Rolling Acres Mall, which has long garnered the interest of thrill-seekers and documentary photographers and videographers since closing in 2008, has a starring role in another national show.
“Ghost Mall,” the first episode of a new series that premiered Friday on the cable TV network Viceland, prominently features Rolling Acres Mall.
The show, called Abandoned, is described as “part travel log, part epic skate vid, and part in-depth documentary series,” according to Viceland’s website. It stars pro skateboarder Rick McCrank “as he explores North America’s strangest deserted spaces and talks to the people closest to them. He also infiltrates local skate scenes to show how these empty lots and cast-off buildings can become vibrant, sustainable playgrounds for the next generation.”
Rolling Acres is featured in two segments that total about half of the 44-minute episode.
The show airs at 9 p.m. Fridays in the Akron area on Time Warner Channel 136 or 1136. The Ghost Mall episode will be repeated at 8 p.m. Sunday or online at https://www.viceland.com/en_us/show/abandoned.
In the episode, McCrank meets up with two Akron men who are described as Rolling Acres enthusiasts and who say they grew up in the mall. They walk through the mall, reminisce and, in a later segment, look for paranormal activity. McCrank also skateboards through and around Rolling Acres in the show.
The episode features aerial footage of Rolling Acres as well as lengthy tours inside the mall.
The show also highlights Randall Park Mall and Euclid Square Mall.
“There’s a trail of abandoned malls across America, and Northeast Ohio is the mecca,” McCrank said in the episode.
Greg Torre and his friend, Damon Moore, take McCrank through Rolling Acres, where they reminisce about the many times they’ve been inside, including participating in a zombie movie.
When asked in the episode how he feels about how vandals have stripped and defaced the mall, Torre said: “It’s disgusting. It’s a disgrace. It’s disrespect to what the place used to be, disrespect for who used to come here and care about it.”
In a phone interview from Vancouver, McCrank said Rolling Acres was the first abandoned mall he’d seen.
“It was surreal. It was incredible. I was kind of blown away at the state it was in. When you think of malls, they’re these pristine places and polished. It was such a trip, he said. He and the production crew made a total of three trips to Rolling Acres in the summer of 2015 and said they had permission to enter through a former department store.
When told by a reporter that the city plans to demolish the mall, minus the department stores, which are owned separately, McCrank said he agreed it needed to come down.
“Personally, having been inside there, I don’t think it’s salvageable. It might be, but I don’t think it is — especially the lower levels,” he said.
McCrank said he hopes “something positive comes from it. It was such a positive part of the area.”
As for the paranormal activity he and the local Akron men were looking for in the mall, “we weren’t planning on doing that at all,” he said. “I actually had a really fun time. I’m not really a believer in the paranormal, but thought it was really interesting to go along. They just really enjoyed it.”
The former mall owner was foreclosed upon this summer by Summit County after eight years of legal maneuvering and after the mall had no buyers in sheriff’s sales. The county then gave the interior of the mall — 277,000 square feet and 54 acres — to the city of Akron.
Akron city spokeswoman Christine Curry said the producers of the show requested another visit inside the mall after the city acquired the property. The city declined because of safety and security reasons.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty.