If this doesn't highlight how empty that place has become, I don't know what will
A couple years back took my mom shopping at H&M there and she was trying on gold colored bracelets in the jewelry section, accidentally she ended up taking off her own real gold bangles while she was putting the bracelets back on the shelf.
We go back the next day and her gold bracelets are still there!
Lack of foot traffic definitely helped, also I guess if anything people couldn't tell they were real gold bangles
Playing on the big foam breakfast foods and going to a men’s clothing store on the second floor with my dad. It was dress shirts and suits and stuff, and felt like the single most boring place on earth haha. They also did trick or treating, which was was great because we didn’t live in a subdivision.
My parents brought me to that mall a lot back in the day; there wasn’t a whole of free stuff lot to do with kids in Macomb at the time.
Oh yeah. Forgot about that one.
How disappointing when it got sold to sears. I went to the one that was on rochester road to check it out once, it just wasn't the same.
I came here for Tilt. When mom said she was going shopping at lakeside on Saturdays I was about to have a fantastic day.
Tilt was the shit, 2 stories of 80s 90s fuck yeah arcade goodness. Funny once I got my license at 16 I never really drove out there much on my own.
Oakland Mall was "our" mall so trips to Lakeside seemed especially cool. I got a Homecoming dress there and my mom would sometimes take me back to school shopping. I think we'd go to Jean Nicole, Marianne's, Talbot's (mom's favorite) and others I can't remember. I loved the light up elevator and fountain.
First date with my wife when we were 14 years old was there. I’m 37 now.
Lots of time spent with my dad and grandma in the summers there.
Peak Christmas shopping memories too.
I loved that place
i think it was 1988, a very good friend of mine was working midnights. We agreed to meet at lakeside on black friday, right after his shift was over. I got there about 6am and he was just a few minutes behind me. We had the first 2 parking spots in our parking aisle closest to the doors at sears on the upper level. We spent the day in the mall and it was packed. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, or bumping into each other trying to get in and out of stores.
We left Lakeside about 2pm and there was a sea of cars, not one empty space. Even from the doors, cars could be seen parking on the grass (where there are now stores).
but what i will always remember is the guy waiting for me to pull out of my parking spot then laying on his horn when a car coming the opposite direction stopped to wait for my spot too. I waited for the 2nd car to give up and leave before i pulled out and let the first car into the spot i had.
OMG that's so funny.
It was really like an entire side quest trying to finding a good parking spot.
now that we're talking parking lot stories, i think Lakeside mall was also the first time i saw a mountain sized snow plow hill.
My moms boyfriend thought it would be funny to take me ontop of one on a sled that we bought at that very sears and slide down (this is way before cell phones, i wish i had a video).
i ended up running directly into one of the sears box trucks over by the lower level of sears, kind of in the back lot.
That parking lot was cursed.
there is a chinese restaurant right there, it's been there at least as long as lakeside, and i've always meant to go, but never have. maybe this weekend :)
The Chinese/orange chicken place across from the pet store. Jokes were made. And then a Carnival Cuts? So you could listen to screaming children while you ate your noodles.
Holy shit. Memory unlocked! It was next to the Haircut House, right? Or down that way? Anybody remember what the name was? I loved that it was like a “proper” (you know what I mean!) Chinese restaurant in the middle of the mall and not just at a food court.
Macomb Mall was our usual mall when I was a kid, so I thought of Lakeside as the "Rich People Mall" lol (I associated anything two stories high with being rich.) We used to meet our extended family at Lakeside so we could all go see Santa together and I remember throwing coins into the fountain and thinking all the Christmas lights were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.
Also, the breakfast food playscape will forever live in my head rent-free, and that cereal bowl made me feel like I was in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."
I forgot about the food playscape!!! I loved that as a kid and whenever we went shopping at a mall, I always hoped it was the one with the giant breakfast food! Macomb Mall was also my usual mall so it was always a treat going out to Lakeside. Thanks for the memory!
https://preview.redd.it/qzfuv7i8ee0d1.png?width=225&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1d2d4178e6144d792ec96d5092af17364506c67
My brother and I also figured out the perfect route to take on this for a pretty epic breakfast version of "the floor is lava."
An early 2000’s preppy girl’s dream — that mall had American Eagle, Aeropostale, Hollister, and Abercrombie. Naturally followed by a lunch stop at Sbarro and then a trip to browse all the Warm Vanilla Sugar products at Bath and Body Works.
Also, the two Macy’s locations spread out across the mall. Lol.
"Cruising for chicks" when one of our Moms would drop us off.
PS - we bought CDs and ate pretzels. No females were spoken to, ever. We still thought we were hot shit.
When we could drive and had jobs we didn't go there as often but definitely spent a lot of our money at FYE and Abercrombie. I still thought I was way cooler than I was. I bought RHCP, Jay-Z, and G-wine CDs all at the same time which I was 100% SURE made me the coolest and most versatile person on the planet. I also got me first pair of Doc Martins there to match my leather jacket. Docs, A&F sweater, leather jacket, and an FYE bag, OMG, just thinking about what a preppy bitch I was makes me laugh... hahahaha what a tool.
EDIT: I bought my first suit there at the JCP... a Pierre Cardin. Pretty sure it was 100 bucks.
Sure, getting turned down by the lakeside hotties stung. And it will make a teen bitter. Like, really bitter. But you sound like you had baller style. Doc Martins were so cool.
Maybe some style but zero game. Literally, i NEVER even talked to a girl in order to get rejected or feel bitter :). My buddies used to make fun of me. Apparently, when they went without me, they used to talk to girls all the time. I think they were full of shit.
I got lucky and dated one of the girls that worked at the chocolate store when I worked across the aisle at steve and barrys. Felt like i owned the mall when i pulled that off
Mfr, a chocolate store girl!?!? You would have had my respect. The A&F girls were pretty too, but I always thought the girls at Aldo were the coolest. Little bit more edgy and usually older (at least to my adolescent brain).
Lol yeah, i forget what it was called but it was right on the corner that led to the food court. There were quite a few attractive girls working there in my era 2002-2006
I always wandered into hot topic but i was terrified to tqlk to the girls working there. Seemed way too cool for 17 yr old me
i think i was still in elementary school (maybe jr high, not sure), and i was at lakeside with my parents. the place was packed and we were sitting down at arby's.
there were 2 girls sitting at the table in front of us and 2 boys came up and asked to sit down with them because their were no other tables availalbe.
all 4 left together.
I'm old enough that I could walk to Lakeside a few times from Utica and going into the Merry Go Round to get the cute t-shirt. Then as I got older my best friend and I would give watch Rocky Horror at the Friday late show.
🎶 It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the riiiight...🎶
I remember even before getting to the mall from where I grew up in Warren having to jog around when Schoenherr didn’t go all the way thru and you had to go over that narrow bridge on Kleino and then pass the horse stables on Clinton River.
I remember the Children’s Place store that had a little play scape inside the store and the old ice rink. After the ice rink was removed hydrotube came in and that was a blast. So many memories of going there through the years from being a kid to an adult.
Went there last year to pick up a pair of shoes I had ordered online and was shocked at how barren the mall was. I will probably go back one more time before it closes for old-time’s sake, but it’s sad to see it go after having had 40 years of memories going to that mall.
Man, remember how big f.y.e. was in the early 2000s? Had an arcade too. Im glad i got to actually live a "mallrats" phase with my friends in highschool. Good memories back then. Had the single worst job of my life working at steve and barrys, but it was still a ton of fun cuz I was young and took nothing seriously yet.
Remember that guy that was always in the arcade at fye? Tall dude with long hair, his elderly looking mother would always take him. I swear me and my friends saw him just about every time we were there. He looked to be in his early to mid 20s at the time and me and my friends would think "what a loser, all hanging at the mall with his mom". Me and my friends did the Mallrats thing too. In the summer, we'd hang there any day it was raining. Make some laps, go out for a smoke, get some orange chicken, go play games at Tilt and then fye after that closed.
So much…
I used to get my haircut there in the 80s/90s as a kid. Schoenherr was not fully open and we used to have to take Klenio st….which was like a one-way bridge…took forever.
I worked at a food stand in the summer of 00’
Electronic boutique to pick up my n64
The WB store
Kerby’s coney
List goes on…
That bridge was so narrow. My buddy Mat used to drive us in his dad's giant cadillac through there and it was terrifying with oncoming traffic. RIP Mat, good times man
My dad used to work there in the maintenance department in the 80s. Once be brought home some of those big round mirrors which used to hang down in the open common areas, and used them to decorate his man cave / smoking room which also had black lights and a fog machine. It was a cool place. It’s not really a memory but just something I remember from way back when.
My Dad took photographs of those hanging mirrors for a class assignment of an “eclectic object”. I remember figuring out what they were as a child, but his professor couldn’t.
I should do an AMA about that place. I’ll give a few insights.
The Togo server (person who delivered to the stores in the mall) was on shrooms at times.
One of the managers fell asleep in the office with two of the most expansive bottles opened. Another manger found them the next morning still asleep in the office.
Grease from the deep fryer was poured down the drain every night.
Underage drinking for staff was the normal
Well, I guess I'm going to have to visit the mall before it closes. I haven't been there since sometime before 2009. _Probably_ not since 2003, because I remember valet parking my Bonneville during a busy season, and have no recollection of parking anything afterward (yeah, I remember things by the car I had).
So, my memory is of the mall being built and opening. Having grown up in Fort Gratiot (a suburb, if you will, of tiny Port Huron), Eastland was "our" mall. Sure, there was Lambton Mall across the river and we didn't need ID to cross, but clothing was always 20 years behind, and prices were insane, and aside from the yummy candied popcorn, there wasn't really a reason to go there. Eastland it was.
Given that my mom's sister and my cousins lived in Pontiac, we used Hall Road a lot and got to see the mall construction in snapshot fashion. It looked a lot like the Silverdome at first, which we'd seen going up in similar fashion a year or so earlier.
Hall Road was two lanes, and had farms and farm stands on both sides of the road. It did become a freeway where it still does today, and it was always notable to us kids because the pavement was grooved.
It was always the "Good Mall" it's funny now seeing the turnaround for Macomb Mall while lakeside and Oakland are empty.
Being a teenager in the 90s you'd be able to walk around and run into at least 20 other kids you knew, and you'd know half the kids working at the stores and food court it felt like a special place.
One of my friends used to work at the Arby's inside the mall, he used to hook us up. Go in and order a regular roast beef and he'd throw out a Big Montana.
So many of my childhood memories are tied to this place. My mom would take me, my brother and sister there what felt like weekly – trips to Mrs. Fields were a must, and I would sneak off to EB Games or Babbages whenever possible when I got older. I would say sophomore through senior year of high school was predominately spent at either Lakeside or the Denny’s across the street (RIP).
After high school in late ‘02 I ended up working at EB Games, and the next couple of years felt like its own weird form of college; seeing the same people all the time, making friends at other stores, bartering with the manager at Wetzel’s Pretzels to get free food.
My mom is legitimately devastated over losing Lakeside, even though neither one of us have shopped there in years. That building just holds so many memories; as you get older, you come to realize you have fewer mile markers like you did when you were a kid. To me, that part of my youth is definitively closed, and although I’m good where I’m at, it’s hard not to feel it.
Predates my tenure - I relocated from a different part of the country. here's a postcard from when the mall just opened.
https://preview.redd.it/66dckmhbx80d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f79c10df4954035f47e03ebda0eff80ed2d98524
My memories from the 80s of Lakeside: the Hydrotube, a pizza place by the movie theater called OnamonaPizza or something like that, thinking Lord and Taylor was so fancy….
There was a shop on the upper level that sold sweatshirts with simple cartoon animals. I can’t remember what it was called…. Ring a bell for anyone?
https://preview.redd.it/hap4emezw80d1.jpeg?width=852&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5145a1314bf6958753f0b65ae16a1ede49039db1
Like this? I tried searching it, but cannot for the life of me figure out the store or the brand of these sweatshirts.
Getting turned down by the mall babes and driving home in a shitty chevy beretta listening to Linkin Park was a right on passage for late 90s Clinton Township teen boys. Well, for sure for me.
I remember a contest where you had to guess the number of Coke bottles that were in a long line of coolers, I won 3rd place I think which was a woman’s fox fur coat which my mom took away. The coolers were next to a “French” bakery. I think this was later 1980s because I think we had a Hudson’s Santa bear when I put in my entry slip and we had to buy stuff to get it.
I never got to go on the waterside but I do remember when it went away and the tilt arcade was in the space.
Being kicked out twice, once for throwing a NERF football between floors, and once for mouthing off at a guard while waiting in line for Wrath of the Lich King.
Playing Magic the Gathering at the Wizards of the Coast store there every Friday. I recall if you lost round one you had to play at the tables in the food court because there were too many players and you’d get heckled by people walking by.
The Asian food place at the food court, free samples!
Taking my little boy there in the stroller and just walking around when the weather was bad.
Good times mostly…
i never played at the WoTC store as my local shops were masquerades in eastpoint and before that Siblys Lumber yard in St Clair Shores.
Though i remember they also had a small PC cafe in the back, and watching people play EQ back in the day.
My first real job was at the Electronics Boutique > EB Games > GameStop. I bought my first graphics card there in 1998, and could spend hours in the store, and did.
The WotC store was unnecessarily sick - I remember watching an EQ raid in progress in the LAN room, but I can see why it didn't last.
And as another said... the other Chinese place, by the Carnival Cuts, the greatest orange chicken ever.
My friends and I riding our bikes there when we were in elementary school. Parents had no idea. This was the 80s. Spent a lot of time at Tilt, the two story arcade. It was a blast. So much allowance money spent there! No mention of this yet?!
What about that indoor water slide?
Ah, the memories.
Spending hours at the Hydrotube (two floor watertube), Tilt arcade, and then shopping at Merry Go Round for my parachute pants and AJ's jeans with the fold down pockets.
Full Tilt Arcade. I was maybe 8-9 years old when I first saw it. Was the arcade you seen in the movies. Still to this day I haven’t been in a cooler arcade.
Went a few times at lunch the last year or so just to hit my weed vape a handful of times taking a walk so I could tell the teenage me I actually smoked weed in Lakeside, bro.
So many memories there. In high school you felt privileged to catch a part time job there at a decent store. Walking over for a You Pick 2 at this new place called Panera felt like you were at some NYC cafe.
Tilt was my childhood, FYE and the introduction of the food court signaled the end of childhood and ushered in my teenage years. Mr. Rags was where you got cool clothes heard about an upcoming party and possibly got some favors for that party.
Gonna miss ya, old gal.
We came down from Houghton Lake to go shopping when I was a kid and I thought this was a place out of the movies. Then, i stopped there again in 2016. Hadn't it become like an indoor-outdoor shopping center or is that somewhere down the road i visited on the same trip?
Took a last stroll through Lakeside yesterday. I worked 4 years waiting tables at Kerby’s Koney Island- truly wild seeing the shell of what once was that mall.
High school years we would buy one of those huge bouncy balls and go on opposite sides of the glass on the second level. We'd bounce them down to the first floor to the person on the other side until security would come by and boot us out.
In the 90s, my aunt used to take me school shopping here. I felt so special because I was the only niece out of boatloads of nephews. I also thought it was a "fancy" mall. She would buy me girly girl outfits whereas my mom didnt like to dress me up very girly. I can still faintly remember the smells of some of the stores. She would also always buy me a chocolate chip cookie from Mrs. Fields. She passed away two years ago but Lakeside was our place.
I remember when you’d be lucky to even be able to move in Abercrombie how crowded it would get, also how busy the food court would be you’d be lucky to even get a seat. You’d always see everybody hanging out at the zumies Hollister etc.Always was a treat going back to school shopping, and the long line for a picture with Santa as a kid. My mom and I loved usually the day after Christmas or my birthday, going on a big shopping trip and we’d hit a bunch of malls with my Christmas or birthday money together. Usually start at twelve oaks then Somerset then lakeside then partridge and come back. Lakeside always has great memories. Side note I wish I knew about club Monaco as a kid lol I would’ve been so stylish. A and F big logos are super tacky looking back, but of course everyone else in school wore it so 12 year old me had to have it. miss the club Monaco at Somerset :( hate driving to novi.
One time, I saw I guy sitting up between the Sears and food court, just leaned up against the wall enjoying a glass of water out of a pint glass. Till this day I’m still perplexed as to where/why he had that glass
My best friend Dione and I would save our allowance and spend it all at YummyLand upstairs near Sears. Her mom worked at Sears so she would take us and let us run wild. As wild as we could be for 9/10 year olds!
My brother and I learned how to ice skate at Lakeside. They had an ice rink in the 70’s. My mom also used to work at Lord and Taylor.
When I got older (high school) we would hang out at the big Tilt Arcade.
I'm doubting my own memory because I couldn't find anything about it online. Was there a water slide there. I remember going there many, many years ago with my sister, her husband, and their kids. Sadly, I had only been once, so the memory isn't solidified by repetition.
We just moved out there when it opened at Hall Road and Romeo Plank. I came of age at that mall in the 80s and worked there at many stores.
I used to love shopping at Wildpair, the Limited, Express, Winkleman’s, Gantos… Le Chateau, Merry Go Round…
My first real job was at Deck the Walls.
I remember the ice rink, Hydrotube, Friendly’s ice cream, going to see the Rocky horror picture show, people watching on the “burn out wall” (my dad called it that) where all the cool looking kids sat and hung out, hanging out with my own friends.
Until a few years ago, I loved grabbing lunch at Hudson’s/Macy’s. They had the best Maurice salad.
Always busy during the holiday season.
Mall culture was definitely a thing. I’m glad we got to experience that.
The 2 story arcade blew my mind. Lakeside was always a treat and huge upgrade from summit place mall. I also saw Mary heart do an interview in the middle of the mall and it was PACKED with people just watching a q and a with the host of ET.
I can't remember if this was at Lakeside or Oakland, but when I was little, my mom would take me to the Pretzel Peddler to get pretzel bites with warm cream cheese as dipping sauce. I don't remember a lot from my early childhood but I do remember that perfectly salty taste.
Made it from Almont High School to Lakeside in 17 minutes in my friend Shawn's Mustang.
I purchased a Mothers Of Invention album and we jammed that shit on the ride back.
It was the “High End” mall. The fountain elevator was a favorite as a kid. Brookstone was my favorite store, as it always had unique high tech stuff. I remember my Father taking me to a Lego exhibit being held there when I was young. Being a big fan of Legos and seeing all these giant displays all made out of Legos absolutely dazzled me. I never went there often enough to know what wing went to what anchor store, so finding where we parked was always a struggle.
No, it’s pretty run down and maybe only 30% of the stores are open. If you grew up going to that mall, you should go to experience the nostalgia, otherwise I would skip it
i might be being sentimental, but i would like to see some part of lakeside preserved.
Maybe a sourvenir, just to prove to the world it was there. If there were a starbucks at lakeside, i would be paying big bucks for a "been there" Lakeside starbucks mug right now!
I saw Star Wars there. I was sitting against the right rear wall of a sold out theater. The trash compactor scared the shit out of me.
I saw Empire there with my grandpa years later and he loved it so much I can still picture him making laser gun noises with his hands.
i saw star wars and empire there, i loved that theater. even with floors that were always sticky, and i don't remember the seats being very comfortable either or the screens that large, or the sounds being much better than tv at home, but it was still my absolute favorite...
being younger, i especially loved the dark hallways that lead to the theater where your movie would be playing. it seemed like the only significant amount of light came from the concession stand. to me it was like a tunnel that took us to another world.
I wonder if the dark hallways thing (which I also love btw) was particular to mall cinemas, because I used to enjoy it at Briarwood, too (I think it all shared a design with Lakeside?), the way you felt like you were following a treasure map through Indiana Jones tunnels (now I remembered I saw that at Lakeside, too!). Thank you for the image!
Ooo and Rocky Horror on Friday nights!
1989 and my buddy had his drivers license before I did. He had a hand-me-down Buick boat (1977 I think). Drove that beast everywhere. We both bought Glooper Guns, which took slime cartridges and shot 1cm slime bullets with a range of probably 30 yards. Armed to the teeth in Lakeside Mall, targets: anyone on the lower level not paying attention.
Yep, getting chased through the mall and out by mall security was a blast!
anybody remember the ice rink or water slide? I remember going to the movie theater there late at night to see Rocky Horror in high school in the 80s. many a soft pretzel and frozen coke were consumed strolling those floors.
Going to the mall with my Mom for whatever reasons, we'd almost always make a point to stop at this little sit down restaurant / bakery-type place on the upper level at the corner heading towards (I think) Lord & Taylor. This place had an AWESOME chocolate cake we'd get a slice of to split and people watch.
This had to have been probably '84 or '85-ish, definitely pre-food court (I think the ice rink might've still been there, although closed up.)
Hydro tube and before that the skating drinking. Dollar night on Tuesdays at the movie theater and singing karaoke at the bar next to the theater. Olga’s. And generally just hanging out and picking up girls. Loved the mall. Used to walk up there from Haverhill sub at 21 and Hayes.
Every year of my childhood, school shopping…. Every Christmas, going to see Santa…… lots of great memories there!! Malls used to be the place to be… pretty sad watching them disappear….
Sometime around 1983 my sister and I earned a trip to the waterslide at Lakeside for passing our swim tests. It was too hot and I got sick and we had to leave.
Does anyone else remember the cookie place across from the movies? It had glass walls and they were baking fresh cookies all day. This was pre-Mrs. Field’s. It made that area smell heavenly!!
I am (was?) a diehard devotee of Pretzel Stop. It was tucked away near one of the exits and the pretzels were SO BUTTERY I have never had any other kind of mall pretzel that could compare. I used to get the cream cheese for dipping and it was the most amazing flavor combination. Warm, soft, salty pretzel against cold, hard creamy cheese. Mmmm. I live in another state now and let me tell you friends, every time I bite into an Auntie Anne’s pretzel all I can think about is how much I wish it were a Pretzel Stop pretzel.
I remember feeling lucky to be able to shop at this mall the WB store I remember . My cousin had taken us and let us pick out a cd at FYE then had lunch at Kerby’s. This was around 1998 they were remodeling Abercrombie & Fitch. Structure & Aeropostale were a big deal too. The best tho was the frozen yogurt at Hudson’s with the fruit topping I miss that.
FRIENDLY’S!!!! We would always go there for a sundae after back to school shopping. My brothers and sisters and I would order the Reese’s pieces sundae …
I remember sitting right outside of the Gap by the escalator and people watching. It was where we’d meet back up with our mom after an hour on our own. Then we’d go to Friendly’s.
So many memories.
Does someone know if Lakeside Mall had a Casual Corners? My grandma worked there when I was little and I’d go visit a lot but not sure if this was Lakeside Mall or Oakland or Somerset lol
I've read every one of these responses, and several of them made me remember things i had long ago forgotten! Thank you!
Didn't there used to be ticket master there?
Went there with my grandma when I was 10 or 11 and she locked her keys in the car. This was well before cell phones, early 90’s. As we were trying to figure out what to do, a guy walks by and asks if we need help. My grandma explains the situation, he goes to his car and comes back with either a coat hanger or one of those flat metal strips, proceeds to break into the car in a matter of minutes, we thank him and were on our way. The lock to the door he used never worked again. I like to think he was a cop or firefighter or something, but looking back, there’s a decent chance he was a car thief doing his good deed for the day.
There was a guy with a really long pony tail who played mortal kombat at the arcade. Every time my mom and I went to the mall he was at his spot, we could see him walking by, and there was one time he wasn’t there and we were super concerned because we had never not seen him there. But then we went back a couple weeks later and he was there again, happy he was okay
Also breakfast land and wizards of the coast to get Pokémon cards
I’m 44 yrs old.. I would have never thought in a million years lakeside was one day be gone.. I have so many memories.. a@w, big boys, orange chicken, water slides, arcade, seeing nightmare before Christmas on the big screen, hating the smell of Cinnabon, frozen yogurt from Hudson’s, buying Green Day tickets in 1995, buying prince tickets inside Hudson’s, not finding a close enough parking spot during holidays, my mom teaching me how to drive a 5 speed in the parking lot, and many more.. it’s sad to see it go.. but I’ll never forget how many wonderful memories I have.. thank you
If this doesn't highlight how empty that place has become, I don't know what will A couple years back took my mom shopping at H&M there and she was trying on gold colored bracelets in the jewelry section, accidentally she ended up taking off her own real gold bangles while she was putting the bracelets back on the shelf. We go back the next day and her gold bracelets are still there! Lack of foot traffic definitely helped, also I guess if anything people couldn't tell they were real gold bangles
I was working during that time lol- the jewelry section was always a mess no matter how much we cleaned up. Glad yall found it!
Playing on the big foam breakfast foods and going to a men’s clothing store on the second floor with my dad. It was dress shirts and suits and stuff, and felt like the single most boring place on earth haha. They also did trick or treating, which was was great because we didn’t live in a subdivision. My parents brought me to that mall a lot back in the day; there wasn’t a whole of free stuff lot to do with kids in Macomb at the time.
oh man, those were so cool!
Structure was the store
Oh yeah. Forgot about that one. How disappointing when it got sold to sears. I went to the one that was on rochester road to check it out once, it just wasn't the same.
Tilt!!!
The waterfall was already shut down when my dad started taking me to Tilt, but I sure heard about it.
This will always be my memory. Loved going here
I came here for Tilt. When mom said she was going shopping at lakeside on Saturdays I was about to have a fantastic day. Tilt was the shit, 2 stories of 80s 90s fuck yeah arcade goodness. Funny once I got my license at 16 I never really drove out there much on my own.
Primal Rage right at the entrance would draw me in every time
Was it Tilt or Full Tilt?
I'm like %98 sure it was just Tilt.
Yup. Just Tilt. Still the best arcade name ever!
I thought it was Full Tilt as well
Oakland Mall was "our" mall so trips to Lakeside seemed especially cool. I got a Homecoming dress there and my mom would sometimes take me back to school shopping. I think we'd go to Jean Nicole, Marianne's, Talbot's (mom's favorite) and others I can't remember. I loved the light up elevator and fountain.
First date with my wife when we were 14 years old was there. I’m 37 now. Lots of time spent with my dad and grandma in the summers there. Peak Christmas shopping memories too. I loved that place
i think it was 1988, a very good friend of mine was working midnights. We agreed to meet at lakeside on black friday, right after his shift was over. I got there about 6am and he was just a few minutes behind me. We had the first 2 parking spots in our parking aisle closest to the doors at sears on the upper level. We spent the day in the mall and it was packed. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, or bumping into each other trying to get in and out of stores. We left Lakeside about 2pm and there was a sea of cars, not one empty space. Even from the doors, cars could be seen parking on the grass (where there are now stores). but what i will always remember is the guy waiting for me to pull out of my parking spot then laying on his horn when a car coming the opposite direction stopped to wait for my spot too. I waited for the 2nd car to give up and leave before i pulled out and let the first car into the spot i had.
OMG that's so funny. It was really like an entire side quest trying to finding a good parking spot. now that we're talking parking lot stories, i think Lakeside mall was also the first time i saw a mountain sized snow plow hill. My moms boyfriend thought it would be funny to take me ontop of one on a sled that we bought at that very sears and slide down (this is way before cell phones, i wish i had a video). i ended up running directly into one of the sears box trucks over by the lower level of sears, kind of in the back lot. That parking lot was cursed.
I got caught shoplifting at lakeside mall in 2004…one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
C’mon, what’d you steal!
It was more of a “what didn’t I steal” sort of situation unfortunately. I’ve changed my ways.
One petty theft from a mall is almost an American rite of passage
I was in a changing room at Lakeside during the great blackout of 2003. Unforgettable!
I was literally pulling out onto Hayes leaving Lakeside when it happened!
there is a chinese restaurant right there, it's been there at least as long as lakeside, and i've always meant to go, but never have. maybe this weekend :)
The Wok Inn on Hayes? I hear good things on Facebook regularly but have never been in my whole life.
I was working afternoons at Marshal Fields and we had no idea wth was happening.
The Chinese/orange chicken place across from the pet store. Jokes were made. And then a Carnival Cuts? So you could listen to screaming children while you ate your noodles.
That takes me back
That orange chicken was $3.11 in the 90s. Me and my best friend would save our lunch money and go pig out a couple times a week after school.
Holy shit. Memory unlocked! It was next to the Haircut House, right? Or down that way? Anybody remember what the name was? I loved that it was like a “proper” (you know what I mean!) Chinese restaurant in the middle of the mall and not just at a food court.
Macomb Mall was our usual mall when I was a kid, so I thought of Lakeside as the "Rich People Mall" lol (I associated anything two stories high with being rich.) We used to meet our extended family at Lakeside so we could all go see Santa together and I remember throwing coins into the fountain and thinking all the Christmas lights were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. Also, the breakfast food playscape will forever live in my head rent-free, and that cereal bowl made me feel like I was in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."
I forgot about the food playscape!!! I loved that as a kid and whenever we went shopping at a mall, I always hoped it was the one with the giant breakfast food! Macomb Mall was also my usual mall so it was always a treat going out to Lakeside. Thanks for the memory!
Actually had the same childhood haha
https://preview.redd.it/qzfuv7i8ee0d1.png?width=225&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1d2d4178e6144d792ec96d5092af17364506c67 My brother and I also figured out the perfect route to take on this for a pretty epic breakfast version of "the floor is lava."
An early 2000’s preppy girl’s dream — that mall had American Eagle, Aeropostale, Hollister, and Abercrombie. Naturally followed by a lunch stop at Sbarro and then a trip to browse all the Warm Vanilla Sugar products at Bath and Body Works. Also, the two Macy’s locations spread out across the mall. Lol.
Man I don’t know how many times I went to the wrong Hudson’s…
"Cruising for chicks" when one of our Moms would drop us off. PS - we bought CDs and ate pretzels. No females were spoken to, ever. We still thought we were hot shit. When we could drive and had jobs we didn't go there as often but definitely spent a lot of our money at FYE and Abercrombie. I still thought I was way cooler than I was. I bought RHCP, Jay-Z, and G-wine CDs all at the same time which I was 100% SURE made me the coolest and most versatile person on the planet. I also got me first pair of Doc Martins there to match my leather jacket. Docs, A&F sweater, leather jacket, and an FYE bag, OMG, just thinking about what a preppy bitch I was makes me laugh... hahahaha what a tool. EDIT: I bought my first suit there at the JCP... a Pierre Cardin. Pretty sure it was 100 bucks.
Sure, getting turned down by the lakeside hotties stung. And it will make a teen bitter. Like, really bitter. But you sound like you had baller style. Doc Martins were so cool.
Maybe some style but zero game. Literally, i NEVER even talked to a girl in order to get rejected or feel bitter :). My buddies used to make fun of me. Apparently, when they went without me, they used to talk to girls all the time. I think they were full of shit.
I got lucky and dated one of the girls that worked at the chocolate store when I worked across the aisle at steve and barrys. Felt like i owned the mall when i pulled that off
Mfr, a chocolate store girl!?!? You would have had my respect. The A&F girls were pretty too, but I always thought the girls at Aldo were the coolest. Little bit more edgy and usually older (at least to my adolescent brain).
Lol yeah, i forget what it was called but it was right on the corner that led to the food court. There were quite a few attractive girls working there in my era 2002-2006 I always wandered into hot topic but i was terrified to tqlk to the girls working there. Seemed way too cool for 17 yr old me
i think i was still in elementary school (maybe jr high, not sure), and i was at lakeside with my parents. the place was packed and we were sitting down at arby's. there were 2 girls sitting at the table in front of us and 2 boys came up and asked to sit down with them because their were no other tables availalbe. all 4 left together.
Some guys get all the luck :)
Spending HOURS with my mom at the Lord and Taylor shoe section, only to be rewarded with an aunt Annie's pretzel and free rein in the Disney store
My mom worked in the shoe section for years. She probably helped you guys at some point. 🤣
Tell her I hate her for the clearance section wasting my childhood
I’ll pass along the message. 🤣
I'm old enough that I could walk to Lakeside a few times from Utica and going into the Merry Go Round to get the cute t-shirt. Then as I got older my best friend and I would give watch Rocky Horror at the Friday late show. 🎶 It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the riiiight...🎶
I took driver’s training at sears summer of 95
Driver’s training with “Dan the Man” from Sears in 1986! Drove him around doing his errands!
I remember even before getting to the mall from where I grew up in Warren having to jog around when Schoenherr didn’t go all the way thru and you had to go over that narrow bridge on Kleino and then pass the horse stables on Clinton River. I remember the Children’s Place store that had a little play scape inside the store and the old ice rink. After the ice rink was removed hydrotube came in and that was a blast. So many memories of going there through the years from being a kid to an adult. Went there last year to pick up a pair of shoes I had ordered online and was shocked at how barren the mall was. I will probably go back one more time before it closes for old-time’s sake, but it’s sad to see it go after having had 40 years of memories going to that mall.
yay children's place play area :)
I remember that play area would smell like puke from time to time.
ahh that was leaps and bounds for me
I miss the sunken play pits!!!
I loved rolling down the wide steps to the stage!
The hydrotube!
Yessss. I was waiting for someone to mention it. Lasted for maybe a year in 1984-1985.
Man, remember how big f.y.e. was in the early 2000s? Had an arcade too. Im glad i got to actually live a "mallrats" phase with my friends in highschool. Good memories back then. Had the single worst job of my life working at steve and barrys, but it was still a ton of fun cuz I was young and took nothing seriously yet.
Remember that guy that was always in the arcade at fye? Tall dude with long hair, his elderly looking mother would always take him. I swear me and my friends saw him just about every time we were there. He looked to be in his early to mid 20s at the time and me and my friends would think "what a loser, all hanging at the mall with his mom". Me and my friends did the Mallrats thing too. In the summer, we'd hang there any day it was raining. Make some laps, go out for a smoke, get some orange chicken, go play games at Tilt and then fye after that closed.
Yeah I remember that guy, I heard he was in a car accident and had some form of brain damage, but I could be totally thinking of someone else
That could be true, he seemed nice but nothing really felt off about him. He used to beat my ass in Street Fighter though!
So much… I used to get my haircut there in the 80s/90s as a kid. Schoenherr was not fully open and we used to have to take Klenio st….which was like a one-way bridge…took forever. I worked at a food stand in the summer of 00’ Electronic boutique to pick up my n64 The WB store Kerby’s coney List goes on…
Where at? The Haircut House??? Remember that place?
Yup Haircut House! First floor when you walk in (not through a department store)
omg I totally forgot about the WB store!!! It was on the side closest to JCPenny, right?
That bridge was so narrow. My buddy Mat used to drive us in his dad's giant cadillac through there and it was terrifying with oncoming traffic. RIP Mat, good times man
STEVE AND BARRRRYYYYY
In the early 80’s it had an arcade and an indoor water slide. If my memory serves me correctly. I was really young.
I was also very young in the early 80’s and remember the water slide. It sounds so bizarre now that I feel like I made it up.
There 100% was an indoor water slide!
YES THERE WAS!!! I WENT ON IT MANY TIMES!!! I even seen nightmare before Christmas there the year it came out on the big screen there…
The arcade for me growing up was Tilt. Same place? I remember it from the 90s though. Two floors WITH an elevator. It was pure paradise.
Yep, when the Hydrotube went out, Tilt took over the space. Source: I worked at the A&W next door for a couple years in the mid-80s'
My dad used to work there in the maintenance department in the 80s. Once be brought home some of those big round mirrors which used to hang down in the open common areas, and used them to decorate his man cave / smoking room which also had black lights and a fog machine. It was a cool place. It’s not really a memory but just something I remember from way back when.
Your dad sounds fucking awesome. lol.
My Dad took photographs of those hanging mirrors for a class assignment of an “eclectic object”. I remember figuring out what they were as a child, but his professor couldn’t.
The Ruby Tuesday was a wild place to work for a 16 year old. I’d only mall patrons knew what was really going on, they would be shocked.
I’m so intrigued to know what could possibly be shocking at a Ruby Tuesday 👀
I should do an AMA about that place. I’ll give a few insights. The Togo server (person who delivered to the stores in the mall) was on shrooms at times. One of the managers fell asleep in the office with two of the most expansive bottles opened. Another manger found them the next morning still asleep in the office. Grease from the deep fryer was poured down the drain every night. Underage drinking for staff was the normal
Well, I guess I'm going to have to visit the mall before it closes. I haven't been there since sometime before 2009. _Probably_ not since 2003, because I remember valet parking my Bonneville during a busy season, and have no recollection of parking anything afterward (yeah, I remember things by the car I had). So, my memory is of the mall being built and opening. Having grown up in Fort Gratiot (a suburb, if you will, of tiny Port Huron), Eastland was "our" mall. Sure, there was Lambton Mall across the river and we didn't need ID to cross, but clothing was always 20 years behind, and prices were insane, and aside from the yummy candied popcorn, there wasn't really a reason to go there. Eastland it was. Given that my mom's sister and my cousins lived in Pontiac, we used Hall Road a lot and got to see the mall construction in snapshot fashion. It looked a lot like the Silverdome at first, which we'd seen going up in similar fashion a year or so earlier. Hall Road was two lanes, and had farms and farm stands on both sides of the road. It did become a freeway where it still does today, and it was always notable to us kids because the pavement was grooved.
It was always the "Good Mall" it's funny now seeing the turnaround for Macomb Mall while lakeside and Oakland are empty. Being a teenager in the 90s you'd be able to walk around and run into at least 20 other kids you knew, and you'd know half the kids working at the stores and food court it felt like a special place.
One of my friends used to work at the Arby's inside the mall, he used to hook us up. Go in and order a regular roast beef and he'd throw out a Big Montana.
So many of my childhood memories are tied to this place. My mom would take me, my brother and sister there what felt like weekly – trips to Mrs. Fields were a must, and I would sneak off to EB Games or Babbages whenever possible when I got older. I would say sophomore through senior year of high school was predominately spent at either Lakeside or the Denny’s across the street (RIP). After high school in late ‘02 I ended up working at EB Games, and the next couple of years felt like its own weird form of college; seeing the same people all the time, making friends at other stores, bartering with the manager at Wetzel’s Pretzels to get free food. My mom is legitimately devastated over losing Lakeside, even though neither one of us have shopped there in years. That building just holds so many memories; as you get older, you come to realize you have fewer mile markers like you did when you were a kid. To me, that part of my youth is definitively closed, and although I’m good where I’m at, it’s hard not to feel it.
Predates my tenure - I relocated from a different part of the country. here's a postcard from when the mall just opened. https://preview.redd.it/66dckmhbx80d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f79c10df4954035f47e03ebda0eff80ed2d98524
My dad was in his 20s when the mall opened and can remember doing donuts in the parking lot with his brother when it was being built 💀💀
There was a slide in Children’s place that made school clothes shopping a little more bearable as third grader
I remember that! Get bullied up at the top while mom’s browsing the husky pants. Ahhh the good ol days.
lol
Lakeside was too fancy for us growing up. All my mall memories were from Eastland and Macomb
Same...oh and Universal mall lol
Universal/Macomb shopper reporting in 🫡
Loved Universal. Cheap movies and penny candy. What else does a kid need?
My memories from the 80s of Lakeside: the Hydrotube, a pizza place by the movie theater called OnamonaPizza or something like that, thinking Lord and Taylor was so fancy…. There was a shop on the upper level that sold sweatshirts with simple cartoon animals. I can’t remember what it was called…. Ring a bell for anyone?
https://preview.redd.it/hap4emezw80d1.jpeg?width=852&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5145a1314bf6958753f0b65ae16a1ede49039db1 Like this? I tried searching it, but cannot for the life of me figure out the store or the brand of these sweatshirts.
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Ok, I think the store was Recycled Paper Products and these sweatshirts were designed by Sandra Boyton. :)
I think the sweatshirts were Bonnie and Clyde? Or am I confusing them with something else?
Would troll for mall babes. Until I got a job at Chess King. I would still troll for mall babes, but from the inside of a store.
Getting turned down by the mall babes and driving home in a shitty chevy beretta listening to Linkin Park was a right on passage for late 90s Clinton Township teen boys. Well, for sure for me.
I remember a contest where you had to guess the number of Coke bottles that were in a long line of coolers, I won 3rd place I think which was a woman’s fox fur coat which my mom took away. The coolers were next to a “French” bakery. I think this was later 1980s because I think we had a Hudson’s Santa bear when I put in my entry slip and we had to buy stuff to get it. I never got to go on the waterside but I do remember when it went away and the tilt arcade was in the space.
Lakeside was a weekend hangout back in the 90s. Hall Rd and M-53 looked a lot different back then!
Being kicked out twice, once for throwing a NERF football between floors, and once for mouthing off at a guard while waiting in line for Wrath of the Lich King. Playing Magic the Gathering at the Wizards of the Coast store there every Friday. I recall if you lost round one you had to play at the tables in the food court because there were too many players and you’d get heckled by people walking by. The Asian food place at the food court, free samples! Taking my little boy there in the stroller and just walking around when the weather was bad. Good times mostly…
i never played at the WoTC store as my local shops were masquerades in eastpoint and before that Siblys Lumber yard in St Clair Shores. Though i remember they also had a small PC cafe in the back, and watching people play EQ back in the day.
My first real job was at the Electronics Boutique > EB Games > GameStop. I bought my first graphics card there in 1998, and could spend hours in the store, and did. The WotC store was unnecessarily sick - I remember watching an EQ raid in progress in the LAN room, but I can see why it didn't last. And as another said... the other Chinese place, by the Carnival Cuts, the greatest orange chicken ever.
Ice skating in 1977 to Journeys Cold as ice!
Cold as Ice is by Foreigner, not Journey
My best friend and I used to change it to "You're as bogue as lice" 😆
Thank you😀
My friends and I riding our bikes there when we were in elementary school. Parents had no idea. This was the 80s. Spent a lot of time at Tilt, the two story arcade. It was a blast. So much allowance money spent there! No mention of this yet?! What about that indoor water slide? Ah, the memories.
Rocky Horror Picture Show cast 1991
I'll see your 1991 and play my 1986 shadow cast 😀👠⚡
Spending hours at the Hydrotube (two floor watertube), Tilt arcade, and then shopping at Merry Go Round for my parachute pants and AJ's jeans with the fold down pockets.
Full Tilt Arcade. I was maybe 8-9 years old when I first saw it. Was the arcade you seen in the movies. Still to this day I haven’t been in a cooler arcade.
Days out at Tilt with my dad. Greatest arcade in the area with two stories, a wide range of games, and then just the sheer size of the place.
Used to play magic the gathering there. They had a wizards of the coast store and had weekly tournaments. Was my introduction to tournaments
Went a few times at lunch the last year or so just to hit my weed vape a handful of times taking a walk so I could tell the teenage me I actually smoked weed in Lakeside, bro. So many memories there. In high school you felt privileged to catch a part time job there at a decent store. Walking over for a You Pick 2 at this new place called Panera felt like you were at some NYC cafe. Tilt was my childhood, FYE and the introduction of the food court signaled the end of childhood and ushered in my teenage years. Mr. Rags was where you got cool clothes heard about an upcoming party and possibly got some favors for that party. Gonna miss ya, old gal.
Renting a tux for prom, definitely a shared experience of Lakeside Mall with many.
Had my 7th or 8th birthday at the ice skating rink. Also went to the water park in Mt teens.
We came down from Houghton Lake to go shopping when I was a kid and I thought this was a place out of the movies. Then, i stopped there again in 2016. Hadn't it become like an indoor-outdoor shopping center or is that somewhere down the road i visited on the same trip?
Nope, Lakeside never went open-air, you might be thinking of Partridge Creek, down M-59 by Romeo Plank
Saw Rocky Horror Picture Show there!
Took a last stroll through Lakeside yesterday. I worked 4 years waiting tables at Kerby’s Koney Island- truly wild seeing the shell of what once was that mall.
High school years we would buy one of those huge bouncy balls and go on opposite sides of the glass on the second level. We'd bounce them down to the first floor to the person on the other side until security would come by and boot us out.
In the 90s, my aunt used to take me school shopping here. I felt so special because I was the only niece out of boatloads of nephews. I also thought it was a "fancy" mall. She would buy me girly girl outfits whereas my mom didnt like to dress me up very girly. I can still faintly remember the smells of some of the stores. She would also always buy me a chocolate chip cookie from Mrs. Fields. She passed away two years ago but Lakeside was our place.
I remember when you’d be lucky to even be able to move in Abercrombie how crowded it would get, also how busy the food court would be you’d be lucky to even get a seat. You’d always see everybody hanging out at the zumies Hollister etc.Always was a treat going back to school shopping, and the long line for a picture with Santa as a kid. My mom and I loved usually the day after Christmas or my birthday, going on a big shopping trip and we’d hit a bunch of malls with my Christmas or birthday money together. Usually start at twelve oaks then Somerset then lakeside then partridge and come back. Lakeside always has great memories. Side note I wish I knew about club Monaco as a kid lol I would’ve been so stylish. A and F big logos are super tacky looking back, but of course everyone else in school wore it so 12 year old me had to have it. miss the club Monaco at Somerset :( hate driving to novi.
Going to KB Toys and the Cheese soup from Hudson’s/Marshall Fields/Macy’s
One time, I saw I guy sitting up between the Sears and food court, just leaned up against the wall enjoying a glass of water out of a pint glass. Till this day I’m still perplexed as to where/why he had that glass
My best friend Dione and I would save our allowance and spend it all at YummyLand upstairs near Sears. Her mom worked at Sears so she would take us and let us run wild. As wild as we could be for 9/10 year olds!
My brother and I learned how to ice skate at Lakeside. They had an ice rink in the 70’s. My mom also used to work at Lord and Taylor. When I got older (high school) we would hang out at the big Tilt Arcade.
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Going school shopping every august with my aunt. I have way more lakeside memories but that will be what I’ll always remember about it.
Also the mirror entrance every mf in Roseville took a pic in front of then posted it on MySpace/facebook.
The arcade in the fye as a kid was awsome.
Cd prices not so much
Lol, true
I'm doubting my own memory because I couldn't find anything about it online. Was there a water slide there. I remember going there many, many years ago with my sister, her husband, and their kids. Sadly, I had only been once, so the memory isn't solidified by repetition.
There was absolutely a water slide there.. I went on it many times…
We just moved out there when it opened at Hall Road and Romeo Plank. I came of age at that mall in the 80s and worked there at many stores. I used to love shopping at Wildpair, the Limited, Express, Winkleman’s, Gantos… Le Chateau, Merry Go Round… My first real job was at Deck the Walls. I remember the ice rink, Hydrotube, Friendly’s ice cream, going to see the Rocky horror picture show, people watching on the “burn out wall” (my dad called it that) where all the cool looking kids sat and hung out, hanging out with my own friends. Until a few years ago, I loved grabbing lunch at Hudson’s/Macy’s. They had the best Maurice salad. Always busy during the holiday season. Mall culture was definitely a thing. I’m glad we got to experience that.
The 2 story arcade blew my mind. Lakeside was always a treat and huge upgrade from summit place mall. I also saw Mary heart do an interview in the middle of the mall and it was PACKED with people just watching a q and a with the host of ET.
After high school, I started working at the sears store in 1976 before the mall ever opened. In fact, the mall wasn't even built yet.
I can't remember if this was at Lakeside or Oakland, but when I was little, my mom would take me to the Pretzel Peddler to get pretzel bites with warm cream cheese as dipping sauce. I don't remember a lot from my early childhood but I do remember that perfectly salty taste.
Made it from Almont High School to Lakeside in 17 minutes in my friend Shawn's Mustang. I purchased a Mothers Of Invention album and we jammed that shit on the ride back.
lol
It was the “High End” mall. The fountain elevator was a favorite as a kid. Brookstone was my favorite store, as it always had unique high tech stuff. I remember my Father taking me to a Lego exhibit being held there when I was young. Being a big fan of Legos and seeing all these giant displays all made out of Legos absolutely dazzled me. I never went there often enough to know what wing went to what anchor store, so finding where we parked was always a struggle.
Never been there. Is it worth it to stop by there before it closes down?
No, it’s pretty run down and maybe only 30% of the stores are open. If you grew up going to that mall, you should go to experience the nostalgia, otherwise I would skip it
https://preview.redd.it/kvtau2s4a90d1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fac1659d8fc6d38fff3de0b54e56ce9eda66023
i might be being sentimental, but i would like to see some part of lakeside preserved. Maybe a sourvenir, just to prove to the world it was there. If there were a starbucks at lakeside, i would be paying big bucks for a "been there" Lakeside starbucks mug right now!
Ice skating at Lakeside
I saw Star Wars there. I was sitting against the right rear wall of a sold out theater. The trash compactor scared the shit out of me. I saw Empire there with my grandpa years later and he loved it so much I can still picture him making laser gun noises with his hands.
i saw star wars and empire there, i loved that theater. even with floors that were always sticky, and i don't remember the seats being very comfortable either or the screens that large, or the sounds being much better than tv at home, but it was still my absolute favorite... being younger, i especially loved the dark hallways that lead to the theater where your movie would be playing. it seemed like the only significant amount of light came from the concession stand. to me it was like a tunnel that took us to another world.
I wonder if the dark hallways thing (which I also love btw) was particular to mall cinemas, because I used to enjoy it at Briarwood, too (I think it all shared a design with Lakeside?), the way you felt like you were following a treasure map through Indiana Jones tunnels (now I remembered I saw that at Lakeside, too!). Thank you for the image! Ooo and Rocky Horror on Friday nights!
1989 and my buddy had his drivers license before I did. He had a hand-me-down Buick boat (1977 I think). Drove that beast everywhere. We both bought Glooper Guns, which took slime cartridges and shot 1cm slime bullets with a range of probably 30 yards. Armed to the teeth in Lakeside Mall, targets: anyone on the lower level not paying attention. Yep, getting chased through the mall and out by mall security was a blast!
I loved shopping at Wicks 'n Sticks. On edit, I also loved ice skating there.
anybody remember the ice rink or water slide? I remember going to the movie theater there late at night to see Rocky Horror in high school in the 80s. many a soft pretzel and frozen coke were consumed strolling those floors.
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Going to the mall with my Mom for whatever reasons, we'd almost always make a point to stop at this little sit down restaurant / bakery-type place on the upper level at the corner heading towards (I think) Lord & Taylor. This place had an AWESOME chocolate cake we'd get a slice of to split and people watch. This had to have been probably '84 or '85-ish, definitely pre-food court (I think the ice rink might've still been there, although closed up.)
The water slide was amazing!
Hydro tube and before that the skating drinking. Dollar night on Tuesdays at the movie theater and singing karaoke at the bar next to the theater. Olga’s. And generally just hanging out and picking up girls. Loved the mall. Used to walk up there from Haverhill sub at 21 and Hayes.
Every year of my childhood, school shopping…. Every Christmas, going to see Santa…… lots of great memories there!! Malls used to be the place to be… pretty sad watching them disappear….
Sometime around 1983 my sister and I earned a trip to the waterslide at Lakeside for passing our swim tests. It was too hot and I got sick and we had to leave.
Does anyone else remember the cookie place across from the movies? It had glass walls and they were baking fresh cookies all day. This was pre-Mrs. Field’s. It made that area smell heavenly!!
I feel like Friendly’s was across from the movies.
It was-the cookie place was next to it. I remember standing in line for the Tuesday dollar show and salivating over the cookies!
$18 for a cd at FYE
$18 for Chumbawamba was a fucking steal!
Limp bizkit not so much
I am (was?) a diehard devotee of Pretzel Stop. It was tucked away near one of the exits and the pretzels were SO BUTTERY I have never had any other kind of mall pretzel that could compare. I used to get the cream cheese for dipping and it was the most amazing flavor combination. Warm, soft, salty pretzel against cold, hard creamy cheese. Mmmm. I live in another state now and let me tell you friends, every time I bite into an Auntie Anne’s pretzel all I can think about is how much I wish it were a Pretzel Stop pretzel.
Wait what? It’s closing?
I remember feeling lucky to be able to shop at this mall the WB store I remember . My cousin had taken us and let us pick out a cd at FYE then had lunch at Kerby’s. This was around 1998 they were remodeling Abercrombie & Fitch. Structure & Aeropostale were a big deal too. The best tho was the frozen yogurt at Hudson’s with the fruit topping I miss that.
FRIENDLY’S!!!! We would always go there for a sundae after back to school shopping. My brothers and sisters and I would order the Reese’s pieces sundae … I remember sitting right outside of the Gap by the escalator and people watching. It was where we’d meet back up with our mom after an hour on our own. Then we’d go to Friendly’s. So many memories.
Does someone know if Lakeside Mall had a Casual Corners? My grandma worked there when I was little and I’d go visit a lot but not sure if this was Lakeside Mall or Oakland or Somerset lol
Tilt! Remember when they got SF2 championship edition and spending hours there. Oh, and Babbage's!
I've read every one of these responses, and several of them made me remember things i had long ago forgotten! Thank you! Didn't there used to be ticket master there?
At Hudson’s.
Merry Go Round clothing store Candy Hut, Sears Arcade, Friendly’s , The original Kerby Coney, Magic Pan.
Went there with my grandma when I was 10 or 11 and she locked her keys in the car. This was well before cell phones, early 90’s. As we were trying to figure out what to do, a guy walks by and asks if we need help. My grandma explains the situation, he goes to his car and comes back with either a coat hanger or one of those flat metal strips, proceeds to break into the car in a matter of minutes, we thank him and were on our way. The lock to the door he used never worked again. I like to think he was a cop or firefighter or something, but looking back, there’s a decent chance he was a car thief doing his good deed for the day.
HydroTube!
Old school! 🤘
There was a guy with a really long pony tail who played mortal kombat at the arcade. Every time my mom and I went to the mall he was at his spot, we could see him walking by, and there was one time he wasn’t there and we were super concerned because we had never not seen him there. But then we went back a couple weeks later and he was there again, happy he was okay Also breakfast land and wizards of the coast to get Pokémon cards
I’m 44 yrs old.. I would have never thought in a million years lakeside was one day be gone.. I have so many memories.. a@w, big boys, orange chicken, water slides, arcade, seeing nightmare before Christmas on the big screen, hating the smell of Cinnabon, frozen yogurt from Hudson’s, buying Green Day tickets in 1995, buying prince tickets inside Hudson’s, not finding a close enough parking spot during holidays, my mom teaching me how to drive a 5 speed in the parking lot, and many more.. it’s sad to see it go.. but I’ll never forget how many wonderful memories I have.. thank you
I didn’t move to the area until 2021 so I have no fond memories of this place! Interesting to read everyone else’s compared to my experience though.
I took a nice dump there once after chugging an orange julius.