HomeFairfax General ForumArrest/Ticket SearchWiki newPictures/VideosChatArticlesLinksAbout
Fairfax County General :  Fairfax Underground fairfax underground logo
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 10:32AM

Skyline_mall.jpg

I loved this fucking place. It was not even close to where I live but for some reason I always went there instead of the places closer to me. Post your memories of Skyline mall here.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: poopstick ()
Date: August 26, 2011 10:39AM

Not sure why you loved it... was basically just a movie theater and arcade...

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 10:47AM

poopstick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure why you loved it... was basically just a
> movie theater and arcade...

It was 2 movie theaters and an arcade. They would stay open late too. Very late.

There was also another movie theater across the street if my memory serves me correct. Now thats 3 movie theaters located in an area about the size of a football field. Dont forget about the Toys R Us down the street.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: ChukyCheez ()
Date: August 26, 2011 11:21AM

I lived near Skyline back in the late 80's and liked it at
first but some very bad elements started going there.
Crack dealers from DC on R&R, a shootout in the parking lot
and a Chinese gang beating the crap out of people turned me
off. One of the reasons I started looking towards Fairfax.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Patrick R ()
Date: August 26, 2011 11:32AM

I only liked it because I went to Wakefield High School!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: dumbee ()
Date: August 26, 2011 11:42AM

Midnight matinees were great. I saw Led Zeppelin Song Remains Same there a couple times. We would always yell at the guy running the movie to turn up the sound. I think one time their speakers blew out.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: ChukyCheez ()
Date: August 26, 2011 12:02PM

Patrick R Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I only liked it because I went to Wakefield High
> School!

You have my sympathy. Another reason we moved to Fairfax was
because Wakefield (and the neighborhoods around it) was turning
into a barrio. No thanks.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: 1995hoo ()
Date: August 26, 2011 12:34PM

Skyline was an airport before the mall and high-rise buildings were constructed: Washington-Virginia Airport. You can do a Google search for that name if you're interested, but nowadays you can still see a relic of the airport days if you drive on Seminary Road between Carlin Springs Road and George Mason Drive. There's a Burke & Herbert Bank on the east side of Seminary and you can see the red runway warning lights on the roof, still there over 40 years after the airport closed. The bank was located right at the end of one of the runways.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: 1995hoo ()
Date: August 26, 2011 12:36PM

Forgot to mention, when it was an airport there was a drive-in movie theatre across Route 7 where the strip mall with the Giant is now. Pilots sometimes used the movie screen to help line up the approach to one of the runways (the other runway from the one that ended at the bank).

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 12:39PM

ChukyCheez Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I lived near Skyline back in the late 80's and
> liked it at
> first but some very bad elements started going
> there.
> Crack dealers from DC on R&R, a shootout in the
> parking lot
> and a Chinese gang beating the crap out of people
> turned me
> off. One of the reasons I started looking towards
> Fairfax.

Oh come on now that just added to the excitement of being there. Now you have to get a ticket from an attentdant and pass through a gate just to enter the fucking parking lot. How ridiculous is that? One of the stupidest things I have ever seen.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: ChukyCheez ()
Date: August 26, 2011 12:52PM

I loved Skyline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ChukyCheez Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I lived near Skyline back in the late 80's and
> > liked it at
> > first but some very bad elements started going
> > there.
> > Crack dealers from DC on R&R, a shootout in the
> > parking lot
> > and a Chinese gang beating the crap out of
> people
> > turned me
> > off. One of the reasons I started looking
> towards
> > Fairfax.
>
> Oh come on now that just added to the excitement
> of being there. Now you have to get a ticket from
> an attentdant and pass through a gate just to
> enter the fucking parking lot. How ridiculous is
> that? One of the stupidest things I have ever
> seen.

The attendant wouldn't be there if management didn't feel it
was necessary. Considering all the low life illegals who live
around there it's a wonder they don't have a SWAT team on duty.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 01:07PM

ChukyCheez Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I loved Skyline Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ChukyCheez Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I lived near Skyline back in the late 80's
> and
> > > liked it at
> > > first but some very bad elements started
> going
> > > there.
> > > Crack dealers from DC on R&R, a shootout in
> the
> > > parking lot
> > > and a Chinese gang beating the crap out of
> > people
> > > turned me
> > > off. One of the reasons I started looking
> > towards
> > > Fairfax.
> >
> > Oh come on now that just added to the
> excitement
> > of being there. Now you have to get a ticket
> from
> > an attentdant and pass through a gate just to
> > enter the fucking parking lot. How ridiculous
> is
> > that? One of the stupidest things I have ever
> > seen.
>
> The attendant wouldn't be there if management
> didn't feel it
> was necessary. Considering all the low life
> illegals who live
> around there it's a wonder they don't have a SWAT
> team on duty.

Well to be honest with you I lived (and still live) a long way from there in a much nicer part of the county but I always saw plenty of white people at the mall and never felt unsafe when I was there and I was usually there in the late night and early morning hours.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: 6X ()
Date: August 26, 2011 02:50PM

I only went there once or twice. It was creepy knowing about the tower collapse.
Attachments:
Skyline Towers.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 03:11PM

^ WOW that must have really sucked. Especially for those living on the upper floors of that building.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Duhhhhh ()
Date: August 26, 2011 03:19PM

The guard and the tickets are there because Target is surrounded by 5 or 6 buildings full of people who work there and pay $100 a month for underground parking.

If Target didn't have that guard shack, everyone from the surrounding businesses would park in Target's lot instead of paying for the garage.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: 3leggedgeeda ()
Date: August 26, 2011 03:28PM

The Sport and Health club there sucks!! too many gays, and the food court in Skyline Mall gave me food poisoning in 2010. I will never set foot in that suck ass shopping center again ever!!!.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 03:34PM

Duhhhhh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The guard and the tickets are there because Target
> is surrounded by 5 or 6 buildings full of people
> who work there and pay $100 a month for
> underground parking.
>
> If Target didn't have that guard shack, everyone
> from the surrounding businesses would park in
> Target's lot instead of paying for the garage.

Well if they really wanted to get away with not paying the $100 they could just park down the street at the Toys R Us parking lot.
I 100% put the blame on Target.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I loved Skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 03:35PM

3leggedgeeda Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Sport and Health club there sucks!! too many
> gays, and the food court in Skyline Mall gave me
> food poisoning in 2010. I will never set foot in
> that suck ass shopping center again ever!!!.

Part of the mall is still open? WTF?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Les ()
Date: August 26, 2011 04:13PM

I went there to pick up IRS publications on several occasions. The mall was a dump.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Huh??? ()
Date: August 26, 2011 04:53PM

Did Skyline Mall close?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: ritaB ()
Date: August 26, 2011 06:16PM

The gang bangers ran the mall shoppers out until the property was unfit for business. Now still a piece of crap area over run by low life latino assholes and illegal alien parasitic type folks. Its best you avoid the Skyline complex all together. Once had its day in the sun (1980's) and since has become just a Mexican's toilet.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: skyline ()
Date: August 26, 2011 07:29PM

Remember back in good ol' 2001 and 2002 visiting my Dad and his gf, now my step mom, who lived in North Towers. There was a parking lot I would park in that was free and nobody would ever check. They were right across the street. Then in 2004 or so they started to be gay and put the parking booth in there and blocked off the lot . I remember a couple of times going into the MC Donalds, and then they built that mega Target there. Did they close that?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: .20 BAC ()
Date: August 26, 2011 07:54PM

Most are probably too young to recall but there used to be a bar in there called the Pawn Shop. Drunk every weekend thanks to my buddy Hugh the bartender.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Dane ()
Date: September 05, 2011 01:33PM

Midnight movies were great here back around 1980 . . . Dawn of the Dead . . . Rocky Horror . .
Although there was a windstorm one night that blew a bunch of construction material off the upper floors of the towers one night into the parking lot into the cars smashing alot of windows.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: DEStewart01 ()
Date: September 05, 2011 04:43PM

LOL at the mexicans comment. There's no Mexicans there. Maybe middle easterners. But those towers are still expensive and on the luxury side of things. You have to be fairly wealthy to rent in any of those Skyline towers, even though theyre starting to get old.

There's tons of federal defense employees nearby. I hear all of the shorter buildings are connected underground in a massive complex. And that basically if the Pentagon were under direct fire, they would relocate to that complex.

I grew up nearby and Im in my late 20's now. I miss Skyline Mall too. They had great student rates at the AMC. Like 2 or 3 dollars if you showed your high school ID. It wasnt really a mall though. Two 6 screen theaters. A subway. A great arcade. And some little shops. The retro themed Mcdonalds in the side hallway is still there. I BOYCOTT that Target and use the Rt 50 one, because I miss Skyline Mall.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Spacy ()
Date: September 06, 2011 02:09AM

I live nearby (well, pretty much exactly on the part that fell down!) and go to the Skyline TARGET all the time. There's a McDonalds in there, too. (I don't think there's anything else there, unless they have installed a perception filter to keep me from seeing it...) Usually I drive, but I also often walk around this area (e.g. to the TARGET, Giant across the street, Chili's, etc.) at all hours day and late night, and it never seems the least bit dangerous in any way. At least not on the Route 7 side of Skyline.

The poster who noted the federal offices in the adjacent office buildings is correct; lots of DOD, IRS, and who-knows-what, but I don't know about any underground secret tunnels or whatever. Could be!

Someone mentioned the airport warning lights on the bank around the corner. Another artifact is a gravel parking/pathway area on the northwest part of the complex, west of the Chili's. That's the only remaining vestige of the airport per se: it was the end of a runway (or taxiway, I forget). Used to drive by the airport all the time when I was a kid.

Never really went to Skyline mall when it was open; didn't live nearby during that era. I saw "Gone In 60 Seconds" there and I think it closed about two years later.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Video Gamer ()
Date: September 06, 2011 12:56PM

DEStewart01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LOL at the mexicans comment. There's no Mexicans
> there. Maybe middle easterners. But those towers
> are still expensive and on the luxury side of
> things. You have to be fairly wealthy to rent in
> any of those Skyline towers, even though theyre
> starting to get old.
>
> There's tons of federal defense employees nearby.
> I hear all of the shorter buildings are connected
> underground in a massive complex. And that
> basically if the Pentagon were under direct fire,
> they would relocate to that complex.
>
> I grew up nearby and Im in my late 20's now. I
> miss Skyline Mall too. They had great student
> rates at the AMC. Like 2 or 3 dollars if you
> showed your high school ID. It wasnt really a mall
> though. Two 6 screen theaters. A subway. A great
> arcade. And some little shops. The retro themed
> Mcdonalds in the side hallway is still there. I
> BOYCOTT that Target and use the Rt 50 one, because
> I miss Skyline Mall.

What happened to the arcade?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Bodega Bob ()
Date: September 06, 2011 01:08PM

.20 BAC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most are probably too young to recall but there
> used to be a bar in there called the Pawn Shop.
> Drunk every weekend thanks to my buddy Hugh the
> bartender.

I believe Pawn Shop became Petibon's during the beginning of the mall's decline.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Ogie33 ()
Date: September 06, 2011 02:07PM

Skyline Mall has been closed since around 2004 when Target purchased it from Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty (who were eventually purchased by Vornado Realty Trust who own Springfield Mall). So whomever said they got food poisoning in the food court in 2010 either ate in the Target food court or doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Before it was a mall it was an X-rated drive in theatre as well after the airport. The tower collapse (apartments actually) was across the street on George Mason Drive while it was being constructed. Several workers died because they took out the concrete supports too soon. Man this thread brings back memories. List of old stores in the mall:

Discovery Zone
Safeway
Italian Gardens (which moved across the street on rt. 7)
Bread & Chocolate
Arcade (Can't recall the name to save my life)
Larry's Cookies
San Antonio Grill
Subway (which relocated to Skyline 1 Office Building)
The Newstand (Bernie was the best)
Waxie Maxies
Book Store
Vitamin Store
Rite Aide
Candy Shoppe
Florist

I could go on and on.

Not gonna lie though. The Mall was ghetto and had a bunch of shady stuff happening, mostly homosexual activities in the public restrooms which forced the mall to remove the stall doors in the restrooms. FFX County even put in a satellite center towards the end of the malls life but they hardly ever showed up but they held some sting operations. I lost count of the number of folks banned from the mall with their mug shots posted in the security offices "wall of shame."

The office parks are made up of 8 office buildings:

Skyline 4-5-6 (5113, 5111 and 5109 Leesburg Pike) are the lightly colored precast aggregate that housed mostly DOD agencies and their contractors. There are sections of the buildings that connect to each other on various floors and then the underground tunnel on the b-2 level that connects the 3 buildings. That can lead you to the McDonalds which was/is owned by Bland Management. Their used to be a wachovia bank next to that and a korean owned cafe on the other side of that.

Skylines 1-2-3 (5205, 5203 and 5201 Leesburg Pike) are separate buildings in front of the Sport & Health Club and connected via garage on the lower levels but did have entrances to the old Mall as well. Watching folks get their cars fowed from in front of the health club never got boring.

I think the Tower is 5107 Leesburg Pike. You want to talk about the laziest government officials, look no further than some of the people working for the social security administration in this building. Washing cars in the garage during the day, permanent smoke breaks, people openly sleeping in cots in their cubicles, stealing toilet paper from the restrooms. I could go on.

All 7 of the above buildings were connected via an underground garage but only Sky's 4-5-6 had an actually underground tunnel connecting the buildings.

It does/did have a convenient, free shuttle bus for employees of the complex to shuttle back to and from the Pentagon & Crystal City. Tons of non-employees would always try and board the bus

Sky 8 was occupied 100% by a DOD agency and have since moved out due to BRAC. Many other DOD tenants will be doing the same and leaving Skyline as well due to BRAC. It was only connected on 1 garage level to Sky's 1-2-3 but was highly secured.

The other buildings were not without their characters either. Of course many employees snuck down to the mall to catch a flick or 2 during the day. Uncle Sam's money hard at work I tell you.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Date: September 06, 2011 02:21PM

"X-rated drive in theater?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/13-11.htm

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Stevo ()
Date: September 06, 2011 08:42PM

Yup! In high school back in 1972 we used to run up Skyline 1 to the roof at night, go to Krispy Kreme and then drive behind the stores to watch the X-Rated movies while we went through a dozen KK's

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: DEStewart01 ()
Date: September 07, 2011 10:05AM

Ive heard the X rated drive in was on the other side of Rt 7 closer to actual Bailey Crossroads, in the lot that used to be a Hechingers, and is now a DSW and furniture store side by side

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: memories ()
Date: September 07, 2011 03:01PM

Weren't there 3 theatre complexes in the same area at different times?
= Skyline Mall theatres replaced by Target
= the outdoor theatre across RT 7 from the old airport, now Marlo/DSW
= the indoor theater that was in the mall across from Korvettes that is now Party Depot

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Movie Lover ()
Date: September 07, 2011 09:01PM

memories Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Weren't there 3 theatre complexes in the same area
> at different times?
> = Skyline Mall theatres replaced by Target
> = the outdoor theatre across RT 7 from the old
> airport, now Marlo/DSW
> = the indoor theater that was in the mall across
> from Korvettes that is now Party Depot


K-B CINEMA 7 Baileys Crossroads?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Movie Lover ()
Date: September 07, 2011 09:03PM

Cinema 7
3515 S. Jefferson Street,Falls Church, VA 22041

Closed 2 screens




Opened in 1965, this theater was located off Route 7 in the Bailey’s Crossroads/Falls Church section of Northern Virginia.

Located in a strip mall it boasted about having the largest screen in northern Virginia up until its closure. Expansive and beautifully structured, it housed one huge screen downstairs and another one upstairs.

Operated by KB Cinemas, attendence suffered from the opening of the Shirlington and Skyline Mall theaters both nearby in the late 80’s. It swithced to second run films in 1992 before closing in 1994. Though the structure itself was not torn down, the interior was gutted and several stores are now found at the location.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Movie Lover ()
Date: September 07, 2011 09:09PM

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15209

AdamsOffOx on October 8, 2006 at 5:07 am
This was actually called the Jefferson. I saw a lot of movies here in the ‘70s. (Particularly remember Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Black Hole.)



JuliaHuggins on May 3, 2007 at 6:49 am
The Jefferson and the Cinema 7 were two different houses; the Jefferson was a single screen house run by the Neighborhood chain which was located off Arlington Boulevard (Rt 50) in Falls Church it played every first-run Disney release. My father was the porter for some time, and I was a ticket-counter when Warner Bros. four-walled the theatre for some selected releases in the mid-late 70’s.
I also worked at the Cinema 7 dishing up popcorn ;)



sguttag on July 24, 2007 at 4:30 am
I always thought of the Cinema 7 as the last of the grand ornate theatres of yesteryear. Opening in the 1960s…it was past they great heyday of movie palaces yet it boasted greater than 1100 seats.
The theatre was indeed quite large and one was easily winded getting to the projection booth!
The golden drapes were beautiful. The screen rigging and front end were clearly from a day when things were done right…everything was perfectly balanced and the drape machines were built like tanks (and were huge by todays standards).
The projection equipment there was no slouch either…Norelco Todd-Ao projectors. When the theatre was twinned, they moved downstairs to say with the “big” auditorium.
I never liked the twin job much…you had this ornate theatre downstairs with 70mm and a decent picture/sound. Upstairs, the picture, while largish (around 40-feet wide) was way too dim and only mono sound.
What a grand old theatre this one was.



kencmcintyre on October 13, 2007 at 3:40 pm
This was an RKO-Stanley Warner theater in 1970.



Hoiles on October 21, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Really was a great place to see a movie. One of the places I really miss. I had wished Cineplex Odeon would have swooped this up when KB folded, as they did with a few other KB spots, but with their own Shirlington nearby, and the AMC across the street, they probably saw it as a money loser. Oh well. It probably would have only delayed things but still a shame.



sconnell1 on March 23, 2009 at 3:54 pm
The Cinema 7 opened on 12/22/65 with MY FAIR LADY which was just opening locally after playing for almost a year at the Warner in downtown D.C.



destewart01 on March 14, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I knew this theater as the Apex Twin or something like that towards the end of its life. While there is currently a party store in what used to be the front of this theater, the large building for the screen upstairs screen can still be clearly seen from Rt7 when pulling into the strip mall. If I remember right, the upstairs screen had stadium seating and a large screen too. It was our favorite screen. It would be 10 years before I saw another movie in stadium style seats. I’m thinking it can’t be completely gutted. What could you possibly put in a space that has stadium seating floor layout? Anyway… it was my favorite place to watch a movie, even though it was run down. My brother and I were teenagers in the early 90’s and we would go here or to Loehmans for second run movies. And we’d go across the street to AMC Skyline for first runs.



bobc007 on July 1, 2011 at 3:15 pm
This was never called the Jefferson. The Jefferson was a Neighborhood house in Falls Church. I worked there, in fact during the period when we showed “The Black Hole” This theatre was always known as the “Cinema 7”

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: The year 2000 was 15 years ago so technically, soon I am supposed to start feeling nostalgia for the year 2000 right? except I am not I still think everything from the year 2000 onward SUCKED ASS.
Posted by: WingNut ()
Date: September 07, 2011 09:26PM

Re: The year 2000 was 15 years ago so technically, soon I am supposed to start feeling nostalgia for the year 2000 right? except I am not I still think everything from the year 2000 onward SUCKED ASS.


idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2015 09:28PM by WingNut.


Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: frfx1983 ()
Date: December 26, 2011 03:10PM

I think the importance, or significance of this mall, for me, lies in it's place along the timeline of my young life. Proximity played a part. Funny how a seemingly unimportant event or place takes on a mystical quality because of the tenderness of your age. Anyhow, I was around 12 years old or so in 1981. And absolutely obsessed with movies. The only place to see subversive material or films popular with the cool-kids was of course - at the midnight movies. Remember, this was slightly before the proliferation of VHS cassettes for rent. We heard that the AMC Skyline theater ran several films of interest - Rocky Horror, Black Christmas, Dawn of the Dead, Rosemary's Baby, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and many others quite regularly. So that started a quest of sorts, for a couple of cinephile kids to get to AMC Skyline on a friday night. I used to sneak out with my best friend at the time - not sure how - but we got out. We made the trek from Herndon all the way to the Skyline, usually huddled in the back of his older brother's Subaru. We were excited beyond reason to see Dawn of the Dead, mostly because of the crowd responses. Lots of cheering and clapping. The experience was always new and exciting. We felt alive and adult, seeing things we didn't quite understand but liked. We felt like renegades, delving into a sub culture that seemed so irreverent and important. The mall itself I barely remember. I remember the long walk inside, past the stores that were chained up for the night. I also remember pleading with the projectionists to turn up the sound! Others have mentioned this. I'll always remember it fondly. Thanks for reading

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: bunch of wusses ()
Date: December 27, 2011 05:05PM

The "ghetto" reputation of this mall is laughable. Parents used to drop me and my friends off there all the time to watch movies in the 80s and early 90s. Don't remember ever having trouble. I do, however, have horrible memories of my mom dragging me to the old Kinney shoe store that used to be here. *Shudder*

When I was in college Petitbon's was a great place to get served if you were underage. Place desperately needed the business, I'm guessing.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: hardworker ()
Date: December 27, 2011 05:11PM

I lived near Skyline...moved out when the immigrants moved in.

Last time I went to see a movie at the mall I was packin' heat.

No fond memories...other than when the building down the block fell down during construction.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Mr. Mom ()
Date: December 27, 2011 05:33PM

Enjoyed many flicks at the Skyline Movie Theatre in the early 80's. Used to take dates during high school years to an (in-house-mall) restaurant. Rampart's, I think? Good times and well, remembered.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: swimmom ()
Date: December 28, 2011 01:31AM

Wow, this brings back memories. I graduated from JEB Stuart h.s. in the early 80's and at that time Skyline Mall was the place to be...and not at all scary. In fact, some of the stores were sort of "exclusive" back then!
Had lots of friends that worked at the AMC movie theatre and we loved the midnight movies. Worked at the Confection Connection near the theatres, and there was a nice men's clothing store (think it was something like Scaramouche), and the bar Pawn Shop. I remember store on the far end that had a Pac Man game.
This was when the movies were more towards the middle/left side of mall, not down on the right where the Target is now.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Date: December 28, 2011 07:56AM

Last movie I saw there was Bulworth. That was the first time I heard the phrase "nappy bunker" and was amazed at the delight that certain members of the audience took to that phrase.

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Captain Sully ()
Date: December 28, 2011 08:20AM

I remember buying this shit from Sky Mall...

203257024x.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: JW88 ()
Date: June 12, 2013 04:39PM

I was jumped there with a knife. My money was taken and had a nice cut on my side. A bad element did start to move in in the early 80s. It's why I also live in Ffx now. South Arlington is the dumps.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Derp ()
Date: June 12, 2013 06:10PM

It takes fucking 15-20 minutes to wait in line to just get out of the gated parking lot after shopping at Target.

Went there once. Never again.


Duhhhhh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The guard and the tickets are there because Target
> is surrounded by 5 or 6 buildings full of people
> who work there and pay $100 a month for
> underground parking.
>
> If Target didn't have that guard shack, everyone
> from the surrounding businesses would park in
> Target's lot instead of paying for the garage.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Maller ()
Date: June 12, 2013 06:11PM

I worked in the office building there from 94-96, it was great in the winter having a number of lunch option all in the mall. The pizza place had great calzones. I used to hit up the record store every single Tuesday to pick up the latest release CDs to listen to at my desk, more than doubled my CD collection. Met Petitbon at the opening of his restaurant. I was friends of a friend of the movie theater manager so he got us in some free movies, at the Star Wars Episode 1 midnight opening we dropped a beer bottle that rattled all the way down the concrete floor loud as shit. Only thing that sucked was the MacDonalds, worst McDs, they just didn't care.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: John A. Deering ()
Date: July 02, 2018 05:22PM

There's way too many memories to even name here.

Recently learning how it was built in 1978. I remember 1993, being 5 years old: SUPER MARIO BROS. THE MOVIE was in theaters at the AMC 12-screen. A year later, 1994, Street Fighter: the Movie, the Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and others. A year later, 1995, Mortal Kombat: the Movie. Two years later, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. So many 90's classics, up until the early 2000's.

The bookstore. New Calvin and Hobbes books coming out.

It was a nice place to grow up. Maybe not as live as Landmark Mall, when it had a lot of people. South Florida's Sawgrass Mills is waaay more built up and live. However, for nostalgia, Skyline Mall is it.

Please tell me someone has a photo of the old directory somewhere?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: bmuup ()
Date: July 07, 2019 03:40AM

o.jpg

Is this place still open?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: I remember...... ()
Date: July 07, 2019 12:05PM

Discovery Zone, saw Little Mermaid there, belonged to the gym. Early 90’s.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Nice set up ()
Date: July 07, 2019 12:22PM

I remember...... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Discovery Zone, saw Little Mermaid there, belonged
> to the gym. Early 90’s.

Little Mermaid you say? Was she white or black?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: JustRemembered ()
Date: July 07, 2019 08:55PM

One night a long, long time ago - maybe ‘77/‘78, a a few of us from Arlington crashed a penthouse party and walk away with their keg. Moahahaha.

What a riot! Somehow we got it out the door, down the elevator, out of the building and somehow, into a vehicle without being spotted. Then we really had a party.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: t3x4c ()
Date: July 08, 2019 12:37AM

JustRemembered Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One night a long, long time ago - maybe
> ‘77/‘78, a a few of us from Arlington crashed
> a penthouse party and walk away with their keg.
> Moahahaha.
>
> What a riot! Somehow we got it out the door, down
> the elevator, out of the building and somehow,
> into a vehicle without being spotted. Then we
> really had a party.

Yuppies could not stand up for themselves even back then?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Belmont TV ()
Date: July 08, 2019 03:18AM

Belmont TV closed. The owner decided to retire.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Fred555 ()
Date: July 08, 2019 02:44PM

I worked as a bank teller at the Bank of VA across the street when we were robbed by someone holding a grenade. Good times.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Bob der Baumeister ()
Date: July 08, 2019 03:30PM

Greaseman held a screening of DELIVERANCE Skyline Mall's movie theater, around '87 or '88.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: eue37 ()
Date: July 08, 2019 05:41PM

Fred555 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I worked as a bank teller at the Bank of VA across
> the street when we were robbed by someone holding
> a grenade. Good times.

A woman was abducted from the Giant parking lot across the street in 1988 and was murdered.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Unsolved Mysteries ()
Date: July 08, 2019 06:07PM


Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: eynx9 ()
Date: July 09, 2019 01:00PM

Fred555 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I worked as a bank teller at the Bank of VA across
> the street when we were robbed by someone holding
> a grenade. Good times.

Real or prop?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Official Skyline Mall Thread (Post your memories here)
Posted by: Fred555 ()
Date: July 12, 2019 11:29AM

eynx9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fred555 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I worked as a bank teller at the Bank of VA
> across
> > the street when we were robbed by someone
> holding
> > a grenade. Good times.
>
> Real or prop?

No idea.

Options: ReplyQuote


Your Name: 
Your Email (Optional): 
Subject: 
Attach a file
  • No file can be larger than 75 MB
  • All files together cannot be larger than 300 MB
  • 30 more file(s) can be attached to this message
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically.
 ********         **  ********  **    **  **      ** 
 **     **        **     **     ***   **  **  **  ** 
 **     **        **     **     ****  **  **  **  ** 
 **     **        **     **     ** ** **  **  **  ** 
 **     **  **    **     **     **  ****  **  **  ** 
 **     **  **    **     **     **   ***  **  **  ** 
 ********    ******      **     **    **   ***  ***  
This forum powered by Phorum.