With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
The Abandoned Mall From 'Westworld' And 'Gone Girl' Is Set For Demolition
The Hawthorne Plaza mall, which has been mostly abandoned since 1999, will likely see a merciful end soon.
Last Tuesday, the Hawthorne City Council unanimously approved a deal that will provide financial support to a development that will sprout up at the site of the mall, reports The Daily Breeze. Plans for the new project—another mall—were submitted to Hawthorne City Hall and calls for construction to start as early as next year.
Previous plans were rejected by the Hawthorne City Council because they didn't like them (picky!) and the approved project will have a price tag of $500 million. Construction and demolition is set to begin once county workers, who currently live in converted apartments at the mall, have been relocated.
Since its closure in the late '90s, the mall has become a popular site for film and TV shoots as well as urban explorers. It has been used in movies and shows like MTV's Teen Wolf, Gone Girl and was most recently seen in HBO's Westworld, where it was used as a cold storage facility on sub-level 83.
The feature in the mall that has perhaps gotten the most screentime are the shuttered escalators.
The abandoned parking lot is also a popular attraction: