The world's first planned drive-through mall is now a prison - take a look at its history
Juan Carlos Montes/Panoramio
The spaceship-like building was originally planned as a drive-through mall. Instead of walking, shoppers would have been able to drive right into the complex and park in front of the shops they wanted to visit. (Though, the shops wouldn't have drive-through windows.)
Construction on the mall started in 1956, but the project was abandoned a few years later because of funding woes.
Over the next few decades, the building transformed into a prison and, according to several former inmates, a torture chamber for political prisoners.
A new book by historians Celeste Olalquiaga and Lisa Blackmore, "Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison," aims to bring its mysterious history to light.
Take a look below.
- CEO says he tried to hire an AI researcher from Meta, and was told to 'come back to me when you have 10,000 H100 GPUs'
- We bought a house in Japan for $30,000. We'll have more land than we could afford in the US, and our kids will be more independent.
- Rumors Prince William is having an affair with Rose Hanbury are flooding social media again after Stephen Colbert waded into 'Katespiracy'
- Bank of Japan ends decades-long negative interest policy
- Realme Narzo 70 Pro with Dimensity 7050, 5,000mAh battery launched in India
- Popular Vehicles shares make weak market debut; decline nearly 2% in opening trade
- TCS shares tank over 3% after Tata Sons divests 0.65% stake
- Sensex, Nifty tank in early trade amid weak Asian markets, foreign fund outflows