![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Backrooms_CourtesyofA24.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe backrooms, from the eponymous blockbuster movie, are endless dingy yellow rooms. We may not have a series of dingy spaces, but we do have deserted underground tunnels. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe backrooms, from the eponymous blockbuster movie, are endless dingy yellow rooms. We may not have a series of dingy spaces, but we do have deserted underground tunnels. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Courtesy of A24<\/p>\n
By now, you\u2019ve probably seen Kane Parson\u2019s \u201cBackrooms\u201d<\/a> \u2014 maybe twice. If you\u2019re unfamiliar, backrooms are a piece of internet folklore that first emerged on 4chan. The urban legend goes that a parallel universe of endless labyrinthine, unsettlingly corporate rooms exists through hidden portals on Earth. Parsons used the myth as inspiration for a blockbusting movie, and after a very successful initial run, the A24 horror hit<\/a> is back in theaters as \u201cBackrooms: Everything Must Go,\u201d an extended cut with 16 minutes of exclusive post-credits footage stuffed with fresh Easter eggs.<\/p>\n The film has brought back an earlier social media frenzy over liminal spaces, which are eerily empty and unsettlingly desolate spaces scattered throughout the world. If backrooms were real, they\u2019d be a prime example of a liminal space, but abandoned hospitals and office spaces are a close, real example of the surreal structures. <\/p>\n But here\u2019s the thing: you don\u2019t have to travel interdimensionally to feel off-kilter other-worldliness in the Dallas area. In fact, one of Parsons\u2019 Backrooms-related films was inspired by the now-demolished Valley View Mall<\/a>. Naturally, we rounded up eight more local spaces that already look like deleted scenes from the film. Consider it your self-guided tour.<\/p>\n 1. The Dallas Pedestrian Network<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for the Arts & Culture newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n This is the undisputed champion. Three miles of tunnels<\/a> sprawl across 36 blocks beneath downtown, designed by Montreal urban planner Vincent Ponte, who apparently believed the future was underground and confusing. The finishes change every hundred feet \u2014 stone here, lemon-yellow brick there \u2014 and boarded-up shops stare at you from old food courts. Visit at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday and you\u2019ll find it nearly empty, which is exactly the wrong amount of people for a place that big.<\/p>\n \n @texaslovelist<\/a> <\/p>\n \u2728\ud83c\udfd9\ufe0f 3-MILE-LONG UNDERGROUND TUNNEL IN DOWNTOWN DALLAS \/\/ \ud83d\udecd\ufe0f HIDDEN SHOPS + RESTAURANTS \u2728 #TexasLoveList<\/a> \/\/ Did you know Dallas has an underground tunnel system with hidden shops and restaurants?! \ud83e\udd2f The Dallas Pedestrian Network spans 36 downtown city blocks (about 3-miles), connecting office buildings, parking garages, parks, and transit through a mix of underground tunnels and skybridges.\ud83c\udf55\ud83e\udd59 This system was designed in 1969 as a way to help people move around downtown while escaping the Texas heat \u2014 honestly, kind of genius. \ud83d\udd25\u27a1\ufe0f\u2744\ufe0f \ud83d\udccd MAJOR ENTRANCES \/\/ Thanks-Giving Square, Renaissance Tower, One Main Place and Bank of America Plaza \u23f0 HOURS \/\/ Weekdays only \u2014 closed evenings + weekends Add it to the Love List \ud83d\udc95\u2728<\/p>\n \u266c Edamame (Instrumental) \u2013 Animaux Et Paysage La Chaine<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 2. AT&T Discovery District<\/strong><\/p>\n Bright, polished, corporate and occasionally deserted \u2014 especially when it\u2019s not the weekday lunch rush. There\u2019s a giant media wall and sleek seating, and when you catch it at the right moment and stand in the middle, you can feel like Tom Cruise in\u00a0that one part of \u201cVanilla Sky.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n 3. Plaza of the Americas<\/strong><\/p>\n Glassy, hollow and echoing, this downtown atrium has the exact acoustic profile of a dream you can\u2019t quite wake up from. The ice rink is gone, the balconies stretch upward forever, leasing signs dot many vacant suites and storefronts, and your footsteps announce you to no one in particular. Peak liminal.<\/p>\n 4. Dallas Public Library<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is perfectly normal. Then you wander onto a quieter floor, and the institutional hum takes over \u2014 a dull multicolored carpet, buzzing lights, lots of negative space, rows of shelving that seem to go on longer than architecture should allow. Useful and just a little haunted. And even if just to live your Backrooms fantasy, it\u2019s good to support our public libraries. <\/p>\n 5. The Vista Mall <\/strong><\/p>\n The dying-mall genre needs no introduction, and The Vista \u2014 formerly known as Music City Mall and, before that, Vista Ridge \u2014 delivers. Shuttered storefronts, a food court running on fumes and a particular silence unique to spaces built for thousands and visited by a dozen. It\u2019s nostalgia and unease holding hands.<\/p>\n