in Harvey, just south of Chicago. It was a classic enclosed mall of the era, with big anchors that south suburban families relied on: Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, Woolworth, Walgreens and a Jewel grocery store. A Turn Style discount store joined in 1970.
For a few years it was a busy place to shop.
A fast decline
The mall's run was short. A few things hit it at once:
- Crime. Harvey's crime rate climbed in the early 1970s, and the mall became known for it, including several violent crimes on the property.
- Theft. Shoplifting and employee theft hurt the stores.
- Competition. Lincoln Mall opened in nearby Matteson in 1973, newer and bigger, and shoppers followed.
- A struggling local economy that left less money to spend.
Stores left one by one. The mall closed in November 1978. JCPenney held on until January 1979, and Jewel until July 1979.
The Blues Brothers
In mid-1979, just months after the mall closed, a film crew moved in. For about eight weeks, the production of The Blues Brothers restocked and dressed the abandoned mall to look open for business, then filmed one of the most famous car chases in movie history. Jake and Elwood drive straight through the concourse, through display cases, storefronts and walls, with police cars wrecking everything behind them.
The movie came out in 1980. For a lot of people, it's the only way they ever saw the inside of Dixie Square.
Thirty-three years of ruin
After the cameras left, nothing replaced the mall. It simply sat. For 33 years, from 1979 to 2012, Dixie Square slowly rotted. Vandals stripped it starting in the mid-1980s, fires broke out in the 2000s, and the building became a notorious magnet for trouble. It also became a pilgrimage for urban explorers and photographers, and one of the most famous "dead malls" in America, long before dead-mall photos were an internet hobby.
Demolition
Demolition finally began in February 2012 and was finished on May 17, 2012. As of the last reports, the site remained largely vacant, with officials floating ideas like a freight or cold-storage warehouse.
Why people still remember it
Dixie Square was open for barely a dozen years, and abandoned nearly three times that long. But thanks to one movie, it might be the most famous mall Chicagoland ever had. When people talk about the region's lost malls, this is where the conversation starts.
Next in Gone but Not Forgotten: more of Chicagoland's dead malls. See our story on Kiddieland in Melrose Park.
Sources (1)
Photos: Dixie Square Hardy Shoes by Zol87 from Chicago, CC BY-SA 2.0; May 17, 2012 - Dixie Square demolition complete by Rickdrew, CC BY-SA 3.0.