If anyone wants to book the "Quite Studios Fashion Show Runway Exhibit" please just let me know. I can get the Mall PA Lady to DJ the event...she's pretty cheap and runs everything from a Zune, a bullhorn and some camping lights for ambiance. Sorry to any California viewers...I totally pronounced "Rodeo" wrong. Oops. Just put me on blast down in the comments, or let me know if I have to come offer a sacrifice at the Dolby Theatre or something. I'm down. Thanks for watching, everyone!

I live in the DC metro area, and I’ve been to this mall exactly once in the past two decades. That was to go to the AMC in order to see Spirited Away on opening night during its original US release. For some inexplicable reason, it was the only cinema in the DC area to show it, so I’ll tip my hat to the AMC Mazza Gallerie for that at least.

Wait wait wait lemme get this straight: So the super expensive stores couldn't take Covid, thus damaging high end malls, but more standard stores could? There's something ironic about this super elite mall crashing and burning while my local somewhat lower class suburban mall is doing better than ever.

Wow, there is something deeply unsettling about a place that's so fancy being so dead. The luxury mall at the end of the world. Great video, really enjoyed this one.

Update: the TJ Maxx closed in December 2022 and the Mazza Gallerie is currently being gutted.

I worked in Mazza in the mid-80s at B Dalton Bookstore. My two favorite memories were the day I sold books to the good Doctor (who you may ask? Yes, Who?) and the KGB guy who came to buy weekly magazines. He seemed to be fascinated by Penthouse Magazine... This is all terribly depressing...

Yo Sal...I could barely get through the opening without crying from laughter. Another great one!

My mother was with Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff, Pentagon. We lived comfortably in SE Virginia. About 6 to 12 times a year, Mom came into Dc for meetings, I frequently tagged along. I remember the small boutique cafe on the roof, "Pleasant Pheasant". Decent, very priced food. Not my favorite. Though I hated the McDonalds in the basement. My brother brought a girlfriend here and she freaked out over the dress prices. She ended up not being a good fit for the family. I couldn't afford everything in the mall, but I knew enough to find what I could. It helped having a N&M credit card. The Krön Chocolate was famous for its adult chocolates. That is, private parts rendered in chocolate. I never really made it to the basement, so today I was surprised to see the shop. I was raised on the grand department store experience of Richmond, VA. In the 19th Century, it was the largest city in the South. Atlanta started really overtaking Richmond after WWII. My family enjoyed the personal services they offered like haberdashers, sommeliers, book merchants and more.

Exxon left the DC area years ago, and a lot of the big money left the inner suburbs like Chevy Chase and Friendship Heights for the vast McMansion developments of Northern Virginia. The Tysons Galleria seems to be doing just fine. Why suffer in a tiny old house in the inner burbs when the surrounding neighborhoods were going to crap when you can get a huge fancy custom house and a chunk of land in NoVa.

as someone who has had my ankle broken to the point of my foot being 90 degrees to my leg, that fashion show segment was very painful to watch

I was a poor college and grad student in DC between 1997 and 2004. I remember the *looks* I got walking through Neiman Marcus. I still have a coat I bought from Filene's Basement; I knew where I belonged. I remember the stores being built across the street; wasn't there some other shopping center on that side? It had a Starbucks and an Ann Taylor Loft.

So luxurious, and yet so lifeless... This place should be turned into a college campus or an office building.

Mazza Gallerie finally slipped into extinction just before Christmas in 2022. It is supposed to be "redeveloped" into high-end apartments with (maybe) some businesses, but I haven't had time to find details of the plans. I remember "way back when" during some out-of-area friends visited we were thinking of seeing a movie in Mazza Gallerie's theaters but tickets there were something like $3.50 more than the exact same film elsewhere so I never saw the interior of the theater, plus we were far too low on the food chain to even bother window shopping. (If I remember correctly, we ended up seeing a movie at White Flint Mall... another mall that would've been perfect for this channel if it hadn't been razed in 2015-2016 -- still an interesting story.)

It’s sad that this mall died. Here in Texas we call it needless markup.

My name for Neiman Marcus is Needless Markup. I saw a Polo shirt in Neiman Marcus in Houston that was $350. I saw the same shirt in Foley's for $25.

It always struck me as odd that there was a Metro station in Mazza Gallerie when the kind of people who'd shop there wouldn't deign to step foot on the Metro.

I shopped at this mall when I lived in the district in the late 80s...Lord &Taylor and Neiman’s were my favorites...

There’s so much retail space in Friendship Heights, and the majority of it is simply more desirable than the space in this mall. Across the street from this place is an ultra successful Bloomingdale’s, with additional shops next to it. A store would want to open there, not in this dinosaur of a mall.

OMG why is there something so soothing about the sounds of the Mall PA Lady. There should be an album of her singing the classics. LOL the fashion show was epic. Bravado often times cannot keep pace with relevancy. Such a gorgeous space. I loved the video there was a lot to digest with this Son. You did a great job Sweetheart. You always make me laugh.🥰🥰

I bought my prom dress from the Neiman Marcus in this mall in 2004 😊.

I don't think I have ever seen a metro station that empty.

The shopping there was dying even before Covid but it put the final nail in the coffin ⚰️

I just got done reading a book on Texas millionaires that touched on Nieman Marcus. Some of the stuff they sell/sold is just insane and you wonder how some of that would be allowed today.

You have a great voice command. Always enjoy your narrative, you make your vidio content interesting! Thanks..

I used to live in and near Chevy Chase, during and after attending American University, circa 1986-1994. Spent a lot of time and money in the Disc Shop, the cinema and other places. It always had a certain high brow snobbiness, but it was "our" mall. Good memories.

“...an unwavering display of bravado.” Nicely put.

KZfaq won't let me post link: Wash Post story from 12-28-93 where Princess Diana visited this mall. Title DIANA, PRINCESS OF SALES

I could see my great aunt shopping here. She was rich enough for high society and lived in the Highland Park Village neighborhood of Dallas.(My cousin went to Hockaday, a nice private school.)

Sal, this blew me away! I had seen the state of Chevy Chase Pavillon a couple of years ago but had no idea that Mazza Gallerie was going to end up like this!

Not gonna lie, seeing those models' ankles roll near the beginning makes me wince.

Very interesting video. I have never heard of this mall before. It seems crazy that something with such rich clientele would die, but the management seems inadequate. Seems ironic that such a ritzy mall would die with a TJ Maxx as it's lone tenant lol

The metro stop must have been beautiful when it first opened here. It still looks good, but boy does it need some cleaning...paint...and better lighting! And as for the mall, I never was a fan of walking down hallways to go shopping...almost as though you are in some ones basement wreck room without the windows. You have to wonder what they could do to get stores back in this day and age. Half price rents? But without high end anchors...what would be the draw or reason,...besides a subway stop? And while that might get people to the location, what will make them open those wallets?

I often went walking through the neighborhood when I was a student at Wesley Theological Seminary from 2012-2016. While I did catch a couple movies at the AMC Theater, I never really explored the mall, though. Sad to see this so dead.

I was here a day or two after Thanksgiving in 2019 to see a movie at the AMC. The mall didn't really seem dead at the time because there were a lot of people there going up the escalators to the theater, but now that I think of it, there were a lot of empty stores, and I think the AMC was bringing in influxes of people to see the next movie. The layout was also kind of weird, having to traverse several flights of escalators to finally get to the AMC at the top. Anyway, great video.

Mazza, along with the rest of Friendship Heights, was already hemorrhaging retail tenants well before Covid. Some decamped to a trendier development downtown, and others were victims of the ongoing retail apocalypse. COVID just gave the remaining stores a good excuse to give up on a dying retail scene.

I really appreciate you speaking out and saying that violence is never okay. I wish more people were like you.

1:52 This looks like we're walking through the corridors of the Nostromo from Alien.

I grew up in Chevy Chase, DC (just as affluent as Chevy Chase, MD) and I had no idea about this story. I have so many memories from Mazza Gallerie. I go to the movies there. I even got accepted into my school from there.

That fashion show brings to mind Jim Vance and George Michael losing it watching a model fall down.

The renovations are beautiful . The hardwood floors are fantastic. But I really like the view from the windows

I had a friend who worked at this branch of Nieman Marcus when the Mazza Gallerie first opened. She jokingly called it Name-brand Mark-ups!

Interesting insight into the design language the major developers used in their projects. Taubman had an interesting approach -- saying the expensive materials should be utilized on the 'touch surfaces' -- namely flooring, handrails, etc...and that lower priced materials be used elsewhere.

Comedian Mark Curry made a joke about models on the catwalk years ago. I wish I could find a KZfaq video link on it but I saw him do it at a comedy club. He said essentially models look unhappy on the catwalk because they are hungry and are likely hoping that someone will throw them a cookie or a chip. And then he acts like he is walking down a runway and "fashionably" stooping to pick up a piece of food. My mom did modeling in her teens (in the 70s) and said the stuff now is sometimes really weird what they put out, especially the heels/shoes the models can't walk in. She also said its not glamorous and there are some creepy people behind the scenes.

Rest in peace to all those poor ankles in the intro

Thanks for walking me through the MG; I haven't been there in ages. Great work as always!

LOVE your story telling bits. like at 28:30. You do such an excellent job painting a word picture.

This whole video can be summed up by a quote from the end. "You wanna buy some high end bullshit? Whelp, not no more!" Fantastic keep it up :D

This felt like a bizarre and eerie place to explore. Your "sponsor" segment was crazy, hilarious and sometimes painful to watch. Great video, Sal!

I find malls without natural light really unpleasant. They actually built a brand new one close by a couple of years ago, and it's always so gloomy in there.

Another beautifully shot vid Sal! Always a treat to see you pop up in my notifications : )

I loved the McDonalds here. Was such a great place for commuters to grab a cup of coffee.

The history and research combined with videos are so interesting. The thought of the hindsight for these investors after seeing what has become is crippling. Interesting mix.

Another brilliant video Sal, keep up the good work buddy, you're smashing it!

Very good history of the mall....Thanks for sharing!

The opening sentence is mesmerizing, puts words into the feeling of liminality and short-lived infatuation about what lives and dies so fast should it be about brands or places or anything else. Knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing 🙏

One factual correction at 26:15 the GEICO headquarters across the street was not built in the 2010s, it was built in the late 1950s and is still there.

Even without the water damage, the entrances look like a cold war relic in an eastern bloc country.

Excellent and informative video ! Thanks for sharing.

Love the flow of this vid, Perfect

Such a austere looking mall. Some go for that, but it looks expensive, so scares a lot of folks before they even go in.

Loved this video, thanks! I worked for several years at Arnold's Disc Shop on the bottom level, two doors down from Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean and a few stores away from the only place that managed to both be an FAO Schwartz and feel ghetto! The open atrium went all the way to the bottom floor then, and the floors were white tile as I recall so it felt even more antiseptic than it did after the renovations.

i worked briefly at World Market, there, in 2012

I love all that footage of the metro with no people. This is a gorgeous video!

Sal, another great piece. Memories. Thanks again.

Sal, you are amazing describing all the events. Thank you ❤️👍

My goodness. This came up in my recommendations; I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I went to prep school in the Friendship Heights area. When I moved back to the area as an adult, Mazza Gallerie was a big deal, though not the place where I normally shopped (hello, Wheaton Plaza). I can't believe it's virtually empty, especially because DC usually does well no matter what the national economic situation because of the government payroll.

Another masterpiece. Very well done. Looks like Mall Lady found her new calling.

When you looked down those escalators, I felt I had to hold on to something.

A good portion of the DC area is a chithole. I worked for 18 months on a contract job about 5 years ago in DC. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there. The slums in and around DC are as bad as anywhere in the United States. And if the wind is blowing the wrong way that sewage plant on the Potomac river makes the whole city stink.

This mall was so weird. It’s technically in DC but it’s not too far from Bethesda, which has several contemporary “name brand” stores and Montgomery Mall. As a DC native, I would come across this mall every now and then but it never seemed to have many customers except for the AMC theater. Outside the mall, there were more affordable stores like Old Navy or Gap.

Within the DC area is the only place I have seen a Subway all enclosed in lexan with a turntable to get your sub. And a slit in the plastic to slide you money through. It was in a very expensive part of DC, where there was once lots of retail. I haven't seen that anywhere else ( probably other places has it) and I have traveled a lot in the last 5 years, but not since Covid. With what seems like every other person is in security of some sort, I find that really weird.

I remember going there a few times when I went to college in DC in the '90s. It was nothing compared to the ritzy Georgetown Park Mall though (another demolished mall).

When I was little me and my mom used to stop at Mazza Gallerie all the time to go to the AMC. Sad to see it go down like this.

Another masterpiece, Sal. Thank you!

Even the uppity malls are going kaput. Your videos are always so fun and detailed! 👍

Really enjoyed this video! Great job!

I'm not sure it was this place, as it was redone, but when I was 13, we visited a hoity-toity shopping mall in DC, with huge, gaudy chandeliers in the main concourse. Could've been this. I don't remember seeing much of it, so it might be. I just remember the handrails on the escalators were loose on all of them (maybe that's why they were "Reconfigured" later on). My Father, and I would wait until there's a lot of people on them, and pull the handrail up, or down, to watch people lose their balance just enough to be funny (not trying to cause falls).

The main problem is more people shopping online. The Ralph Lauren "mansion" shop across the street was one of the most profitable stores in their portfolio. But corporate wanted to reduce their footprint. Neiman's was really small. The Saks mens store was small too but they moved it to their stand alone store across the street. Which they should have done to begin with. What really hurt this area is the City Center development. It has all of the high end stores that draw people downtown.

"Mazza Gallerie, the largely empty shopping center along Wisconsin Avenue at the D.C.-Maryland border, used to be thought of as a local Rodeo Drive. But its stores have been closing over the last few years and now the very last retail business in the mall has closed." "Developer Tishman Speyer acquired the Friendship Heights building in May 2021 and announced it will redevelop it as apartments, but retaining a large portion for retail, as well as parking."

You and Dan are my favorites. Been subscribed for a long time 😊

I used to live right down the street from this mall!

I was looking forward to this video, since in the early 2000s I used to work just up Wisconsin Avenue from Mazza Gallerie, and would go by there frequently. Even back then, the place had a weird -- not really very pleasant -- atmosphere, and I wondered even then how they stayed in business. Interesting to hear the history of the place before I arrived in 2001 and since I moved away in 2009.

Enjoyed the shot of you walking up to the glass, Sal.

I'm definitely going to hell for how much I laughed at the intro

Wow! It’s pretty eerie how EMPTY that place is! Unreal!

For goodness sakes you've eclipsed them all! Your video is so informative and interesting that we can't step away! You're the best young man, no matter where you are, keep filming. Your research FAR and away goes beyond Dan Bells pathetic attempts. And there's so many other objects! Loved your video, and I'm subscribed

Great job! 🍻

Been here since you went to Kinston Vernon Park Mall. Love your videos man.

I used to live in Northwest DC, about a mile from the Friendship Heights Metro Station, and I have pretty much no memory of this mall. I was a student at the time (2012-2014) and I shopped at the more approachable Chevy Chase Pavilion. I loved that World Market!

6.48: Memorial plaques to dead stores. This place really does look like a mausoleum.

Thank you, Sal! It was a bittersweet final tour through Mazza. Shopped there since it opened, and even wrote about it in an article while at U of Md, back in 1978. Nieman’s and Bloomies arrived about the same time and brought all that “specialty” retail to DC. Those days were great fun. (And the Pleasant Peasant restaurant they had was great!)

Hey Sal great footage as always

Was VERY pleasurable, as always ;)

Hey Sal, I think this dead mall could be replaced by apartments and outdoor shops. Or, it could end up as a wilderness preserve.

Just looked up the latest, and it looks like the mall officially closed on December, with TJ Maxx closing. Looks like it is going to be redeveloped as apartments/retail, so looks like the end of the line for this one. I really only went here to see movies with a friend of mine a few times. Didn't know much about it otherwise.

OMG, I remember this mall. I was in college in DC and bought a coat at that Neiman's. Holly shhyt. How things changed! Just from COVID?????

You had me at the title of this video 😂😂🙌🏾

Good lord, that... rotunda? at 30:00 is like something fron Dr. Strangelove or Star Wars. Another great vlog Sal. 👏👏👏

I used to go to the theater there a bunch, my friends insisted on going to that theater for some reason. I remember walking around the stores to kill time and getting angry at the absurd prices. Hopefully, something more reasonable can be made of those spaces, but considering the neighborhood, it'll probably end up full of bespoke bicycle shops and artisanal vagina egg-eries.

Yet another pice of art absolutely love it 🤌🤙 and what’s also funny is the most recent Call Of Duty has a mall map that got added right after I had been saying “gosh it would be real fitting if they had that” al be it that was a while ago lol. Anyway keep up the fantastic work