smartbunny (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

This is a haunting account. I am not being sarcastic.

nycic (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

This is fantastic! I grew up in Bergen Couonty, Englewood, to be precise. I visited this mall far too often, and even then, decades ago, I found it woefully melancholic. Gray. Despairing. It was with no small measure of excitement that the far sexier Riverside mall was greated when it finally opened. The Bergen mall was visable from the newer facility, haunting us. One never does outrun one's past.

KILLERKAY3 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

well after the construction is finished hopefully it'll be better, but probably not lol

smartbunny (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I bet it was hard to find young people! Everyone in that mall was over 70.

chuck5001 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I used to work for that survey company, Car-Lene Research back in the early mid 1990's. Man, those were the days! We had to find all age groups to review those movie trailers, Chewing Gum, Ice Tea Mix, and research for names of Hockey Teams! We had a lot of trouble sometimes finding the younger demographics. Working nights it was so slow - we used to grab some Rum at Shoprite liquors and Coke and make drinks. We played music and danced to the Macarena. It was a lot of fun!

nevets68 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Oh man does this bring back memories. I still have all my modules and Dragon magazines from the DD place that used to be in the basement. There used to be a Model Train store in the mall as well. Wasn't there a Rustlers Steak house (or something like that?) near by? And the now closed movie theater..is where I 1st saw Star Wars in 1977. Sigh.

rfschober (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I took a survey at the Mall around 1990 or so. It was in the promenade. I had to identify pictures of famous people and I got $10 for it. This was when the area leading to the downstairs had blue walls with lots of signage for the promenade.

ajacksb (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The video was great though, and your photography perfectly reflects my memories of growing up in NJ. I might also show this video to my therapist because I think it may help work some stuff out...

smartbunny (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Man, that's depressing. I love New Jersey!

ajacksb (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

My god, the childhood memories. I spent far too many hours roaming around this god awful place with my parents when I was a kid. I moved out of NJ the second I could and the footage of the fountains and the chairs brings back memories I have long repressed. Looking at this place as an adult, I now question my parent's taste and judgement. I think this mall is at least 40 percent of the reason for my youthful melancholy and fatalistic attitude about life as a teen.