Carousel Mall

What a time capsule! It’s totally eerie. Barely anything is open. But it’s definitely worth a stop by to step back into another era. I drove from LA just to see the dead mall and it was 100% worth it.

I wish I could give it more stars, but this mall is pretty much abandoned. If you want your eyebrows threaded, or a good weave, this is your place, other than that there’s not much here. It’s unfortunate, bring that I’ve seen this mall thrive as a kid, and now it’s just a creepy building. Such a bummer, I wish someone would invest in this mall and make it new again!

There are a few shops still open for business in this, mainly abandoned, mall: beauty/​hair supply, jewelry, sports memorabilia, watch repair, coin-​silver-​gold exchange, Spanish library, radio station, Chinese food, shoe repair and an antique store. There’s also a few school or learning type programs here.
Many of the people I meet inside this mall are there to get some exercise in on their breaks from work (just like me). The air conditioning is ALWAYS on here, so it’s great to walk through during the summer and FREEZING during the winter.
Security guards do still monitor and walk the mall as well as janitorial crews, which are all friendly (they say good morning and smile when you see them).
The mall is seriously dilapidated. When it rains, trash cans are placed all over the mall to collect water that gets through the roofing/​ceiling. Take a few looks up during your walk around the mall and you’ll see plenty of water damage and stains, chipped paint and falling tiles. The whole thing is kind of sad, as you can tell that perhaps in the late 80’s-early 90’s this place must have been one of the coolest places to shop. The carousel located in the mall (from which this place undoubtedly gets its name) is still in great condition.
I’m certain this place will be demolished one day, as it definitely doesn’t seem like anyone is taking steps to preserve it.
Why a three star rating you ask? Well, as a place to be able to walk around in to beat the heat or escape the rain, it’s great (or, as Unilocal says, it’s «A-​OK».

Isn’t it lovely to view a plethora of «stale dated» reviews and then locate the establishment itself and immediately know why???
For those of you fortunate enough to never have even heard of this place, feel free to pat yourselves upon the back prior to taking your next sip of coffee and leaning back in your recliner.
The «Carousel Mall» could likely serve as a San Bernardino Landmark; tragically, however, there are only a handful (if that many) of businesses, all continuing to hang on by a wing and a prayer.
Located just off of the 215 freeway in the very heart of Downtown San Ber’doo-, this place has, in all truth, taken on the disposition of being more of a «swap meet» than a mall.
Thinking back — — -, one of my 1^st jobs back as a teenager was working in Montgomery Ward — dayum that was a long time ago, lol! Well M/​W filed BK and shortly afterwards ALL of the mall’s anchors closed shop. Inclusive to this were JC Penny’s and Harris/​Gottschalks and while the mall wasn’t exactly a rival to Ontario Mills and/​or Victoria Gardens (Rancho Cucamonga), with the Inland Center Mall located just a few blocks away, it served as a fair enough contender.
Fast forward a decade or so — — - and recently I was asked to accompany my kid sister to get her eyebrows threaded. Reflecting on the sheer nothing that I had to do and how HOTTT it already is out this way, I reluctantly agreed and within 15 minutes we’d pulled up to this place.
Go-​Go-​Gadget blindfold!!! O_​_​o
I seriously had NOOOO clue that this mall was still open!!! Encompassing a nail shop, a Jackson-​Hewitt and probably a Burger King, I’ve got to give it up for these businesses continuing to «hang in there». That’s definitely star worthy.
Without any given reluctance would I personify this place as being an absolute «ghost town» however bearing in mind the air conditioning offered within, it serves as more of a «cool zone» to locals. Guess the ghosts like it cold.
Need I say? Parking at this place takes me back to a day and time when things were… well, more SIMPLE.
A time when you could double dutch in the parking lot and played hopscotch until your parents partitioned you. Parking literally SURROUNDS the entire place and unlike any mall within Orange and LA Counties, you don’t even have to pay for it!!!
To further it, I/​we witnessed a number of employees, likely from local government establishments (the court and various other «city» entities are a few blocks away) partaking in their lunch breaks by walking around, exercising and minimizing stress altogether. So… the mall duly serves as a walking track??? NOTED–
Summing things up however, I really do question the fate of this place.
Somehow it’s stood the test of time and has managed to hang around for quite some time now minus any «real» attractions. God knows I hope that they didn’t renew a lease of any sort yet I really do question what’s to come?
For what it’s worth, «Carousel Mall», I’ll definitely be keeping a watchful eye; if anything, to see when you’ve stopped spinning.

Yes its empty. However the stores that are there are amazing with customer service. It beautiful as well. Give people a reason to come and I promise they will. Lets get that carousel up and running again! The new SBX line stops there, its perfect. If you care about your city and want to help it, check it out. Consider the mom and pop shops there.

This mall is a good place to run around in. Unfortunately, there are less than 15 stores around here and almost all of them only open on the week.
What gave this place 3 stars is the historical Harris building. Unfortunately, the original anchors, Montgomery Ward, JCPenny, & Harris are now gone. Harris moved to the former May Co in the Inland Center Mall. JCPenny was having troublesome times during the early 2000s and closed some retail shops. Montgomery Ward suffered bankruptcy and so did what we called Harris today, Gottschalks (Harris-​Gottschalks).
It still has it’s carousel, it’s retro feeling, and of course the retro circular benches. This mall has it all but it needs more stores.
Other than that, the mall is still trying and luckily, some schools are located here. Offices have nice maintenance. That gives this review 4 stars.
Even though San Bernardino is under deep crisis times, the mall serves as like a relaxation zone or a reminder if you had good times here.

Mall is empty and there are some stores that are still hanging in there. I only visit it, when my mom wants to go to Rainbow, she always finds cute stuff for herself in that store. Good deals and coo selections.

If you are curious what a post apocalyptic mall looks like come here. I was surprised I walked out alive: P

Why do people keep flagging my post? This review is the truth.
Everyone in San Bernardino knows what happened to this mall. The Mexican gangs took it over in the early to mid 90’s and picked racial fights with everyone whom wasn’t Mexican that went there, until people eventually just stopped going there.
I used to go to this mall in the early to mid 90’s back when I was a teenager with my friends. It had a JC Penny and a Harris. Every time me and my friends went there we always got into confrontations with the Mexicans gang members hanging around there.
Being teenagers all you and your friends wanted to do was find a place to hang out and belong but we couldn’t do that at this mall. Walking around that mall and looking at a face of a Mexican was like looking in the face of a monster sometimes. They were always mad dogging you. I swear every Mexican that walked by you was looking at you like they wanted to kill you. It was a shame. I remember one day me and 2 friends walked into KB Toy store. We were all looking around the toy store. As we were walking out of the store there’s a bald headed Mexican standing at the entrance just mad dogging all 3 of us like we killed his mother. That place was the twilight zone.
People went to that mall to shop and teens went to that mall to hang out. We were not there to gang bang so the patrons were caught completely off guard when confronted by Mexican gang members trying to pick fights.
After I stop going, I would read about the violent clashes the Mexican gangs would have with some of the black patrons that went to the mall to. People didn’t want to deal with all that nonsense and they just stopped going there altogether. Which is how this entire 2 story mall went dead. It was sad… oh well.
MODERATOR PLEASE DO NOT DELETE MY REVIEW NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE FLAG IT OR ARE OFFENDED BY IT! THIS IS THE TRUTH! THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE CAROUSEL MALL AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE MALL WENT DEAD!!! THIS IS THE HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO. HISTORY IS PAINFUL SOMETIMES BUT THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED!!! EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS. EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW WHY A WHOLE ENTIRE 2 STORY MALL WENT DORMANT!!!

I decided a stroll down amnesia lane was in order around 4 pm this afternoon as I hadn’t been inside this mall in at least 5 years. Every time I visit, it is more and more of a ghost town. I remember «Central City Mall» and later «Carousel Mall.»
I walked in the south entrance on the top level and strolled over to look over the balcony at the carousel. A security guard was walking by and I asked if the carousel still was operational. He said it hadn’t been running in years. I noticed the bridal store was gone since I last visited. Last time I was there, I looked inside to see what they had since I was getting married at that time. Everything in there would have been perfect, IF I was getting married in 1991 and not 2009. The bridal industry is very trendy and I could not see how that store was making any money.
The antique store which has been there for about 25 – 30 years was closed at 4 pm and the store was bursting with merchandise. The beauty supply was STILL there, full of cheap nylon hair extensions in the same place it has always been. I asked in the only clothing store in the mall that I saw about the nearest restroom. The store had only about ½ of its lights on, with one side of the store partially dark. I figured I already took a chance risking my life going into the mall so the bathroom should be the least of my worries! She said something about it being in the middle of the mall by the chinese food place. I asked if she meant the place that used to be near Montgomery Wards and she said, «Huh?» I quickly realized she wasn’t old enough to remember that as she might have been 18 years old. (Montgomery Wards closed in 1999.) I walked out toward the middle of the mall and found Daniel’s Jewelers to still be in its original location, a nail salon, an eyebrow threading salon, and another small hair salon in the corridor that once lead to JC Penney. I never did find the restroom and decided to use Starbucks across the street.
I found it sad because this was where all my new clothes came from as a kid, getting Orange Juliuses with my mom, looking in the bookstore, trying the samples at Hickory Farms and where I hung out as a teenager. This was THE PLACE to get your acid wash pants and LA Gear high tops with 3 different colored laces! For 5 dollars (and a few cents), I could see two movies and get 2 full size $ 1 Whoppers at Burger King. Hell, 5 bucks hardly buys a gallon of gas now.
I miss my youth.

I went to the Carousel Mall today Sunday october 21, 2012 and I was too impressed with how clean it is. It is almost like a shrine. It is a beautiful lace. I am sad that people in San Bernardino could not or did not appreciate just what this Mall had to off them. the art work is wonderful, and probably worth something now, the artwork of the infamous Carousel on the ground floor is magnificent, and the security guard in the lil information booth ws very professional; I walked through there taking picture after picture of empty places, envisioning people walking along the marvelously waxed floor, and it really brought tears to my eyes. i am thinking about getting an office there for myself for as long as I have the time to work from there.

This place makes me sad. I really only go here for Lisa’s Threading. The rest of the stores are slowly leaving one by one. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole place closes down soon!

Okay, look. It’s true there really are almost no stores left. BUT! As a place for your office to be housed, this mall rocks it. They have the most stellar maintenance EVER. You could literally eat off the floors before the doors open. There is TONS of parking and the AC in the offices is really good. If you want to go for a walk on your break, hey, you’re in a mall! HOORAY! Weather is not an issue.
It’s just sad that so few people get to enjoy these perks as the mall dies a not so slow death and one by one the businesses leave. It is now almost dead in the wake of the City of San Bernardino bankruptcy. Who knows what will happen next? It’s a sad sad thing.
What will happen to the Carousel???

Did I just see a tumbleweed? If so, that’s the only thing moving in this dilapidated waste of space. Whoever has managed to keep this mall open is one masterful financial wizard. Who is paying rent?
I remember when this Mall… OK I can’t even bring myself to call this place a Mall, its more like the Building Formerly Known As A Mall. BFKAAM for short. Now that we are back on track. Back, way back when this BFKAAM was Central City it was happening. They had Montgomery Wards, Harris, JC Penney, Sam Goody, The Warehouse (omg I’m old), A movie theater and Kings Buffet. Wow, I miss this place.
Now, it houses such luxurious places as a dingy nail shop, a beauty supply, a clothing store with dim lighting and a eyebrow threading/​t shirt shop? Yeah I didn’t get it either.
I look forward to the day when they bulldoze this place. In the meantime… use the parking lot to teach your kids how to drive.

It’s kind of sad. I remember my mom taking me to this mall back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and yes, there was an actual carousel. This place is pretty much a shell of what it used to be.
It looks like the deco hasn’t changed since 1978. I think the county rented out a large part of the lower floor. All of the anchor department stores are gone. 5 out of every 6 storefronts are either empty or closed during normal business hours, and the ones that are open sell some pretty obscure items.
I remember wandering into one of the stores a couple years ago and commenting to the proprietor about how the mall seemed really dead. He was like «What are you talking about? Business is fine, etc etc.» I was the only one in his store (which sold random household decorations) and there was NOBODY walking by outside. I wonder if maybe he was just the proprietor’s ghost or something, and maybe dude had actually been dead in his back room for the last 15 years but his spirit was still haunting the place.
My last visit to the place was yesterday when I came downtown to watch a movie at the theater across the street, only to find that the theater was out of business. I cut through the mall on my way back south. Same old ghost town. The most depressing thing was my final exit and walk through the mostly-​deserted parking lot, hearing the elevator music that was piped out via loudspeakers where nobody was around to listen. RIP Carousel mall.

I just DON’T see why there are so many negative reviews here. If you’ve EVER been here you’ll know it screams luxury. COME here and you will not be disappointed. You have TO at least give it a chance and you’ll see that it has some of the best shopping in the area. THIS MALL is maintained very well, great to bring kids to, and is located in one of the safest crime-​free areas I’ve EVER seen. Also, please go back and read only the words in all caps.

They had just installed the corousel when I was born. My memories of the the place growing up were not very negative; my mom would take me along to her Fashion Bug and what not. But even then I noticed that some spaces were completely empty.
In the few times I would visit the place later on, I couldn’t help but feel the cold emptiness. Even now just writing this makes me feel really sad. Things in society can fail THAT badly.
I can’t imagine how the food vendors could have lasted for more than a couple of months. There used to be a Orange Julias, a Sabarro and a Carl’s Jr. The Carl’s Jr. was on the first level, which was the really sketchy part of the mall, shoved oddly into the corner. Just thinking how such a restaurant could have planted itself there makes me wonder. That must have been a psychologically horrible job for poor San Bernardino teenagers.
The parking garage is no place you’d want to explore. The San Bernardino police don’t even go in it.
I remember one time there was a very awkward old man and a younger counterpart (his son?) who were selling *cold* popcorn with some liquid I would have to assume was butter. I figure they had to be ghosts because no man could make a cent doing that type of thing. Creepers!
The whole place is a sad thing, even in my imagination. It’s a foul reference point for the way society was when I was growing up. So sad.

Carousel Mall .
Zoom-​in on all its finer points :
— Freeway close
— Family environment
— View of the mountains
— The Carousel itself
Carousel Mall .
Right-​off U.S. 395 /​U.S. 91 /​I-​15, just north of U.S. 70 /​I-​10
(714) TU.-30 616
Check out Riverside International Raceway while you’re in the area; and don’t forget Santa’s Village.

Wow. Sometimes you just wonder how the hell does a place like this stay in business? I really ask that after 6 years.
When I first came here this place was a mess. Not many shops, very few people in the mall or the stores themselves, and god. just looking like a ghost mall in general.
Having coming back here again after all these years, I was shocked to see it still around. REALLY?! Someone must have deep pockets or a serious masochistic approach for keeping this place open after all these years.

I’ve only been here once several yrs ago, but I just felt like writing a review. This mall is an utter joke! I don’t even now why it’s still in business & it deserves a rating in negative numbers.