These images are by Michael Galinksy. If you would like to support Michael’s goal of publishing the images in book form, please visit his Malls Across America Kickstarter campaign.
All images (c) Michael Galinksy
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If you have stories or recollections connected to American malls during the late 1980s / early 1990s, Michael would like to hear from you.
Wow, are we also going to look this weird in another 20 years? Great foresight by the photographer here (however inadvertent).
Scariest part is I know towns where everyone still looks like this!
where?
I like the lack of self-consciousness people seem to have in these pictures. I also notice the almost total lack of obese people. Wonder what changed in only 20 years?
Wow, I love this photos. I love the way people seem to be having an absolutely normal day of their lives. It makes me want to take photos in the nearest mall to show them in 2031. Thanks for posting this.
hey elms, computers came along…that’s what changed. everyone’s sitting on there butts now instead of walking around the malls.
this is amazing. I only wish I had photos from my local mall! Love this post. classic.
why are some people in shorts, and others in coats?
Guess it didn’t occur to you the pictures might have been taken at, um…
Different Times of the Year?
I think this mall is from Long Island, NY.. is this Smith haven mall or Massapequa mall? Just wondering given the king’s park jackets and common tiling throughout the pictures.
Hi. Woooooooow, i like the 90′s.
Is amazing how change the life style…
WOW! Those pictures really take me back! I honestly had forgoten just how bad the clothing and hair style were back then. Ouch. Though, I too am gulilty, I was about 14 and the time and, while I do not remember to well (thankfully), I sure I was dressed just as bad.
Any idea of where in the USA these photos were taken?
@lostinnny
these were taken in about 20 malls across the us
a lot of them were taken in the smith haven mall on long island- that’s where i started the project- then i drove across the country with a friend and shot all over- the jump off in terms of influence was frank, eggelston and winogrand.
@lostinnny
these were taken in about 20 malls across the us
a lot of them were taken in the smith haven mall on long island- that’s where i started the project- then i drove across the country with a friend and shot all over- the jump off in terms of influence was frank, eggelston and winogrand.
This is awesome and horrifying, just as I remember it. I spent the summer of ’90, when I was 17, working in a mall (the Galleria in White Plains, NY). The photos inspired me to create this music playlist, which one friend of mine said made her feel “sort of gross inside,” which is exactly the effect it was intended to have.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Mallrat+Despair+Mix+C+1990/50568744?src=5
This is awesome and horrifying, just as I remember it. I spent the summer of ’90, when I was 17, working in a mall (the Galleria in White Plains, NY). The photos inspired me to create this music playlist, which one friend of mine said made her feel “sort of gross inside,” which is exactly the effect it was intended to have.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Mallrat+Despair+Mix+C+1990/50568744?src=5
Despair maybe. I dunno. 1990 was a simpler time in my life. In fact, thru August of that year was one of the best times in my life. I was only 12. Then seventh grade started and everything went to shit.
I was not really into the pop music of that year, but these songs aren’t bad. At least they’re pleasant and not whiny.
It’s crazy because I was scrolling through these pictures thinking “Man, if this doesn’t look like Smith Haven Mall…” but figured “Nah, malls are malls, especially in the early 1990′s.” lol…but then as soon as I saw that kid in the Kings Park High School jacket, well, that sealed the deal.
I moved out to the general area around the Smith Haven Mall about four and a half years ago, and let me tell you, four and a half years ago, that place did not look much different that it does in your pictures, LOL. It has since gotten a pretty large facelift so now it looks…well, it looks nicer, lol, and it still gets an insane crowd like your pictures show, by virtue of being the only thing around for about what, 40 miles? (yes! still!)
That picture showing the brick work and the “open ’till 9:30″ sign? That should be the entrance to the Macy’s at Smith Haven, and I know this because the outside entrances still have that same sign all over them, LOL. And yes that brick work is still there.
That aside, they must’ve outlawed smoking in malls like a year after these pictures were taken, because I do not remember that at all, and my parents smoked (granted I was 6 in 1990, but still lol). Oh and also, remember that time that Sears sold American products? :’(
Thanks for posting these. They’re crazy, lol.
It’s crazy because I was scrolling through these pictures thinking “Man, if this doesn’t look like Smith Haven Mall…” but figured “Nah, malls are malls, especially in the early 1990′s.” lol…but then as soon as I saw that kid in the Kings Park High School jacket, well, that sealed the deal.
I moved out to the general area around the Smith Haven Mall about four and a half years ago, and let me tell you, four and a half years ago, that place did not look much different that it does in your pictures, LOL. It has since gotten a pretty large facelift so now it looks…well, it looks nicer, lol, and it still gets an insane crowd like your pictures show, by virtue of being the only thing around for about what, 40 miles? (yes! still!)
That picture showing the brick work and the “open ’till 9:30″ sign? That should be the entrance to the Macy’s at Smith Haven, and I know this because the outside entrances still have that same sign all over them, LOL. And yes that brick work is still there.
That aside, they must’ve outlawed smoking in malls like a year after these pictures were taken, because I do not remember that at all, and my parents smoked (granted I was 6 in 1990, but still lol). Oh and also, remember that time that Sears sold American products? :’(
Thanks for posting these. They’re crazy, lol.
@JennyEpelMuller Wow that is a painful playlist, LOL. But man, I remember going to the Galleria back then, it was a nice mall at that time (also for the time, lol)…glad to see you made it out of there ok
@JennyEpelMuller Wow that is a painful playlist, LOL. But man, I remember going to the Galleria back then, it was a nice mall at that time (also for the time, lol)…glad to see you made it out of there ok
Yes, I knew that was the Smith Haven Mall in some of those pics.
I absolutely love these photos, thanks so much for sharing them!
My favorite is the store sign that says: TAPE WORLD
This was so bad it was great. The style, or lack thereof, is awesome!
I don’t think there is an era in which America looked any trashier. Shout out to the Frizzy Perm Era (ca. 1987 – ca. 1995).
The only people who look remotely sophisticated are the woman in the 7th photo from the bottom, and some of the people in the “Phil’s Photo Imagry” pics. Oh, and that mannequin, too.
Amazing how these Northerners bear an uncanny resemblence to Billy Ray Cyrus ca. “Achy Breaky Heart”, style-wise.
2 or 3 of these images are NOT from Smith Haven. INCREDIBLE WORK though.
I have video of Smith Haven back then. Hold onto
Your hats.
Elms, you nailed it! the lack of self awareness. We need to get back to that. I lived at malls in 1990. Every mall in Chicagoland. Thx for the pics retronaut!
Wow. Especially fascinating for me as I was born in the summer of 1990. A world I existed in yet never knew…
I like the stored named “Tape world” in one of the pictures. Try finding any store today that primarily sells music on cassette tapes! Also the smoking inside the malls is pretty funny.
There is still a sort of late 80′s/madonna/flashdance vibe left over in 1990 – strange….
What happened to the great long hair the men and woman used to have, and their sizes have tripled? What happened to the people that used to excercize. We need more Jack LaLanes!
Did you know that eating sugar increases your appetite, and your desire for sugar?
It’s amazing to see how small everyone was back then!
1990….wow…..remember this is within one year of Cheers ending, Seinfeld & The Simpsons beginning!
I guess black people didn’t go to malls back then.
REguarding the lack of obese people, I also noted the number of people smoking in public…
Corelation is not causation, but is it possible the two are somehow linked?
Thanks for all the support for this project-
I wrote up a short piece to give context to the work
http://www.rumur.com/news/mall-stories/
in addition a few months ago i made a video for my old band (for a song from this time period) called punk rock city usa – using images from this series.
http://vimeo.com/17861090
a lot of those pictures are from Smith Haven Mall
Who said this is USA.
The Eighties exploded, and these are pictures of the shrapnel.
Is that Julian Casablancas in pic no. 4??
I, too, am laughing about Tape World. I remember they came around in the late 80s and starting taking business away from Record Bar. But by the mid-90s, they started losing out to CD Alley, which eventually died about ten years later when mp3s became big. Ah the cycle of life.
Yeah the scenes of smokers was shocking in a way. Some malls in the south still allowed smokers all the way into the late 90s even.
Oh wow, is that the Smithaven Mall in Lake Grove?? I practically grew up in that mall!
http://kck.st/gcUEDH
michael galinsky here- the photographer- i have started a kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds to print a book of the images
thanks
Crazy. Those kids in the Kings Park jackets are my friends!! That was the year we graduated high school.
Hey Axe-
if you do know those people in the pictures can you contact me via the facebook.com/rumur site- I would love to be in touch with some of the people in the images for a media story.
thanks
A few things:
1) I think the better term would be “self-consciousness“, not “self-awareness.” Self-awareness is good–self-consciousness, not quite so much.
2) I don’t want to look “sophisticated” if it means baggy grey shorts and a wife-beater–I know, I know, “it’s all in how you wear it”. Feh! I want to look GOOD! These people may be making mistakes, but the mistakes are all fixable (anyone “horrified” by this needs to take a look around at today), and at least they’re trying to take pleasure in their appearance. We might as well all be wearing office wear for the attitude we take toward our so-called casual wear these days, even as sloppy as it is. We get to “relax”, but we don’t get to enjoy our clothes any more. Who really wants a world like that? And yet we continue to put up with it. Why??
I saw lots of fat people, mostly women.
definitely smith haven mall. i recognized it instantly by the brickwork as well. and black people definitely did goto malls back then, the southshore mall in bayshore. and sunrise mall. smith haven, not so much.
The photo of the popcorn koisk in front of the Zales (mall #67) offers different demographics (they tend to be the only obese within)as well as floor tiling is so totally different from the Smith Haven. Probably shot somewhere else. Mall #68 also has white flooring. Not enough to identify.
these are awesome
I feel like I’m right out of frame in every shot. Thanks for bringing me back tot the terror.
what a great collection of shots – there should be a photo-anthology for every year. the cellphone killed the mallrat, and now we actually miss em. malls seem so empty these days, like in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvJw1t8wHhM
@waza – I was a mall rat throughout the 80s (think Fast Times At Ridgemont High). The big thing for my klan was visiting the arcade and playing video games. But even in the early to mid 90s my generation still enjoyed going to malls, but only for shopping, not socializing. Soon after the internet and email took off and then online shopping. By the late 90s/early 00s just about all of my non-staple, non-clothing purchases were done on line through etailers and brick stores that shipped to the home (specifically electronics and small/large appliances). That was about the same time computer games and console games started blowing away those in arcades. Malls – and those who frequent them – are a dying breed. I’d wager that before another 20 years passes, they’ll all be extinct. All we’ll have by then are strip malls anchored by a few major retail chains still around like Target (Sears & JCPenney probably won’t be one of them).
These pics bring me way back.Thanks Mike Galinsky.Just curious if any of these were taken in New Jersey as one of the pics looks just like my wife but she denies she ever owned those high top sneakers.
WHAT? NO CELL PHONES? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?
Picture 4 looks like Johnny Ramone!!!
This definitely takes me back! You can almost feel the vibe of a slightly simpler time. Two things I took away most is that 1990 was still a time you could smoke almost anywhere in public without the politically correct shame division decending upon American society. And secondly, as elmsyrup pinted out, there’s almost a complete lack of obese people. Sure, there have always been obese people but as we venture into malls today it’s hard to escape that a large number of people are obese. The only other irony worth mentioning is that mall clothing stores still cater to the thin and pretty crowd. That has never changed. More people use wal-mart and big and tall stores instead of traditional retail to cover an increasing number of obese people.
There is a surprisingly 80s feel to some of the fashion and hairstyles. I would have placed it perhaps at 1987 or 1988. Nice record.
Ahhh….. the times when you could smoke in the mall.
hipshots!
I was 14 in 1990 in Boston and boy does this bring back memories of the malls in the smaller towns I sometimes lived in as a kid in the late 80s, early 90s. I love this project!
I like this. I wish we could still dress like this and not be considered strange. I remember as a kid in the 80s/early 90s, clothes used to be fun. And not just a kid-clothes vs adult-clothes thing, but there’s been a real change. Everything has to be so subdued now. No more bright colours, flashy designs, etc. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like EVERYTHING here (especially most of the hair – most, not all). But I would be a happy camper if today’s style would go by the wayside and something more akin to this would return.
In some parts of Canada there are malls where people still look like this.
looking so beautiful by heart
These captures are fantastic!! Slice of life gems, they are. I was 9 years old when these were taken and can remember scenes like this like it was yesterday. Makes me want to watch the original Dawn of the Dead. KUDOS!!
A lot of these look like they’re in the Smithhaven mall on Long Island.
…even though not from the USA but Australia and now living in Croatia these pics hit the spot….the malls looked the same even in Australia!in 1990…..even though the style is not the 90′s….more like a spill over from the 80′s as one person has already mentioned…the first shot with Patrick swayze is great…the fashion was awful….but we were all guilty :]
….oh I forgot to mention stonewash denim was king but actually on the way out by 1990….
The great equalizer across the US is not liberty or justice for all; it is the mullet. Gah!
I really enjoyed looking through your photographs – an unpretentious snapshot of a big hair era. just wtf were men doing wearing mid-riffs!
cheers
Yes I for sure noticed the tobacco use in these photos..there is no way in the world that would take place now! I was 30 in 1990 and I dont remember that being real prevelant in any of the malls I went to..Yes it was funny seeing not one cellphone being held up to a persons ear! This is so common now we just take it for granted!
Wow America used to be so cool. I mean they look ridiculous now but they had style!
Wow this is truly amazing. I was browsing these images, and i couldn’t stop thinking… “Why do i feel like i’ve been here before?”. I soon realized i HAVE been there before. Many times lol.
I grew up in selden/centereach (town over from lake grove where the smithaven mall is located) and i was at smithaven for the first time in a long time last week and its looks ALOT different!!
Add me to the chorus of voices chiming in that they grew up at “that mall”. Having been to the Mall yesterday (granted, not the Smith Haven!) I can testify that the sense of community has been lost. Say what you will about the off-the-charts lack of tact, you can tell that these people are interacting. Kind of like the 80′s version of a Town Square. Nowadays, the social aspect of Mall shopping has been lost. Between the big box stores and people staring at their phones every minute, you don’t get the feeling anymore. This is a real snapshot in time!
Having graduated from high school in 1990, I can tell you that the ’80s didn’t end until 1991.
The shift in pop culture, music, and fashion that occurred right about the time Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was released was as dramatic as it was sudden.
Quite literally overnight, the big hair, stone-washed denim, and tight jeans you see in these photos, and the Poison and Cinderella that was no doubt playing on the mall’s sound system when they were taken, was no longer cool. Photos of this mall taken only two or three years later would look very different.
What I find amazing about these pictures, is how they could be from anywhere in the US. I am from Atlanta, and this could be from any one of a dozen malls in the metro Atlanta area. I read several posts that they are from the NY area, so it’s uncanny how culture really has assimilated across our country. Thanks for the cool memories!
Cletus went to the mall looking for a wife!
That Batman pic had to be summer 89…
Terrible hair ! Great look ! Back in days !