I live here in Baltimore City and I can tell this is really great footage you’ve put together. Those old but well kept homes you came across were purchased by folks many many years ago from what I’m told were sold for $1.00 by the city. I believe just like you that the Old Town area was supposed to get revamped but through politics, mismanagement and pure corruption it all fell through… l loved this area at one point in time, it was so convenient for us Baltimoreans to shop, socialize and worship. I get a bit emotional because so many great times were spent in this historical part of town. You have tons of who now are famous people that are from this area, Dunbar High School produced many of them. I must say it’s brave of you to capture this valuable footage and have such great historical facts you’ve documented… Stay Free-Stay Safe ✌🏾✊🏾🤟🏾🤙🏾

The contrast of old and new mixed together is the story of Baltimore. You can drive through a nicer neighborhood and less than 30 seconds later drive through an abandoned one.

I remember when I was small and my cousin would take me to the old town mall, I would get shoes, chicken box, and other things, believe me those were the days. Seems like a lifetime ago. It's sad that the whole area has so much potential to be turned into something great.

I'm the UPS driver for that area. I deliver daily to the small amount of business there and the surrounding area. There is a firehouse museum in the entrance where that click tower stands. The daycare is active. Church and pawn shops are active. The haunted house is usually just in October every year. The new apartment buildings are very nice inside...not sure of the price... but I think they accept Section 8 rentals. I think they have plans to build another set besides the 3. The pain shop owner says that they do have plans to revitalize Old Town...hence all the new apartments. There are a few Hopkins employees and students who live in that area.

When High Rise Projects were still in the area, Old Town Mall was jumping. It is a shame that this has happened to the Baltimore area.

We were there on the day Harbor Place opened in 1980; the place was filled with people in both pavilions and the mood was one of optimism and exuberance. We spent our evenings there every weekend throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there were so many charming ethnic restaurants, we particularly liked the Indian restaurant on the second floor of the Pratt Street pavilion, we sat out on the balcony there and spent countless evenings enjoying a wide range of ethnic food delights while watching small boats in the Harbor navigate their way back-and-forth. For us all that ended on 9-11 or shortly thereafter. I went back in 2018 and had lunch there with a friend, The place was almost as desolate as shown in your video here. Returning then was quite sad knowing how wonderful the place had been 40 years ago.

Also, the entire are is being renovated. The window you was peeking in was my clothing store and lounge 😂😂😂

I grew up in Baltimore. I live in Baltimore County. If you want good museums, theater and really old history like I do I get it in Baltimore. Not all of this city is in turmoil much of it is still terrific! Please don’t give up (completely) on this city.

Ian, great content (I just found your channel). I have 1 compliment & 1 suggestion. I love how you went to the backside of the mall. You may want to find historical photos (when the place was actually ALIVE) of the places you film. Splice in pic while you're in the EXACT same location as the pic. Not only is the pic something that many of us want to see - it's also great to see the contast from the good 'ole days (that many commenters comment on) & today.

I worked in Baltimore from 2015 to 2017 helping to house homeless veterans and I used to drive past this abandoned Olde Town Mall almost daily. Thank you so much for sharing it!

When you said “this can’t be right. DAYCARE?!” I couldn’t stop laughing 😂 that’s Baltimore for ya! 😭

I am the owner of Ayo boutique across from the Nevermore haunt. Only one man is doing all of this and his name is steve tsamouraus. Johns hopkins invested 1 billion into this area. We on the up! 💯

The big nail in Old town’s coffin was when they widened Orleans, Monument and Central Ave and made what was once a walkable area a car centric, practically car necessary area. Fortunately, they’re reimagining the area now and a huge amount of reconstruction and road redesign is going on there.

The "New York Fashion Plus" building was once the Old Town National Bank of Baltimore.

I worked down there in 2009-2010 for those two large snow storms we had and the city used that area to pile up snow as tall as mountains in the parking lots. it was a sight to see. Also some of those shops were open during that time frame. Also, the gun shots and the rest of the area is why its abandoned. Blame the city for the lack of development.

Man, i grew up in Baltimore, i actually went to Paul Laurence Dunbar high school, so i was around old town mall for a while. im glad you took the time to admire this piece of history, unfortunately due to the surrounding areas , im not sure if this could come back.

I live in Baltimore County and have driven past this place many times and never knew it was there. Thank you for doing this.

I remember driving by here a few times and wondering what this was, thanks for uncovering the mystery!

This is so interesting to watch! Thank you for this video!! !

So The Nevermore Haunt is TOTALLY an ongoing operation. My friend Tom is one of the stakeholders. So I can promise you that Nevermore is still going strong, they try to add new things each season, and that they have ZERO plans to go away any time soon!

You’re brave bro! I don’t know if I’d walk around Baltimore in the daytime.

You cant even really go to the nice areas of Bmore. Even down by the harbor is dangerous at any time of day

Ian, I'd love to see you come back here during business hours so we can get a sense of how many businesses are actually open and using this space. Love the vid!

We went here as kids. Closed up in the mid to late 90's

Thanks for making this video. I was living in West Baltimore at the time and remembered walking through Oldtown mall in the mid 1990s while enrolled in a summer job program. I currently lived at Latrobe homes apartments since 2016 and very shocked and surprised of the abandoned Oldtown Mall. As of late, the Oldtown Super Market is now closed with no place to buy groceries. The new mixed income apartment that's next to Oldtown mall is named Somerset Homes. Plus there's a neighborhood revitalization/Public Art project on the way to help Oldtown, Perkins homes and Somerset area. I hope that the revitalization will be successful and bring back East Baltimore at its former prime.

I am a native. Born and raised in Baltimore. Went to college here as well. There is a nail shop still open. Nail Luv. I still get my nails done there. Been going there since i was 15. I am 31 now. I also work for the city and can say that there are new plans to renovate old town mall. The new apartments that are being built on the other side are a part of that new renovation. Like most things, they won't get to old town until the area is more gentrified.

Love it! I used to work across the street from Old Town Mall. I would get my lunch from there. There was a housing project across the street, that was imploded decades ago. Good to see the renovations in progress

Thank you Sir for the video it brings back good memories, I’m praying that the area will open up again. God bless you.

Thanks for for exploring the Old Town Mall area.

You did a really great job with this video. I like how you just came here to appreciate the architecture and learn the history of the area. So many of these videos I have to turn off they come here to bash and to hate on Baltimore it gets really old after a while. I hope to make some positive videos about Baltimore myself I started a business and I live here now 2 years. I see a lot of potential.

Also, Dunbar high school puts out some of the city's best athletes. Quite a few of them have gone on to play pro-football. Yes, they use fireworks at their home games. No one has that much trigger control in a real fire fight.

That's insane there is a video about this. I took a business class in high school in 1999 and my project was to come up with a profitable business. My interest was real estate and I knew of this area and I always thought it would be a cool revitalized area that could be turned into something useful. The architecture is cool and since its close to downtown it should be a cool place to hangout and do business. I even took film pictures of various buildings including the old firehouse tower and put it on poster board for my class presentation. My high school teacher didn't think it was a good idea and gave me a C-. It's weird because by 2022, you'd think some corporation would do something similar with this area like the west part of downtown Baltimore around the hippodrome. I think it's a great idea and maybe something will be done.

Great video. When ever I hear Baltimore I think of the leakin park video that Dan Bell did.

I think,John Hopkins hospital is undermining city development in this area, inorder to purchase these properties at a cheaper/discount rate in the future. Hopkins ownd over 40% of properties in this area.

I know right, don't make any sense why they never revitalized renovated Old Town Mall, it's heartbreaking how it's abandoned even now. I have been living in that part of town since I was 12 yrs old and used to shop there since the 80s and early 90s with my now oldest 31 yr old son. We have had mayors and politicians making promises to put a supermarket in Old Town Mall but we still have a food desert area without any supermarkets with the exception of Northeast Market( which really isn't a supermarket).

In the 90's I was a Baltimore City Mounted Police Officer. ......Old Town mall was one of our post.... I use tor ide my horse in the mall on patrol due to it was an open mall..... The mall was busy during that time..... How things have changed.

i live in baltimore and i know someone who lives right next to old town it is amazing learning and seeing this

Thanks haven't seen this mall in years I would love to see see it come back

Awesome video!!

I remember going here as a kid in the 80s. It was a great place to shop.

We used to spend our anniversary in Baltimore every year, but haven't even bothered to visit in the past few years because of what it's turned into. Why don't people vote for what's in their best interests? Or maybe they just don't care.

Great vid!

My earliest memory was at old Town mall . I remember a fountain being there.

You know how dangerous that area is 😂😂😂 And you just strolling around.

There used to be a clock tower at one end of the mall (I think I saw it in the background as you walked around). I do remember a few shopping trips to the mall with my parents as I grew up. I think there was a Kaufman's Department store and a food joint my dad liked called.... thinking.... thinking... Zachary's (?). It all fell apart when a rash of suspicious fires and crime started plaguing the area.

The pawn shop is still open. I’ve gotten a few things from there recently. And there are some new apartments that are built right behind the mall, too.

Thanks love your videos 😌

When "Lafayette Projects " were demolished a lot of businesses suffered.

What a confusing area! 🙄 Thanks for sharing!

My grandparents used to take me down here back in the early '70's. They lived over by Memorial Stadium and they would go to Lexington Market, and other old markets like that to get certain things they liked.

The pawn shop is still open. I was there 2 years ago buying mirrors. They actually sell some nice things inside.

I made deliveries there every week back in the 80s , it was rough then.

The area was still vibrant when n the early 90’s. I worked in a beauty salon until 92.

They are putting very high priced apartments in areas that don't deserve the cost. Funny thing was if you came here during the summer I would've possibly seen you. I was always walking through there to experience a time capsule of sorts. I barely remember Old Town Mall. But I have seen it function in the 90s. I think they are going to "try" to revive it, but my city has been in so much dismay, I don't trust anything that people say they're going to do. Anyway. Thanks for stealing my thunder!! Lol I wanted to talk about this area and you beat me to it. Great vid! Stay safe and stay diligent.

So depressing. I was driving to a service event, I think I was driving west on Pennsylvania Ave to get there, and it was so eerie. There were all these decayed and boarded up stores and shops that stretched for blocks with lots of trash, but it looks like a place that decades ago (probably 60s-80s) was probably a major bustling shopping district. It is so sad to see what has happened to this city. It has "potential" but is so depressing to see the state it's in.

Honestly all the new apartments/condos being so close to the mall gives me hope. You get enough people living so close to an abandoned retail area, it will absolutely inspire either the government or private investors to potentially purchase and revitalize the area. I worked at Hopkins for a bit and the mall is probably a 5-10 min drive at best (similar distance to Inner Harbor). If someone really did invest the time/money to revitalize the area, I think it could do really well and help lift up the whole area

Dang...I was hoping you showed Maria's. They had the best chicken boxes and half n half's! I went to Dunbar HS and my friends and I would sneak there on our lunch break to get some chicken!🤣 Oh the memories.

I remember my grandfather, a shoemaker, had a shop right on Orleans Street between Aisquith Street and the street that runs along the side of the Belair Market.

I remember coming here with my Dad in the early 80's. Moved out of Maryland a few years ago. Sad to see it in this condition.

W0W, THANKS!

Everything is painted and looks “new” because the never more haunt has like a whole little street festival during Halloween. It was fun with cool performances like a mini artscape. - you may find it out later in the video but I can’t watch it all right now. 😂

In 2007-08 I worked at Flare Hair which was a salon still located in old Town mall it still had a few businesses at that time but very few the salon was counting down the days to move to another location. There was some that they were re doing the entire area but I guess not... maybe it all changed during the pandemic 🤷🏾‍♀️

Those buildings are not the inner harbor. Those are Hopkins buildings. Inner Harbor is several miles away

I was shocked by how much has been abandoned in that city. I saw so many homes, a big school, a police station, a project collective of apartments, the harbor shopping area, now this. It's ridiculous. No reason they have to leave them standing or just reinvest and create new business/jobs for residents for the city.

Idk how old u are but in the 80’s n 90’s it was still stores in every spot it became abandoned in like the early 2000’s

The video was interesting. Let's start off with the easy one the football field is for 12 state champion Dunbar High School. It was donated by Under Armor. 2nd, I don't know where you got the 1980s date from. My family owned a couple of businesses in the Mall from the 1960 - around 2005. The facts are me, my parents and my children ( who graduated in the 2000s) all spent money in the mall. It was one of the centers of Black east Baltimore life. The financial devastation of the lost of the manufacturing industry in Baltimore significantly economically hurt the communities surrounding the mall. This lead to its decline is the areas income levels. 3rd, The reason why so many new places are being built is Johns Hopkins Hospital's expansion. You should have looked east instead of west toward downtown. If you had you would have seen a significant amount of new development surrounding the hospital in new builds and new housing. If you look at the areas around Hopkins Hospital in the East, University of MD Hospital in the west and Hopkins University in Baltimore's center city (not downtown) you will see why the mall has been allowed to die - real estate. BTW, Hopkins hospital just got Baltimore to consider allowing them to have their own special police force.

So many places I used to play when I was younger look like that.. if not gone all together

I used to work in the old Oldtown Bank Building back in the late 80s. They completed a significant upgrade of the Oldtown Mall, 6 blocks away. Although leery we went up for a look see. It was OK. There was a shooting the next day and that was that. The bank building is now a Holiday Inn Express and they spent a FORTUNE on upgrades. 6 blocks away.

Used to be a very beautiful and thriving community the whole mall looks haunted now you had me at the day care center that’s pretty suspect ijs but I hope they have plans to renovate the entire mall area you are a very courageous guy appreciate the walk through video 👍🏽stay safe out there

I'm a graduate of Dunbar High School. It was the hub of East Baltimore while i was a student there. My mom's old hair salon, Bakers Beauty Salon, was there. All the kids from Dunbar hung out there. The fire station used to be there also. It pretty much died down about 93/94

I remember shopping at the men’s store there. We use to buy all our silks and shoes from there. Sad to see what happened to the Baltimore I knew and love.

Always thought those were houses when I was younger. Never knew it was an outdoor market.

Why is that still there? I remember the stores…The Red Shed…a hair salon…Belair Market…all across from Lafayette Courts. My stepfather got his hair cut-I think it was called Sportsman’s Lounge…

I've lived in Baltimore my entire life,it used to be such a great place to grow up in.Everyone looked out for everyone back in the day.Those gunshots you heard,could very well be gunshots,but 90 percent of the timeit ,is what drug dealers use to let the drug addicts know where they are located..I love Baltimore,but it hasn't been the same since the 90s..I miss the good old days..I will always love B-MORE.I wish I could turn back the hands of time.

If you from Baltimore hit that like button 🗣️💪🏾

The Belair Market was a vital part of this neighborhood. I can't imagine why the city chose to close it and tear it down. That had to have been the final straw.

Man you got guts!

Someone smart would buy it all from the City at pennies to the dollar and build condos or housing. It is close enough to Hopkins to lease quickly

No. Durbar is Orleans Street near John's Hopkins. And where else was they supposed to put the football and track field.

You're brave... but I am impressed about the history you presented about this mall. I look at it from time to time when I'm in the area and think the exact same thing...Why did they just let it go down...completely ignoring it's potential? Was it violence, drugs, mismanagement? Whatever the case may be, I hope someone renovates/revitalizes it and makes the area thrive. It would probably benefit from gentrification...I hate to say it, but it's true. Thank you for sharing this footage.

I grew up in Baltimore, I use to shop there when I was a kid in the 80 and the 90s

I use to walk through there when the stores were open to go to Dunbar. It has been this way for decades

I live in Baltimore County. This video came up on my recommendations. Great video footage. Yes. Exactly why build new right next to old abandoned decaying buildings?

Hey Ian, I just found your channel. If you follow the coarse of Gay Street from down town to where it ends at that Mall by the Fire Museum to where it pick up near Broadway and becomes Belair Rd. You will see that Old Town Mall at one point was a part of Gay Street. I have always been fascinated at the evolution and de-evelution of Baltimore's neighborhoods. I like to look at them and imagine how they looked in their hayday.

I used to work out in Baltimore but am a DC person. The one thing I can contrast is that the government there puts very little effort into revitalization projects that benefit local developers and small businesses. There are very little incentives or tax benefits to ramp up that city at least not from a local level. In another video there was mention of an out of state investor buying up the inner harbor property and letting it sit for nothing. They likely don’t understand that city and how it can generate wealth. It’s is likely the worst investment on their portfolio. The only thriving areas I see are clustered in fells point and a few others. Money continues to get pumped into those areas. No one in the shady shoddy areas has any desire for accountability of the government, they also don’t have any money and likely no insurance, and do not take pride in any damn thing over there. The hope is that you build something expensive and change the neighborhood but unfortunately for Baltimore, there’s no economic draw (government jobs) and very little incentive to change anything.

Back on the esrly 60's and 70's OLD TOWN MALL was a booming market place.. Soo sad❤

Actually the mall was thriving in the 80s and early 90s The food market ( very popular), sporting good stores, the Diplomat shop, “Cookies”store, music stores, cleaners at the other end on the corner of Monument St..etc… I could be wrong but I think Charlie Rudo’s had a second store there.

Great video. I was last in Baltimore about 20 years ago, when the Inner Harbor marketplace was still busy. I thought then that Baltimore was nice, but then again I only saw the better parts. This Old Town Mall condition is tragic, as many cities have revitalized their historic districts that were derelict in the 60s and 70's and are now prime real estate. Baltimore seems to have gone in reverse. But at least they're building new stuff around the Old Towne. The author asks about the new development: Who's going to pay to live here? The answer is two-fold: A) People who want to live in, and value living in, the inner city in what may still be relatively affordable, and are willing to sacrifice a degree of safety in doing so, and B) You have to start somewhere. Derelict inner city areas don't just improve overnight and all at once, the improvement happens over time and block by block. Large areas of New York City looked like this in the 70's, but it's the "urban pioneers", along with good city policy and incentives, that got the ball rolling. Another question he asked is: Why is one block rehabilitated, and the other )Old Town blocks) not? My guess is the cost of rehabbing a very old, delapidated row of building can be prohibitive - the longer it's been abandoned the more it costs just to replace unsafe floors, roofs, etc. and get it up to the point where you can actually renovate and improve the street facade. Developers compare the cost vs, the benefit, and say forget it. I think this process of revitalizing the Old Town will happen, but it will be painfully slow.

Also those new buildings you saw are going to be subsidized/affordable housing. They look nice because that's the new style. They're all over Baltimore city now. They're are a couple on North Avenue.

The shopping in Baltimore city was da bomb in the 1

The memories of old town mall….

The daycare might be iffy but some people have no choice if they have a job that doesn't pay well. They were definitely gunshots tho. Stay safe.

Omg my moms used to work there when I was little .😢miss you mommy

The front part to the day care in the middle of the mall where you was. But dat is there playground. The city do have redevelopment plans for old town mall, but they have to finish with them apartments.

The demise of Old Town Mall was initiated by Security Square Mall and finished off by the development of The Towson Town Center Mall. When these spaces became available, there was simply no longer a need for Old Town. I would love to someday operate a shop here...there's so much character. It’s a true representation of the spirit of the city; down but never out!

The 1960s-looking building that you were postulating on the rents of on the fringe of the Old Town Mall complex adjacent to the church I can tell you undoubtedly is actually public housing. It's not a traditional apartment or condo building. It's essentially completely Baltimore City public housing. And for the record that's not a judgement.

You're a brave man. If it wasn't for the background noise, I would say you are exploring after an apocalypse.

I got my 5th grade graduation outfit from New York fashion plus oh wow 😮

How can we get into the Hutzler brothers building? It’s so beautiful yet abandoned.

The worst thing that can happen to your street neighborhoods is to start having a bunch of Stores' front churches. They just suck the life of the neighborhood. They don't attack foot traffics or new commercial enterprises.