The Remains of Valley View Mall (Post-Demolition)

Music used:
Kane Parsons - Mendocino Woodlands State Park
Kane Parsons - Gallery At Midtown
C418 - Key
Toshiki Kadomatsu - Sea Line
Shadrew - Liv's Theme (Kane Parsons Cover)

[weirdjest]

What freaked me out about the Oldest View was how familiar it was, and then I asked my mom if we'd ever been there before (we'd lived in DFW for 3 yrs when I was a young kid) and she was like: yeah, we used to go there all the time.

This is kind of what memory is like, huh. Just fragments left behind.

[gammr]

i know EXACTLY how Kane feels in terms of the valley view mall. I have a similar obsession with a closed railway near where I live. The irritation that you missed it, the drive to find everything you possibly can about it. Physical remains, photos, etc and the sense that somehow that mission keeps it alive. Its an odd feeling being obsessed with something so niche that most people wouldn't think twice about. Edit: for those who are interested the railway is called the Welwyn garden city to Dunstable railway.

[lydeart]

I love how instead of fully becoming "the Backrooms Guy" you made a compelling piece of art about remembrance. With a place that really existed. About people that really existed. This is why I love creative obsession

[backgroundnoise]

This is a testament to how effective music can be. This is just a walk around an empty lot and yet it felt soul crushing by the end.

[starvd]

Its like the mall is a corpse in the woods being broken down and being over-taken by nature until there’s only hints of what use to be is left

[captainm]

If this was a farewell to "Oldest View", what a beautiful way to say 'adieu'. This was 19 minutes and 32 seconds of pure, uninterrupted, bittersweet elegy.

[iglide]

I can’t believe Kane made this at only 19 trillion years old

[noodle]

it wasn't until i saw this video that i started to understand the oldest view. reading this comment section, of the folks that used to work or shop or hang here, was a uniquely harrowing experience.

i moved from my hometown a few years ago, before i could finish my sophomore year in high school, and it was the hardest thing i've ever done. i had finally found a crowd of friends i could be a kid with. climbing rooftops, exploring the neighborhoods, jumping fences, sneaking into beaches, whatever we felt like doing we did. i miss them so dearly. meg and ian and george and alex and JR, i don't think i would have made it to college without you guys.

there's so much i want to remember about my childhood. the rec center, sports camp, the park, centennial, the skate park, the beach, the 30 minute bike ride from my house to the garage, magic games, the soccer board, the "tree house", the arcade machine, long nights playing destiny with my dad, the midnight field sleepover, bo3, kendall, and probably a hundred things i haven't thought of. even now there are plenty of things i hold close that just wont be here in 15 years. really is a shame, but as kane so beautifully illustrated, what would life be if not for impermanence?

thanks for pouring your heart into this series kane, i hope more people come to realize what it means to you.

[rRadixerus]

10:24 The way these twin buildings in the distance mirror classical Roman styles is a little haunting, but also ironic. Malls used to be everywhere, and now they're slowly collapsing, just like what Rome built. You can see the shadows of both these things everywhere.

[derekmederick]

It is… most sad, how malls have only really lasted around 40 years. Some may still be around for decades more but the whole push to make malls the big “3rd place” for people just couldn’t anticipate recessions, pandemics, inflation and a terrible way of living. Things get harder to maintain and enjoy as time goes on.. economical challenges, social media and phones hindering social interactions, prices just going up and up and people having less time for recreation. That’s what made me depressed after seeing Pixel’s work. An empty mall. Something so many people put work into to bring people in and together just for it to be.. desolate. I worked at a mall for a couple of years.. it was in an ok state. But it was running on fumes at that point. Stores were closed and every couple of months one more after the other until my own left for a better modern mall in a “modernized” area of town. Being one of the last people of my store before it closed.. during each late close and when my store closed.. I felt sorrow. A deep sadness. Eventually it’s a place no one goes to. Malls are really an our generation thing. Don’t think we’ll see this many in the future. So it’s nice that we had them, memories and all: I found friends, love and community in malls. I hope more people will get those chances as well.

[night_mare_]

This is honestly really sad. Ive never been to this mall personally but all I keep thinking of is the fact that thousands of people enjoyed and made lasting memories in this place.

[falsecomedy]

Its so fascinating to see how quickly nature prevails to mask our abandonment. Seeing cat tails, bushes, and sunflowers grow in-between the concrete that thousands of people used to walk on feels like a masquerade of what once was a bustling shopping mall

[RetrøGeist]

It’s such a different vibe when you go back to a place that no longer exists. I use to go to this one library that I have went to since my childhood, it has a play place and everything, it was very vibrant but when I went back everything was muted. They haven’t destroyed it yet but there have been talks about destroying it and making a new library however they are probably gonna make it look dull and generic.

Great video, the vibe is pretty sad.

[DestroyerV]

It feels weird to acknowledge that the real Valley View's structure was on surface (like every other mall), but because of the Oldest View, it feels natural to imagine the original one was underground too

[sillypinkewe]

18:48 feels like the broken heart of the place. A Conradian broken animal amongst the dry brush - the carcass of a once noble beast, now nature embraces her with weeds and flowers - in the long hug we all will get by decay and rebirth cycle. Lovely. Beautiful.

[virtuserable]

So sad that this and next generations will never know how amazing malls were. There's simply no where for kids to go to consistently hang out with their friends all day long on the weekends, parents give you a $10 bill and you go catch a movie, go visit your friend who works at the ice cream shop, sneak a peak at a magazine you shouldn't be looking at, pretend to be a mall ninja, go look at cats and hamsters, get a deep fried veggie platter, check out the latest video game system you can't afford, listen to some old due rock out on a synthesized grand piano, drop hours at the arcade...

[BratyBukareszt]

the shadow on the left at 15:34 - got me questioning if this is secretly part of the oldest view 😭 i've been trained to look for rolling giants

[PrivateCCC]

This felt like going to a funeral for a friend and for it to be more a celebration of who they were and what they left behind instead of just a group saddened over the loss of them

[madasafish]

This is a graveyard of a site that made many memories for many people. You can feel the activity that took place just by watching this. Decades of activity and life. All that remains are those familiar white floor tiles with the spaced out red tiles. This video hits hard. Thank you, Kane. Some of us needed to see this.

[shapeswitch_mood]

Have you noticed how much he avoids holes in the ground?
I would too after following on that led to a pocket dimension of the memory of a place.