My kid called the old food court a 'ghost kitchen' and it messed me up

I was walking through the mostly empty Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights with my 12-year-old last weekend, pointing out where the arcade used to be. We passed the food court, which has maybe one open stall now, and he just casually said, 'So it's like a ghost kitchen for ghosts.' I laughed, but it stuck with me. I've always seen these places as sad, but he framed it as something still active in its own weird way. It made me stop looking just for what's gone and start noticing the strange new life, like the one cell phone repair kiosk glowing in the dark. Has anyone else had a moment that flipped how you look at these spaces?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_cora2mo ago

That "ghost kitchen for ghosts" line is genius. Your kid just invented a whole new, way more interesting kind of sad. Now I'm picturing a phantom fry cook back there, just eternally waiting for a ghost customer to complain about cold fries.

patricia_king2316d ago

Laugh out loud at that "ghost customer" bit, because that's EXACTLY what I pictured too. Some spectral 12-year-old tapping the counter going "my fries are cold from the grave, sir." Your kid's way better at this than most adults, honestly. He turned a depressing empty mall into some kind of supernatural food hub. Now every time I pass a dead food court I'm gonna wonder if there's a ghost running the place and just trying to get a health inspection.

lindaw292mo ago

My buddy said something like that about the old bowling alley by his place. He called it a haunted house for grown-ups, which made the broken sign and weeds seem less sad and more like a set for a weird movie. It's funny how a few words can change a whole place.