Joliet Correctional Center (aka Joliet Prison) – SR IL 171, Joliet, Illinois
November 2005:
November 2005:
Dixie Square Mall – Harvey, Illinois
August 2010:
August 2010:
August 2010:
Quality Inn – 3801 North Mannheim Road, Schiller Park, IL
In trying to put the band back together, Jake and Elwood discover that many of their former band members are now in a band called “Murph and the Magic Tones” and playing at the lounge at a Holiday Inn. Jake and Elwood are horrified to find them in red velvet suits, singing “Quando Quando Quando.”
August 2009: Of course, all of the glorious Holiday Inn “Great Signs” have gone away, and even the iconic Holiday Inn font is gone too. Holiday Inn has of course, deemed it too dated, and replaced it with a “fresh, modern” look. (In other words, a boring, generic corporate logo).
This location is now a Quality Inn. My photo is not at the same angle as the one above, I was on the opposite side of the street, but it is in the same direction. If you click on the screen capture above and view the full-size version, you should be able to see the interstate overpass more clearly. The traffic signal on the right is just visible as well.
Illinois SR 59, West Chicago, Illinois
Jake and Elwood run out of gas, and arrive at this gas station (also out of gas!).
August 2009: This location is nothing more than a concrete foundation overgrown with weeds. In some ways, it’s difficult to identify this location as the correct one, but upon closer look, it’s obvious. The curve of the road, the power lines, and even the billboards are in the correct location. There are also several cuts in the curb for the entries.
West Wind Motel – IL SR 38, West Chicago, Illinois
Elwood propositions the Chic Lady (Twiggy) to meet him at a nearby motel, and surprise…she shows up! But Elwood will not, so here she is, waiting (and waiting) at the West Wind Motel.
The West Wind Motel is located at 28W721 Roosevelt Road (IL SR 38) in West Chicago, Illinois. The location doesn’t look too different now, with the exception of a change of color of the bottom portion of the motel, and a sign on the building appears to have been removed, along with the phone booth. The old neon sign is still there, though!
I grew up about 4 blocks east of the Holiday Inn. The movie was filmed when Mannheim Rd. was being widened – hence the traffic barricades in the shot. The Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294) is the elevated road in the background and Mannheim Rd is both federal highways 12 and 45 together. The motel is approx. 3/4 miles from the southern boundary of O’Hare Int. Airport.
I grew up in West Chicago and I drove by the old site for the gas station along with the motel almost daily. It was an awesome reminder to the history of cinema in Chicagoland or more specifically DuPage County.