I was performing at my local mall recently, and in the middle of my performance, a security guard told me it was illegal to film there. His main reason was "Its an invasion of people's privacy. Nobody wants to end up on youtube" I'm cool with on the guards there, and he told me it was some sort of counteract against terrorism (because that makes perfect sense). Some of the spectators looked at the guard like he was stupid, but me and my camera man called it a night. Anybody else wanna share some stories about some bogus excuses they got when performing. Plus the mall was my bread n butter to practice street effects. Does anybody have any suggestions of where I can perform without much hassle?
Unfortunately performing in public, so far as any authority is concerned, is considered "busking" regardless of whether or not you are accepting money for it. Most cities have ordinances in place that prohibit unlicensed busking. In other words, you'll need a street performers license to do this safely, and even then you can still get hassled by authorities. I've heard it said that the cops have replied "yeah that's nice. Just go somewhere else and do it, just don't do it here."
The problem with malls is that it's not public property. It's private. So yeah the security can certainly stop you.
Since the street performers license is a fairly moot point in most cities most of the time I see people just going out and performing until the cops or other authorities shut them down. They move to a new location, and repeat. The license is usually a few hundred bucks and can be purchased at your local City Hall or Court House.
As to where to perform at? I'd recommend talking to local restaurants in your city. Talk to the ones that are privately owned and see if you can't arrange a night a week to come in and do magic for a few hours. Do it for free (barring tips) for the first few weeks if the owner isn't up to paying you. That way you'll get your experience, and perhaps make a buck at it.