The weird realization I had about food court fountains in dead malls

I always thought the big planters with the indoor trees were the saddest part of abandoned malls, but last weekend I hit up the old Southpark Mall in Kokomo and something clicked. I found a dried up food court fountain with this gross orange stain all down the tile, and it hit me way harder than any empty storefront. There's just something about seeing a place where kids used to throw pennies and make wishes, now totally dry and full of trash. Compared to the empty hallways, that fountain told the whole story of the place dying in one spot. The broken escalators are sad too, but the fountain felt more personal, like the building's heart stopped. Anyone else have a random feature in a dead mall that gets them more than the rest?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_angela1mo ago

The dried up fountain with that orange stain sounds like the mall's version of a clogged artery. It's like seeing exactly where the money stopped flowing.

sam1723d ago

Read this thing online about how malls were designed to feel like indoor Main Streets, where the fountains were supposed to be the town square. Once that fountain dies, it's like the whole place loses its heart and nobody even bothered to give it CPR. The orange stain is just the final sign that the mall's soul dried up with the water.

david_rivera41mo ago

Totally agree man, I had the exact same feeling at the Galleria in my hometown. There was this little waterfall feature right in the middle of the food court, and when they finally turned it off, the algae turned this dark green color and the whole thing smelled like wet concrete and old soda. The worst part was there was still a single penny stuck in the drain, like someone's wish was just sitting there waiting. It felt way more final than any boarded up store, because that fountain was the spot where families would stop and kids would point at the water. Seeing it dry and gross was like watching the mall forget how to be a mall.