Infamous San Bernardino 'Ghost Mall' To Auction Off Carousel, Contents
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA) - A San Bernardino "ghost mall" that closed its doors last summer is set to auction off its contents - including its signature carousel.
The 43-acre Carousel Mall, one of the Inland Empire's oldest and biggest shopping malls, will hold an auction next week featuring a 36-foot carousel for which the mall was named in 1991.
Opened in 1972 as Central City Mall, the shopping center in its heyday thrived with as many as 52 stores and three major department stores.
Since two of the mall's anchors, Montgomery Ward and JC Penney, closed in 2001 and 2003, respectively, the Carousel Mall has become internet famous for its shuttered stores and post-apocalyptic feel.
Multiple videos posted on YouTube have documented the mall's creep factor, from its blank store directory to its vacant store display windows.
But it's the mall's former centerpiece - which now sits eerily quiet and unlit in the empty commercial space - that has garnered the most attention online.
Residents like Matthew Nichols say they have vivid childhood memories of the merry-go-round.
"I used to spin around with the horses, my family used to go all the time," said Nichols.
Officials say since traditional indoor malls have been struggling across the country, they're looking at redeveloping the space into a mixed-use site.
With a population of roughly 216,000, San Bernardino has struggled to emerge from bankruptcy and still is trying to recover from the December 2016 terror attack that killed 14 people.
