Holy smokes, we've come a long way since the pilot episode of the Expedition Log Series! When I did the commentary track for this episode, I was actually pretty sick, which is why I sound awful. I plan to revisit this place at some point for a reshoot, so please stay tuned! Check out the rest of the Expedition Log Series, as Episode 20 for the abandoned Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA was just published. Thanks for all the amazing support, and stay tuned for much much more!

Entering Security Square South from Security Square is like crossing the boundary between a not-too-shabby neighborhood and a nuclear exclusion zone. What a stark contrast.

Watching in 2019 to see where it all started.

Starting from the bottom and rewatching to give this series the attention it deserves! Amazing to see you finding your voice and filming style. Exlog 1 ✅

Darn you guys and your vaporwave...I'm now on bandcamp buying albums! lol

It's so crazy I watch these and it's so sad to see these places fall apart/turn into dead zones. Once brought so much joy and excitement. I actually went to my mall today to walk around and I was looking at things I never noticed before. Even my mall even though so small over half the stores are closed. Great video!!

As Mitch Hedberh said" a escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the inconvenience "

Home mall! Home area of Woodlawn, MD. I was raised here my entire life, and remember lots about this mall. The clientele nor vendors this mall brings isn't exactly what it used to be. They used to have a Friendly's Restaurant in here near the food court. The center atrium was a water fountain that was turned into a stage, then completely removed. They had a Woolworth's where Burlington is now (a sit-in Burger King was in that same wing in the 90s), old fashioned arcade, Suncoast, and the trade school you saw was a Montgomery Wards. HECHT'S was where the Macy's is now. Seoul Plaza was a botched project that had the potential to be great, but never reached 100% occupancy. The lettering you were wondering about on the entrance was a welcome sign and also the market name. That entire development goes un-monitored, and even being a local, I never walked upstairs during its vacated state. From my understanding, the local church "Set The Captives Free" has purchased Seoul Plaza with plans of rehabbing it for a community focused church, business, outreach, etc. Which is a great move to revitalize the space. Bennigan's and IHOP have been vacated for ever a decade. IHOP may be able to undergo rehab, but Bennigan's on the other hand, may as well be condemned. Why? Because the majority of the interior was wood. Due to the abandonment and humidity of MD summers, I am almost certain that the interior has decayed so much, it is in an unrecoverable state. Absolute shame, since it was an amazing inside, and had great food there! It is a shame that this is prime real estate, and it is just rotting. Security Blvd serves many government departments (Department Of Health And Human Services AND SSA Headquarters) on that corridor (hence the name of the street and mall), so to have great eateries would thrive during lunch time. This area is...fairly rough around the edges, but me being a true local, it is home. Would I move back to Woodlawn? No. But it is home nonetheless. Hope this gave some perspective to you! Happy to elaborate on anything about this mall since I would consider myself a neighborhood historian. lol

I just visited here today. The only remaining tenants are a barber shop, a braiding shop, a Mexican food shop, and a "spa". The upper roof is leaking water, and the floors are buckling upper and lower in some places. I did take a few photographs, but nothing special.

Started watching this series because the Cortana Mall was my "Disneyland" when I was teen in South LA in the mid 80's. After that, watched a few more of your videos of other malls I had been to over the years that are now dying. It's awesome to see how the quality of your videos has gotten better as you've progressed. You've always given a good history of each mall, and done a great job of interweaving the history with the tour, but your telling of those stories has also improved. Gonna watch this whole series in order. Thank you.

I grew up in woodlawn, from 72 to 03, but live in New Orleans now and I lived through Katrina, but this episode broke my heart. I am glad you showed me you can never go back to your childhood.

I'm old enough to remember when the Woolworth's still had a lunch counter. I saw THE BLACK HOLE and THE MUPPET MOVIE in this mall when the cinema was inside. There used to be a piano store in this mall back in the day.

That is really weird how half is pretty busy and then the other half is very dead

At about 2:00 you can glimpse The Great Cookie. Years ago they had the greatest fudge slices, replete with walnuts. It was the greatest fudge treat, dare I say, in the free world. I would sometimes buy all that they had, they were THAT good. Cash only, about one dollar each. About the size of a slice of bread, only much thicker. I really miss that fudge. True B-more tale.

I worked at that JC Penny as Christmas help in 1976! \

I think he was throwing you the peace sign. Trying to see the better side of humanity and giving the dude the benefit of the doubt :)

Hey Sal. Excellent job with your videoing and narration. You have sent me down the KZfaq binge watching rabbit hole!! Thanks

Despite the intense de ja vu I had during this especially that bench under the big neon sign then you go outside and wander around the IHOP and that super duper slowed down creepy music … Dude, I'm becoming a huge fan. That is all.

Hi. I enjoyed watching a few of your mall series videos so much the other night, I decided to binge watch the others on your channel. After viewing this video above, I'm off to a good start 👍🏻 Thanks for sharing. I will comment as I go along.

Love the amount of background info you provide. Take care.

i looked up the ihop and bennigans on street view (because i'm weird like that), and they were both closed prior to sept 2011 when the google car went through. the bushes weren't that far removed from being landscaped back then. i like when there are multiple street view passes to see how time affects places like these.

That was well worth the wait! I'm glad to see Petal has a new forever home!

Blast from the past...omg I have not been in that mall in years😃 since 1995😃

This is crazy! The mall seems completely forgotten.

13:52 dude was not flipping you off, he was doing a peace sign, god knows why tho

I’m here in 2021 starting your dead mall expeditions from the top. Hell yeah!

I grew up in Woodlawn. Its so sad seeing how the mall has gone down Hill. Going to the mall was something that my friends and I did every weekend. So many memories of shopping and hanging out there. To see it now is disappointing. I'm very curious to see the outcome of what happens next

I keep having to come back to this video to hear the "vaporwave" "Love Me Tender" playing in the background. It has "Jolene" 33rpm vibes....

be sure to go in a suite of armor as well as edmondson village yuk i used to shop these malls years ago see how things TURN

And so my binge watch begins. Wish me luck.

Funny slowed down music for the IHOP segment. Add to the pathos. LOL

Fifth Element vapor wave lol. Strange song choice. Good series though, thanks for the videos

I get the impression that you’re a car guy just from seeing the police radar 😂

Love the Tetяomino tiles!

they usually keep the electricty on to run the security cameras inside and outside the building. if there was no elecricity the meters would have been taken out.

Security Square Mall once advertised itself as, "The Mall with the Most." That's a little hard to believe, but it did outlast Owings Mills. The west side of Baltimore County, in the 70's, had Westview and Security Square. The east side had Golden Ring and Eastpoint. Golden Ring is long gone, and I'm not sure of the fate of Westview. Security Square (which gets its name from the nearby sprawling Social Security complex) has a built-on base of shoppers from the employees there, and the local area's residents have a stabel income from that same source. The Seoul Plaza concept might not have been thought out very well, but at least the entire mall isn't a ghost town.

Hey sal, love the videos. Nice car interior! Is that a manual gearbox I see? What kind of car is it?

when exploring, take only pictures and leave only footprints

That Benigan’s used to be the spot on a Saturday! I uses to work at the Macy’s and old navy there! It was scary out there when we would get off work at 11p! My mom would come and get me!

Sal you might love this! My Mom used work for Mewshaw's a formal dining and Bar for a single owner hotel. Now it's shady chain hotel likely with rooms by the hour. Up the hill from Fox Chevrolet. She'd drop me off at the cinema at Security Square Mall with enough money to watch any movies and food and pick me up at 9 PM inside the mall. This was one of the first business open! Most of the store front's weren't even started yet. One night while I was waiting from one of the back hallways to Penny's I saw a guy ride a Harley out the door with a tool belt on the sissy bar! I also as a child went to the opening of Westview & Mondawmin Mall's, E.J. Corvettes Discount Store not 2 miles into the City on US#40 from Westview. Do you have any footage of the Costco supposedly the Phoenix of Owings Mills Mall, yeah I went to that grand opening too!

Whoa nice I found the first episode

Nice mall video of yours, im going to see all of them. What's the song in the background at 7:20 + -

So is the spa a real spa or a massage parlor?

Dude ! Zlad!!!!

Flashback, I bought an Ibanez acoustic guitar there and for time frame, Prince's Little Red Corvette was playing in the store. I gigged with that guitar for years. I stopped going there around in the 90s because it had started going downhill and I see it's gotten worse. :/

Nice billiard 🎱 hall

Hey sal we have two dead malls here in Peoria IL. One which is about 30 minutes from me in Galesburg its Carl Sandburg Mall on Henderson Avenue three anchors were K-mart/JC Penny/ Bergner's (Bon-Ton) and still stuck in 1985 and one of the original McDonald's that closed sometime in the 80's some of the McDonald's stuff was still there in 2016 when I visited with friends but I don't have filming equipment to capture the 1985 two out of the three anchors are closed. Borders Books(anchor1) filed for bankruptcy 3 years after built. Bergner's(The Bonton) flagship store for our area closed last august due to bankruptcy. Hy-Vee which is a local grocery chain is the only anchor left along with 55 small shops are occupied. The local paper said that it had a vacancy rate of 70%. You could drive by and the place is deader than dead during Christmas shopping season. On the other hand our other mall which is 3 miles away and was built in 1973 Northwood's Mall a Simon Property is doing well and is 95% occupied and is enclosed and still retains some of the 70's 80's and 90's décor but is well maintained and super clean well lighted parking and the lot is old but well kept.

A guy peeing on a tree and another guy flicking you off sums up this place pretty well.

Where can I find that specific version of Vaporwave 7th Element by Vitas?

This is part of security square mall. Around the back near the movie theatre. I remember when Hechts, Montgomery Wards, and sears was there. Sears closed and Seol Plaza opene(CORRECTED JC PENNYS)

I visited Soeul Plaza when it first opened out of curiosity. I had gone to the Mall for some other errand. I only made it in about 20 feet and realized I couldn't breathe. I had to turn around and git. I must have been allergic to some aroma from the Korean eateries they had.

It’s time....for Samyang!

What is the weird, I-Hop exploring music??

5/13/18.....I'm NOT stalking or trolling you Sal----but am absolutely enthralled by your series.....& I'm "watching" my way thru & enjoying seeing & comparing the various areas & years involved. Don't think I would try that elevator because it reminds me of the beginning of a horror movie! Sal, you were just going to get 1 of those $80. Spa massages! HA! I HOPE the local authorities can get their "huge investor" to get involved ASAP....even if it's a new concept. This is the history of various areas & shopping habits of our "blended" Korean & other groups in Baltimore..... Too bad so much liberal Dems have allowed so much crime to develop in this area thru the years. I'm sure that fact has great influence on this whole situation.

That abandoned Bennigens restaurant is torn down and it’s rebuilt as Chick-fil-A

At the end it's like time travel more stuff lol is half the mall.dead

There is a revitalization underway with new eateries on the out parcels. We'll have to see how that goes. There are no anchors left. They even tore down the stand alone drive thru ATM. What's with that.

The owners of Seoul Plaza know that there is a thriving Korean community in Ellicott City, so they decide to build their mall... in Woodlawn? They would have been better off fighting for a space IN Ellicott City. Or somewhere just a stone's throw from it at least. I guess Arundel Mills is too much competition? smh purchasing a part of Security Mall was a bad idea lol edit: at least they turned a profit.

"If you dont like my videos please let me know why"cuz theyre depressing as hell. Joking very good and informative

It just seems weird to see a jcpy converted like that

14:50 "welcome to" is all I saw but I'm gonna guess it's followed by the mall name

❤💙💜

The area around Security Square Mall isn’t that bad there are a lot of nice homes and apartment buildings but yes Security Square Mall area is rundown but in the process of restoration.

It makes no sense how the rest of the mall is doing well but Seoul Plaza isn't.

what is the name of that song playing while your looking at ihop?

When I was in middle school that Bennagins was the spot to go. Then in high school the ihop was built. I had a boyfriend that worked there and gave me free pancakes. I remember that mall as a child, the bus from my middle school went straight there.

That space used to be a Montgomery Wards also

I've noticed, that the buildings that are abandoned are immediately at a 50-50 chance of being used again some time in the future. That is pretty low chances. The longer the structure sits, the less chance of someone wanting to do anything with the building. If it sits abandoned long enough, the weather will start to infiltrate, the roof will start leaking and interior damages occur. I used to think that was not a big deal as a new tenant would strip the interior and rebuild anyway, but if it has a leaking roof and the interior starts to grow black mold, the chances to get a new tenant is almost zero. This is when you would exepect to see the building demolished. As for the graffiti, society is really non compliant. There are those that feel they can do anything they want with no reprisal and they will paint graffiti on the walls, kick in the walls, break windows, tear it up for absolutely no reason. The mindset today is, if they do it and get away with it, it's ok to do it. Sort of like the question, if a tree falls down in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, was there actually a sound when the tree fell? I can tell other examples of this same negligence of the people, and it is being done by young kids as well as mid aged men/women. It is like a virus on our country where these generations feel they can do what they want and enjoy destroying what someone had took pains to build. Its a sad state.

i used to work in Woodlawn the mall was great if these malls fall apart ask yourself why what is the common factor

The city doesn't make them maintain the property?

Three more days till we eat at Bennigan's. That's s-seventy-two hours. Aw gee whiz.

I started watching this video, but the sound is too low, even with the volume on my device turned all the way up. If you could redo the audio, I would watch it. Thanks

Woodlawn looks creepy to me. Iam glad I moved 20 years ago.

I miss Bennigans

21:46 elevator?

is this a soulless Korean mall?

Did the Korean community just ditch their mall, or did they moved away from the area completely?

in forgot Edmondson village

I would think that if the security side is making money and holding onto its occupancy why mess with it ?

When you got to go... The music is awful and the leter videos are so much better. Just subscribed.

Dan Bell is such a great man to explore these Dead Malls, man, but Dan has exploring Seoul Plaza, feels like little Seoul Mall.

Can someone please tell what sort of shop is JC Penny? Is it like David Jones/Myer??

nail salons are the lowest common denominator. when a nail salon goes int a mall. the mall is dead.

Mondawmin westside westview etc ruined

what is with the music , sometimes cant even hear what your saying , log that , its so annoying , thanks lol

Someone liked the Dan Bell series.

More like a "soul" plaza

abercombie

Creepy Ass music I hated it

Your videos have come a long way. When We look at this one with your most current. The music in this, especially towards the end, in painfully irritating- and not in an interesting ironic way.

The music is god awful why'd you put that in

I want my 24 minutes back. And your sound is horrible.