Secret Mall Apartment (2024) – BUSTED ON CAMERA after living rent-free in a mall for 4 YEARS

➡ The text discusses a documentary about a group of eight people who secretly lived in a mall in Rhode Island for four years, starting in 2003. They documented their experience with a small camera, surviving on leftover food from the food court and exploiting the mall’s resources. The group, led by an artist named Michael Townsend, found an unused space in the mall during its construction and turned it into a living area. The documentary also explores the group’s views on gentrification and their previous experiences with squatting in abandoned buildings.
➡ The text discusses a group of people who, in protest of gentrification, secretly built and lived in an apartment inside a mall. They managed to stay undetected for years, turning their secret dwelling into an art project. Despite some close calls with security, they were able to maintain their hidden residence by being quick thinkers and smooth talkers. The text also touches on the group’s other artistic endeavors, such as creating tape art in a children’s hospital and at significant historical sites.
➡ A group of artists, led by Michael, lived in a secret apartment in a mall for four years, from 2003 to 2007, as part of an art project. The group started to break apart as some members wanted a more traditional lifestyle, while Michael remained committed to the project. The secret living arrangement came to an end when they were discovered by security, leading to Michael’s arrest and subsequent charges. Despite the fallout, Michael took full responsibility for the project, shielding the other participants from any legal consequences.
➡ Two young security guards discover a locked door in a building they thought they had full access to. Intrigued, they break in and find a hidden space, perfect for a secret hangout. They decide to keep it a secret and use it as a chill spot during their breaks. The story also discusses the concept of art and how it can inspire others, using the example of an artist who creates hidden installations in unexpected places, like under a bridge or in a mall.
➡ The speaker discusses their thoughts on a documentary about a group of artists who secretly lived in a mall. They critique the artists’ views on white privilege and their disregard for property rights, suggesting they were naive and out of touch with reality. However, despite these criticisms, the speaker appreciates the artists’ creativity and the nostalgic feeling of having a secret hideaway. They conclude that the documentary is worth watching, despite some of its more controversial elements.
➡ The text talks about a video that shows people breaking into a place using cinder blocks, which led to their capture. It also mentions a secret apartment with hidden passages. The writer encourages sharing the video and visiting certain websites for comic books and conspiracy theories about Stanley Kubrick and the moon landings. The text ends with lyrics from a song.

It’s mind blowing that they actually documented all of this and they got him busted on camera. Under the docks. Under the docks? Yeah, under the docks. And we’re back under the docks going over rotten tomatoes. Like 100, their highest rated documentaries of 2025. Some of them like Crep in from 2024. But it’s the list of what people have been going after. But we’re going after specifically Rotten Tomatoes score. So we’re trying to test engage how well their scores actually go. So far it’s been, I think 50, 50 for us. Right. A couple of them down. A couple of them are right.

What do we got today? Yeah, I don’t trust audience scores too much. So let’s see. Let’s see how close they are. Today’s is called Secret mall apartment from 2024. It’s about a half an hour long and it’s from Jeremy Workman and the Daily Beast. One of my favorite publications calls this a dazzling kiss off to gentrification, which I have to immediately say, what the hell is a kiss off? I don’t know. I mean, I. I don’t know if I should say what I think it means. I may. Okay, let’s say, let’s save it for the pat.

And then I guess a more accurate description from the website for this movie says in 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside a busy mall and lived there for four years, filming everything along the way. This sounds incredibly interesting. The title of this movie, Secret Mall Apartment sounds interesting. I’m ready to tear into it. Plot in the course of Secret Mall Apartment. This starts somewhere around 2003 and it’s a said it starts out as like four people. It grows to about eight people. But there’s one person in particular that kind of becomes a spearhead of this.

And his name’s Michael Townsend. He’s like this artist. We’re going to get into him a little bit, but he’s kind of one of the driving characters throughout this. And it’s got a bunch of interviews from the people that were actually living inside the Secret Mall apartment, or at least most of them. It happened in Providence, Rhode Island. And the origin story is that a girl was listening to a radio ad in her car about this new mall that was being built in Providence. And the commercial was like a mom saying, oh, it’s got everything that I need in one place.

I wish I could just live there. And she had this thought of, what if you actually live there, can we actually live in the mall? And that gave Birth to this. This whole kind of crazy movement. Have you ever had this thought in your mind, like, maybe I could go and move into a mall or a store? Yeah, I think they had a. Some movies like that, and then even, like, a Simpsons episode where, like, you live. But I think of it differently of, like, where they’re, like, living in the sports section in the camp tent.

You know what I mean? Not necessarily building your own apartment, but, like, going to the food court. It’s similar. It’s right there. I. I’ve had that thought, but not as far as, like, I’m gonna. Actually. I’m too lazy. I’m like, I’m not gonna build something like that. That’s a little bit much. But I’ll go into the sports section where the tent’s already built and sleep there or something. I think of, like, career opportunities with Jennifer Connelly where they get locked into, like, a Target or a Kmart or something overnight. Right. And. And you kind of have free run of the place.

It’s a little different than that. You’re gonna. You’re gonna hear that. It’s not like they move into the mall and they’re hanging out, like, laying on the beds at Sears or anything. So they get this idea, what if we lived in the mall? And they collectively get together and say, let’s just do it for a week. Let’s do it for one week between these four people, and let’s document it. They’ve got this little tiny camera again, 2003. So it wasn’t necessarily like a cell phone camera, but it was like a little portable one about the size of an Altoids tin, and that they originally started eating, like, leftover food from the food court.

They started figuring out how to skip to different movies. Like, they’re kind of exploiting the location that they’re at, as you would. And then one of the guy, Michael Townsend, he talks about how he remembered the mall actually being built because he lived, like, a mile away, and as soon as the mall goes up, it blocks your view of the rest of downtown. So he was talking about how ironic it was that they’re trying to, you know, gentrify and improve downtown. And all he sees for four or five years is just construction going on. And at one point during that construction, he noticed there was this tiny little gap in between the different levels of the mall.

Then even at the time when he’s watching being built, he was thinking to himself, what is that little gap going to be used for? So he remembers this as they’re Talking about living there, they find where that gap was. And I. I guess from my understanding is that when the mall was actually being built, the construction company made a secret little level that they just used that was, you know, halfway up to put a bunch of building and construction materials up there. And then once they were done with it, they just treated it like it was basically like a nowhere level.

They just kind of disappeared into the mall and. And was never developed again. So they go. They find this space, and it was legitimately big enough for, I guess, four people to kind of hang out in comfortably, and they just slowly turn it into a legitimate living area. And they describe, like, in the film, like, as they’re getting, you know, this apartment together, it’s. You can get this undertone of, like, this social justice warrior mentality of, like, you know, like you said, the gentrification of where they’re like, you know, it’s big business. Like, this. This mall wasn’t made for us.

It’s made for the other side of town. It’s made for the people with money. Right? Like, and this was an atrocity. So it’s almost like they were, like, they felt honorable of what they were doing. Like, I think, like you said, like, it kind of started as like a. Almost like a rift joke, like, art scenario type of thing. Like, hey, could we live at the mall? And as soon as they found this space, they’re like, okay, well, this is our space, and this is our fight. Now, again, I don’t know if they really thought that at the time or they’re just, in retrospect, being able to be like, yeah, well, we’re.

We’re fighting the man. You know what I mean? That’s what we were doing. Yeah. So that they start talking about how this was there because the city of Providence had these campaigns going on about, we need to fill in every unused bit of space, we need to gentrify and just, like, beautify our existing places. And this was their version of that. They’re like, well, hey, here’s this big, ugly mall, and here’s an. An unused space in that ugly mall. How about we move in there? So that was kind of the justification for it at like, a.

Maybe, like a political level in a small way. And we also learn around this part in the documentary that this isn’t necessarily the first time that they. They pull this kind of squatting thing. So about a mile away from where this new mall was being built, there was the old mill buildings, and the mill buildings had been abandoned and shut down. For decades. And I guess they moved in there and were living in there for a little while and throwing concerts, like punk rock concerts and hardcore concerts. And it looked like they were having a great time in this kind of, like, unregulated area until developers moved in and kicked them out and then flattened it and turned it into something else, like a strip mall and a grocery store and stuff.

So after they get kicked out, I think there’s a practical need of, okay, now where do I live? And they had already been used to, you know, squatting and living and unconventional means. So it wasn’t like this was a huge leap into a new direction for any of them. It was almost like this next logical step for them. And it was also a mall that they had all grown up around because they pitched it in the 1980s as a way to bring people back to Providence. And I guess it was like you were saying, it almost became an enemy of the locals, because the locals, there was two sides, right? The east side, apparently, was like the richest part of town, and the west side was the broke part of town.

And he mentions that only the east side of the mall had doors that would get into the mall. And the west side of the mall was just walls. Like, you couldn’t actually enter the mall from that side. I don’t know how. How deeply he was reading into that particular part of the architecture, but it was a point he was making. And then he also. The documentary has some interviews with other locals that all kind of hated it, and they’re all talking about why they hated it. And then some of them made some good points. One lady makes a really good point, and she says instead of all this money going into a brand new building and bringing in all these new corporate chain stores, instead of investing it into the existing stores that had been there all along, it was already part of the local community and everything.

So there’s a little bit of animosity towards them all even being put up. So that’s originally how they start. It seems a little bit like they’re fighting the system. They’re fighting back against this gentrification. And then there’s an interesting turn where, I guess after you live there for a year or two now, it’s legitimately like one of your homes, right? One of the things that one of the guys says in here is that the most number of sequential nights he actually stayed in the secret mall apartment was like four or five nights in a row. And that made me think, like, okay, well, these guys are probably, like, couch surfing and They’ve got other accommodations.

It’s not like they’re. They’re all living in this one place for four years, but it, but it turns into. Because of course, it does an art project. Then they start describing it like it’s a performance piece, which I, I initially start rolling my eyes out a little bit, but I think they can justify it as the, the movie keeps going on. Yeah, I did too. It almost seemed like the, the perfect, like. Oh, yeah, I’m just going to call it this because it already happened. It’s not like. But I think that can be ha. I don’t think it was planned like that.

I am with you. I think once they shut down the mills, I think that was like their party. Now, I wouldn’t say party, but they had, like, bands. I, I, I don’t know necessarily take these people as super partiers, but who knows, man? You know, they’re artists. So, like, artists do crazy stuff. You could tell that they took it personal. Oh, you’re gonna do this? And I think that was, like, also part of their justification was like, it was a personal bound. Like, you shut down our thing. That was important to us. So we’re gonna try to, like, get one back at you.

Like, and when they start this apartment, it’s just like, you know, open space, and they put a couch there, and they go to the Salvation army and get a, A china cabinet, right? And, like, then they really take it to the next level where they’re like, getting like, cinder blocks. And, like, we’re gonna block it off right here. We’re gonna make this. That’s where I’m like, okay, this does kind of get a little more interesting. And I think how they brought up this stuff was pretty crazy too. Like how you’re like, watching them go up this ladder type of thing.

And, like, I’m like, are they gonna really pick that china cabinet up all the way up there? And they, they got it there, man. Like, that was kind of impressive. I gave him props because I was like, that would suck. I was just thinking in my head, like, oh, man, I wouldn’t want to do this, man. This would be horrible. And then at that age range, I would have been drinking a lot and, like, this bad things would happen, the commitment. But imagine that in exchange for this is four years of living rent free in a really convenient spot, right? So.

And that’s also the, the movie. You’re like, how the hell do you make an hour and a half long documentary just about people living in a mall? So there is Some really interesting ways that they add drama to this. For example, right, when they. They decide, hey, someone could just find this stairwell at one point and walk up it. And then, bam, we’re just there. We’re exposed. So they decide to build a cinder block wall around it and then put their own door in it and lock the door so that nobody has the key to it.

So hopefully someone walking by would just be like, oh, I wonder where that goes, and then just keep walking, as opposed to being able to poke your head in and obviously see a couch and see a TV. They had, like, a PlayStation 2 in there like that. It was a decent place that you can go and chill for a day or two easily, right? So they. They start doing the cinder blocks. They go to Home Depot, and they’re just loading the back of a sedan with cinder blocks and then driving it back to the mall. And at first, they’re just pushing through the emergency exit doors, which sets off these alarms.

And we actually get footage of them opening the doors. The alarm goes off, and a security vehicle kind of like scre. Like, does a quick U turn, screeches over, stops, and hassles them. And you’re like, man, clearly this is the end of it, right? They finally got caught. But the. The dude running this, Michael Townsend, he’s such a smooth talker, and he has explanations right off the top of his head. And one of the interesting parts is he was like, as an artist, you have to constantly explain things to people. So he’s so good at just explaining things off the cuff to different people that it makes him a good con man.

So he tells the security guard, he’s like, yeah, we went to Home Depot. We got a bunch of cinder blocks in our car. We parked it up on the top level of the parking garage. And now the car won’t move. Like, it’ll start. But we think that there’s just. There’s too much weight in it, that after we parked it, you know, something broke. So we’re moving. We’re using the emergency stairwell to move the cinder blocks from my car to my friend’s truck down on this parking level. And the security guards just like, okay, yeah, move along then.

And they get away with it. And they actually finish putting up the wall, and they put a door in, and they put a lock on the door. And now they’re like, all right, now we’re good, because we’ve got this extra barrier of protection from someone to find out about this secret mall apartment. It was a little bit of an eye Roll moment for me. Because then they’re like. He’s like, I wasn’t. If people are talking about. And they’re like, I wasn’t really worried because my white privilege. And I’m like, here we go, man. Oh my God, bro.

Like it that I’m like kind of interested, like getting into it. And I’m like, yeah, these. It’s just people I wouldn’t want to hang around, that’s all like, you know what I mean? I’m like, no, you guys are geeky artists. You know what I’m saying? Like, you look like nerds. So like, they’re like, what the heck are these nerds doing? It’s not like, I’m not saying that cops aren’t biased, but I was just like, of course they had to mention that part. They were like, we. We never had. And they’ve gone a little tangent after that where they’re just like, yeah, you know, like, thank God I’m white, you know, because I would have been dead right there.

Like, kind of like you’re like, get out of here, man. It was just a security guard too. Like, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It was a mall security guard. He wasn’t going to shoot you. You’re not going to turn into, you know. So they also go on a little tangent right after that happens and, and they talk about some of this. Michael Townsend’s other projects. And one of his other projects is that he goes into this children’s hospital that he had either been working at or volunteering. I wasn’t exactly sure, but he’d been going there every single week for 15 years doing this thing called tape art where he just brings in a roll of painter’s tape and he makes these silhouettes of all these different scenes inside of the hallways and inside a kids hospital rooms.

He has them work on it. Like it’s that it’s actually a pretty touching little segment. And it. And it gave me so much respect for the actual artist as they’re showing all this. And then it has an extension where it grows out of just the children’s hospital. And then they go to Oklahoma City at one of the anniversaries of the Oklahoma City bombing. And they do some of these tape and then they go to the World Trade center and they’re doing like a 911 version of this tape. And let me just say I. I got a little bit triggered because I’m like, man, I got opinions about Oklahoma City and911 because we’ve covered those on this show, if you haven’t already, you should go and check out our Oklahoma City month and our 911 various documentaries.

We did Loose Change. We did a whole bunch of them. You should go and check all those out if you’ve made it this far already. You should also just do a like and a subscribe, leave a comment, mention, like, your favorite episode. Just interact with the algorithm so we can get some more exposure on this. So we’re watching this and we find out that he’s been doing these tape projects for over 5 years, self funded. All the money that he’s making is going into just buying tape and getting around to New York and going back to Oklahoma City and then making this his, like, life’s goal.

And then you start to see a little bit of the. The fractures and their little group of artists of like four to eight people. And some of them were like, man, we keep going to Goodwill and we’re, you know, dropping a few hundred dollars on furniture, and we’re talking about getting wood flooring and putting it into this apartment. Like, I’d kind of like to maybe do that with my own apartment, like a place I actually live. And you can clearly see that Michael is thinking, no, man, artwork is a way of life. This, like, this little mall apartment thing we’ve got going on, that’s just one version of what we should be doing, but that he was, like, very focused on.

This is a thing that we’re doing, and I don’t want to give it up. I’ve got bigger and bigger visions for this. So you can clearly see that he. He really was committed to this thing in an art performance way that maybe not everyone else was like, let’s do it for another four years, right? And I like, you brought the 911 the Oklahoma City. As soon as I was, like, trying not to, like, get too crazy because I’m like, oh, man, this is gonna, like. I got triggered myself, too. I’m like, here we go. I knew that.

So I had to try to, like, overpass that and kind of look past. But what you’re talking about, too, is that Mike would show the real life of, like, this artist’s life, right? He wants to just be. He doesn’t mind couch surfing, he doesn’t mind just traveling. And. And the girl in there, his girlfriend at the time of when they had the apartment, is kind of like, hey, I don’t like this anymore. I kind of want a traditional relationship, you know, like, let’s go get a house, let’s. And he’s like, ah, let’s just live at the mall apartment forever, you know? And it’s.

It, like you said, the group starts breaking off because it was like, this was a fun idea. But Michael is like, let’s keep living here forever. And they’re like, all right, man, that doesn’t seem great. That scene too, where they’re talking to his, I guess his ex girlfriend at that point, and she’s like, yeah, we just decided that, you know, the situation wasn’t amazing more, and we just left. Like, I imagine it was a little messier than that. They kind of smoothed that over a little bit. Whatever. This. This wasn’t about their breakup, but it, it was interesting how sterilized some of that was.

And I didn’t, I didn’t get that same vibe from Michael. I got that a little bit from the other people that were part of this, that were trying to ascribe at this extra meaning. Whereas Michael, like, I, I feel the way that he thinks and the way that he works, like, I, I 100 believe him that in his mind, this was art. And this was all like a performance thing, because there was. There was no not being an artist. He makes a really good point later in the movie too, where they’re talking about, some people think art is a thing that lives on a page.

And that when you sit down and you draw something like, there, I. I did art. And then you go and do something else that’s not art. And he’s making this point of like, no, art really is a lifestyle. And it’s, it’s things that you do off the page, and it’s the way that you talk to people and interact, which I hadn’t really considered before. I thought. And he kind of exemplified that. Now, you gotta know that this eventually came to an end, right? It didn’t last forever. It lasted for four years from 2003 to 2007. And the very first, the start of this all falling apart, was they came home one day to their mall apartment and the door was busted in and the PlayStation 2 was stolen.

And, like, there was other various little things that were taken. And I don’t know whose freaking genius idea was to have a family photo with, like, everyone that lived there. They had a frame photo of themselves in this apartment. And. And that was missing. So now they realize, okay, the. The jig is maybe up because someone came in here chilled on the couch, like, went through, like, Goldilocks them, right? Like, went through the fridge, like, played the PlayStation for a little bit, and then jacked the PlayStation and then left. And they never heard anything about that again.

And that was when they, they decided, let’s never go here during the day again. We’re only going to go at night. And I guess they keep that up for who knows how long, Maybe a few months. I don’t know if it was months or a year. And then Michael, the guy leading this thing, he’s like, yeah, one day I had a friend that was visiting from out of town and I broke my own rule and I brought her there during the day. And a second that they go into the apartment, he’s like, yeah, is this cool? Yeah, I’ve been living here for four years.

We’re going to put some wood flooring over here. Yeah, but pretty badass, isn’t it? And then all of a sudden they hear walkie talkies outside the door and then the door opens. So at this point, like, jig is completely up. And it, it’s kind of ironic because it’s the breakup. They don’t say that, but if you allude to it, like, you’re like, yeah, I just brought a friend. And they show it like, as a girl, right? So it’s obviously was a girl. So I’m like, he was trying to impress some girl because he probably was on the brink or just broke up with another girl.

And that was his downfall because if you, if you kept with the same pattern and, and I think everybody else had already kind of like left the project, right? Like, even though they said to go at night, it was already sounding like people were going there less and less. But except Michael. And I think that he was trying to impress some chick. And the, the old tale of the times, right? That always happens to dudes when you’re trying to impress a chick and you got caught with your pants down. It’s kind of funny, like, hey, girl, I got something to impress you.

Climb up these I beams and then like sleep on this couch in a concrete room full of building supplies. Like, yeah, I’ve been living here for four years. Pretty cool, right? Like red flags, ladies. I don’t know, maybe that would impress some people out there. So at the conclusion of this, it ended up being three police officers. He gets arrested, he spends the night in jail, he gets trespassing charges, he gets banned from the mall, which apparently still exists now in 2025. He got six months of probation and he had to pay restitution. I don’t know exactly for what, but that.

So it, it wasn’t just like he got off scot free. But he’s the only one that took a fall for everybody. Because then at the end of this movie, it shows you in the credits and it says, other than Michael Townsend, none of the other participants were identified and that this documentary is the first time that they’ve come forward. So that was, that was kind of an interesting tidbit that he’s the only one that ever got in trouble for any of this. For four years that people were living there. I think he just took the. From what I’m getting at that he said it was me.

Like, I think he took the rap for everything. So I mean, that’s kind of admirable, right? Like he could have been like, no, man, let me go get everybody that was living here. You know, Like, I think it was admirable that he was like, yeah, it’s me. I started this. And you know, the pictures is not enough to keep someone there. He was actually there when they caught him. And I also thought it was interesting that they, when they said that they got caught, they said the way it was is that it was two young 20 year old security guards that were just testing keys around the doors.

They don’t say how they know that, but I’m. I’m guessing through the court case, right, that they figured it out and that how ironic that just some new. Two new guys that are just like, probably like, hey, what’s this door, man? I have keys to everything in this building. How come I can’t open this door? Is what prompted this whole thing. Like, if it was just somebody else, they must have been some gun ho. Like top flight, right? Top flight security. They had to know what’s going on because I could imagine most security was like, I don’t care.

I’m just walking past this door. I don’t care what’s back there. But these two new young guys had to be there to be like, why is this door here kicking it down? And then I didn’t understand, like, is if I find that and I’m this young security guards, I’m like, dude, I got a spot. You know what I mean? So I don’t know how they ended up telling on them. I would have just been kicking it there all the time, like on breaks and stuff. Because now I have a nice little corner with a PlayStation. I could just relax and chill.

What are your hidden treasures and overboard moments for this one, I would say that just the artist, the artistry of these artists and because they show even like some of Michael’s other pieces where he does this, like Sewer piece with like, mannequins and stuff. And. And to really dive in, even like, if you. You gotta get away. I get away from some of the gentrification stuff and some of the white privilege stuff. You know, I see where they’re going with some of it, but it. These are true artists. And I’m like, you know what? At first I was the same as you.

Kind of like, oh, performing. Everything’s performance art, huh? I just could do whatever. And then I, as the movie goes through, you’re like, you know what? This is kind of a interesting piece. You’re in the middle of what you dislike of this corporatism, right? And. And capitalism of what you think you’re attacking. So it was interesting in that point and to really see them build it. I thought it was cool how they rebuilt. They also made a. A model of what it was like, like two different types. They made the mall model without a wood, which was interesting.

Like the little pieces of wood where you could take it off and it’s a 3D dimension of where to go and to actually have like a stage set of the apartment where they re like the replication of it. But to see them with that camera footage bringing cinder blocks up, that was pretty incredible. I’m like, well, this now becomes an art project for me because that was difficult as hell. The. The effort that went into this is. Is crazy, right? So here, here’s some of my hidden treasure moments on this one. There’s one quote that Michael Townsend makes, and it’s kind of talking about the justification for them fighting this gentrification and all this other stuff.

But, man, it. It’s such a perfect illustration for me. And he’s like, we’re a barnacle on a whale. And he’s like, the barnacle moves in and technically, like, you know, it’s. It’s occupying space on that whale. The whale has no idea. The barnacle is not hurting the whale. As long as, like, neither of them hurt each other, they don’t have to acknowledge each other’s existence and they can just coexist indefinitely. So he was describing that. This secret mall apartment and the fact that they were living in a space that no one was using was just a barnacle on a whale.

If you get in a little deeper on that, it’s like, yeah, well, but a whale doesn’t have to pay out like a lawsuit in case the barnacle gets hurt because the whale bumps into something and then like, the barnacle loses a leg or. You know what I mean? So it’s not necessarily apples to apples, but it was. It was a great way to describe succinctly how he was justifying this and how he thought about it. I was like, okay, yeah, you kind of are a barnacle on the whale. And it’s nautical theme, so it gets like an extra point for under the docks.

Also, the. The hidden treasure for me is just that people like this exist in the world. I love it. I love that the. A people, a group of people get together and they’re like, let’s move into the mall, bro. Like, what are they going to do? You know? And I just. Let’s move. Let’s move in furniture. Let’s move more people in. Let’s set up a PlayStation 2. I just. I love everything about that. And it’s almost like. Like a dream of mine to have a secret apartment that’s got multiple ways in and out. Because they show that they found out a way to get there through any of the emergency exits in the mall.

They could get there through the secret passage by creeping under, like, a private entrance that no one goes through. There was even a chute that went into a bathroom that they, like, took off a vent from a bathroom and shimmied down this hole. And that also brought them to this secret room. And as soon as they put up that wall and a door on it, even though that’s what took it away from them, eventually I was like, man, this is like a. Like a dream come true for maybe a. Much like a teenage version of me of, like, me, I’m going to go live at the mall in a secret room that no one knows about and have a PlayStation.

And like, no one can tell me what to do. There’s like a romantic part about that. I got. I got a few others, man. So there was the one that you mentioned that Michael also had, separate from this mall project, separate from his tape project, that there was this art exhibit that was over by, like, under a bridge and that it wasn’t announced. There was. He didn’t pay for it. It wasn’t advertised anywhere. You would just come across it. And he had all these mannequins suspended and dressed up. And to. To actually just witness that, you’d have to crawl down into the sewers and in order to even see this.

But for the. The amount of people that actually ended up seeing this, what a crazy treat, right? I would have thought, like, I’m getting murdered here today. I’m leaving. As soon as I saw a mannequin suspended in strings, I’d probably Be like, all right, I’m gonna figure out something else to do today. You’d probably check it out, though, because we had this one thing. It wasn’t like an art project, though, but it was called Midgetville. Like, supposedly, like a bunch of, like, little people used to live. There’s little small houses. And the story behind it was, I think all got murdered.

I don’t know if that’s true, but, you know, we’re teenagers and where’s this? It was in California. Riverside, California, was called Midgetville. And people with. It was like, this crazy little property with small, little houses where obviously, like, little people live there. But if you would go deeper and like this forestry. There was a house in the middle of nowhere, and people would throw parties there, man. Like, I don’t know who actually lived there, but, like, it was like this story. Like, you would take people there, you don’t see anything, just the little houses, but people be like, yeah, dude, some guy was just, like, insane.

He just murdered all these little people. Like, yeah, I don’t know that to be true because I have never found any evidence to be true. But, I mean, when you’re told that at like, 14, you’re like, wow, bro, that’s. That’s insane. Like, but we would still go there and then people started throwing parties there. It’s crazy. You mentioned that because. Because in Texas, there was a. A place outside of San Antonio called Midget Mansion, which had, like, a similar story, bro. It was about a, like, a short guy with, like, dwarfism, whatever, that got rich enough that he had a custom mansion built that was like, catered to his size.

So the doors were a little smaller, the ceiling was down a little bit lower. And the rumor was that he went crazy and snapped and killed everyone inside. So maybe something about these abandoned places and like, mass murderers is just, like a theme that we needed. We need to look into a little bit more. So there’s a couple other things too here. One of them was that I like the concept where he’s talking about this one project and just art in general. How the. If you make art even though you’re not making money, and he’s like, yeah, I’m basically, like, starving and having to live in it.

Like, he had to live in the mall. Not just it was the art project, but that even with all that said, that if he makes that art and one other person gets inspired by that and it makes them want to make art, and then that person and inspires one other person to make art that every Time that happens, the world gets a little bit more bearable. I guess I’m paraphrasing that a little bit, but I like the way that he. He broke that down. And I thought it was just such a cool idea in general, just living in the mall in a secret mall apartment.

I love it. Like, I. I wish that I would have thought of that and maybe actually followed through it in the late 90s, early 2000s. I don’t know if you could pull it off in 2025. I don’t think so. I would say, though, I. I don’t know if you still have hidden treasures, but some of my. My only overboard moment that I’m gonna say is just the annoying, like, that type of person that’s like, oh, man. Like, that would believe in 911 that that is not an inside job. That would believe, like, oh, my God, this Timothy McVeigh in.

In 1995. But also would believe, like, yeah, you know, I got white privilege. That was the only overboard moment for me was some of the mindsets of these artists, because that would annoy the hell out of me because I’m like, how the hell can you put all this together? But that’s, like, my only gripe. I just wanted to throw that out there because there’s also this one scene where there’s this Ian, who. I don’t know who it exactly is when I’m like, what is that? I’m like, is it a girl? Is it a guy? Like, I’m not really sure.

I really don’t know. Has like a little goatee. And I’m like, it just throws me off right there. I just thought I. I’d mention, like, I know. I’m like, what are you even doing? And. And. And it’s just a social justice warrior vibe that seeps in a little bit. That’s my only overboard. I. I think I agree on that one. I’ve got, like, three bullet points for my. For overboard. One of them was that when they were talking about living in Fort Thunder, which was one of these abandoned old mills where they were throwing shows and they were kind of squatting in there.

He. He talks about. He’s kind of paraphrasing when the developers find them and see that them squatting and. And he’s like, you know, I’m Mr. Developer. I’m here to knock down your home. And my thought was, I mean, it’s not really your home, right? Like, it’s not just that the city is saying, hey, anyone that wants to live here for free, just It’s. It’s free for you forever. You own it now. That never happened. I don’t think anyone should have had the expectation that this was literally going to be their home. So when a developer comes in and buys the property and starts knocking stuff down, the fact that that was like, man, I’m gonna fight back.

The system. Like, I don’t know, you were kind of living off the system earlier. You had this, like, sweet, free place to live. So that was part of it. The other one was definitely the. The white privilege guy. And this was specifically when the mall security. Not the police, when the mall security showed up and they’re like, hey, what are you guys doing with those cinder blocks? Michael. I want to be clear. Michael Townsend, the. The artist and kind of like the lead guy in this project, he never brings up in this documentary the white privilege stuff or, like, any of the social justice stuff.

But there are a number of people that are getting interviewed, and one of them is like, yeah, man, looking back, I just realized we just had, like, a shield of white privilege. I wasn’t afraid of those security guards at all. Because, you know, my white privilege means that my fear of police is not the same. I don’t have risk to my body and to my life. Right? And I thought of two things immediately when he’s saying that, and I was like, I know that this is going to be one of my overboard moments. I knew it was going to be one of yours, too.

But a bro, it was. It was mall security. We’re not talking about police. You weren’t going to get shot by mall security. I don’t think so. You’re being a little dramatic. But also, if you see a police officer and you’re doing something illegal and you’re not afraid for your body and life, that’s on you for being an idiot. Right? Like, you might call it white privilege, but it’s really just because you don’t understand how the world really works. You haven’t looked into there. Maybe you’d have better or worse chances. But going up against the cop, if they have a bad day, they don’t care what color skin you are if they want to take it out on you, right? So that the one dude that was like, oh, man, the white privilege was shielding us from all this.

Nah, bro, you were shielded because it was a mall cop. And you were shielded because you didn’t live in the real world. You were living in, like, a artist bubble where you probably did have just normal privilege and you probably didn’t know anyone that’s been to jail or been, like, assaulted by police. Oh, for. Most definitely. And I think that it’s something that they think now. I don’t even think they thought that at the time. It seems it was a retrospect thing. It was like, man, looking at this now, I can’t believe we got away with that because we were white.

And then my. My third overboard is that man that I. Aside from that one guy. But whatever, that’s how he feels now. And he was part of the project, so his opinion is valid. At the end of the documentary, though, they kind of go around and they’ve got these, like, little mini tiny interview clips with, I want to say, like, art professors and teachers and just, like, various people throughout the community. And they’re all giving you, like. And this is what it means. It’s all about capitalism, man. Yeah. That secret mall apartment, that was all about societal change.

And here’s why. And then my. My eyes were rolling so hard, I was, like, straining them, just thinking, like, shut up, man. Like, you’re talking in a movie theater right now. Let. Let me ingest this and come up with my own interpretations of it. None of you are helping this at all. You just sound like you’re sniffing your own farts. 100. And they got to get out of that. Like, I like it when the film lets us decide. And they were trying to dictate of, like, no, just so you know, this is what it’s about. Yeah.

No, I’ll tell you what it’s about. Secret mall apartment. Sink or swim. This one’s going to be a surprise. It is a swim for me. It was tough. Like, I had to get through some of the, like, my bi. I was trying not to let my bias, like, just ruin the whole film because there is points of, like, some of the people. I would actually have liked it better if they kind of just only interviewed Michael. Like, I think, like, if they would have kind of focused more on him, I would have for sure. But, like, wouldn’t have debated.

But just because you’re looking through the lens of an artist. And I think this was more than just like, oh, it’s. It’s about capitalism and greed. I think it’s just like, life is art. Like, anything that you do, like, you’re. You’re creating every day that. And life is beautiful. I liked his aspect of it because he didn’t really get too much. Michael did not go too much into the, like, oh, white privilege and. And gentrificate. He kind of was just like, what can I get away with kind of stuff, right? Where can I do this? Like, he had the innocence of, like you said, like, for how I would feel if I was 13, like, you know, 10 years old.

Like, it would be great to have, like, a secret little base in the. In. In the mall where I could go see movies and bring popcorn back to it and play video games with my friends. It’s a cool little nostalgic for, I think, almost all of us, right? Like, we all had that little idea of some sort. Doesn’t have to be the mall, necessarily, but this little secret hideaway that nobody knows about except you and a few people. And it captures that to me. That gives you a little. That nostalgia of being young and, like, carefree.

And that’s how I took of it. It was like this carefree. I’m a. I’m a young teen that could get away with anything because I’m oblivious to anything, right? So I’m getting away with it because I don’t really understand the implic of what I’m doing. So swim for me all the way. Same here, man. Swim. On this documentary, I think that the biggest one for me is this sounds like a story someone would tell you, and you’d be like, yeah, okay, man. Yeah. Four years. All right, Maybe you did it for a couple weeks and you’re embellishing.

But the fact that from day one, they got this all on video. They even got the security guard that first time when they almost got caught, even that was on video. It actually shows them, like, I guess they put the camera down in the corner and it shows them opening up the doors. The alarm’s going off. They’re carrying the cinder blocks in. You see the security guy, like, screech and turn around and like, hey, what are you guys doing there? It just. It’s mind blowing that they actually documented all of this and they got them busted on camera.

Like, they had everything. And the other thing that was really interesting was that again, aside from Michael, no one else had ever been identified with being involved in this small apartment until this documentary came out. And I was just, like, shocked that it even lasted this long. So all those reasons, it’s. It’s definitely a swim. I think it’s worth your time watching. It’s interesting. And he. He lived the dream, man. Like, imagine having a secret apartment that has, like, secret tunnels and passageways that only you know how to get in. It’s. It’s one of the coolest ideas ever, at least for like, a.

Like a 13 or 14 year old me and you know, if you like these episodes like this, like subscribe and share Share this video everywhere. Comment let’s get the algorithm going so we could get this out to the public so we can give them the truth. You know what I mean? Or our truth, our version of it. Don’t forget to go to paranoidamerican.com get you a nice comic book. It’s about the holiday seasons. Or just get your kids something fun or even for yourself. They’re great comics. Go to kill the mockingbirds.com this is under the docks.

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