An Abandoned Milwaukee Shopping Mall Is Turned Into a Magical Winter Wonderland for Local Kids

Flying Casey Santa

Filmmaker Casey Neistat and 18 other YouTube creators partnered with Samsung to transform the long abandoned Northridge Mall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin into a magical winter wonderland for the local Boys and Girls Club. The creators spent nearly a month getting the place ready and were happily rewarded by the excitement on each kid’s face as the red curtain was pulled open. The ever-adventurous Neistat, dressed in a Santa suit (and red sunglasses) recreated his amazing human drone trick inside the mall and across a crowd of delighted kids who’d never seen such a thing before.

Opening the Curtain

Earlier in the month, Neistat and co-horts as they first scoped out the abandoned mall.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.