Posted on 09/25/2010 9:52:41 AM PDT by JoeProBono
HARVEY, Ill., Illinois officials announced plans to demolish a suburban Chicago mall that served as a set for a famous scene in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers."
Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday the state is receiving a $4 million federal grant to demolish Dixie Square Mall in Harvey to make way for redevelopment to revitalize the area, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
The mall, which has been vacant for more than 30 years, served as a filming location for the mall car chase scene in "The Blues Brothers."
"Dixie Square has been a place that we know has to change fundamentally," Quinn said. "I look forward to the day real soon when we will have this site cleaned and available for development.
"This is a huge investment in cleaning up Dixie Square. For years and years it has been an eyesore," he said.
Local officials have expressed hopes of replacing the Dixie Square Mall with a new shopping center, but no plans have been finalized.
Officials said the demolition is scheduled to begin in November and will last for about four months.
Still one of my favorite movies of all time.
From deadmalls.com (link at #15):
“This mall was prominently featured in the 1980 feature film “The Blues Brothers”. The mall was already closed for a year when producers rented it out, renovated the interior display, and drove cop cars through it.”
Spent a lot of time there in the late 60s/ early 70s - quite a place!!
The shotgun closeup is much clearer too.
IIRC, the producer or director complimented mayor Jane Byrne for being highly cooperative in getting them permission for all the city scenes.
We were on our way to visit relatives in Wauconda and had to take a big detour because they were filming that notorious highway pileup on Route 12 right south of town.
I always liked how the dark green VW beetle kept up so well with those muscle cars during the downhill sequence. ;-)
I noticed that this time too. It would seem that SF was full of green beetles crawling over the hills.
The original Daley didn’t like filmmaking in the city at all. He rarely gave permission.
The Bullit chased sucked!! It was just him and the other guys chasing...did you notice that there were no other cars out there....!!!!!!!
try this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qE2Wdu0fk
or this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu3GmRQ-U9k&p=9B51A854EB18C74D&playnext=1&index=1
or this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITS5GkkqgEQ&feature=related
Bullitt...gmab!!!
With enough hype, that could have been a Belushi shrine. Oh, except it’s ‘way too close to the Chicago Experiment where the dims tried their utopian ideas, and of course, they failed again. After all, it was only about the 12,499th time they’ve tried it and failed, but they still had “hope.” “Hope” translation in this case: insanity.
Bond hustlin’ a Russian tank through Moscow is still a classic chase scene.
Another icon gone? The background bascule bridge across the Calumet River was destroyed May 6, 1988 by allision with M/V Pontokratis.
I know Hawthorne Plaza has been shut down for nearly 20.
“Pier One Imports...........”
That is one store that i cannot believe is still around.
There is one about 1/2 mile from my house.
October 30, 2008: Pres. Candidate Barrack Obama: "Five days from now we will fundamentally change America"
>>Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday the state is receiving a $4 million federal grant to demolish Dixie Square Mall in Harvey to make way for redevelopment to revitalize the area, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
I’d be really curious to know what bucket of ill-used Federal dollars that came from.
>>The mall, which has been vacant for more than 30 years, served as a filming location for the mall car chase scene in “The Blues Brothers.”
>>.
>>.
>>.
>>”This is a huge investment in cleaning up Dixie Square. For years and years it has been an eyesore,” he (Gov Quinn) said.
Throwing money down a rat hole is not an “investment”, guv. If there were a worthwhile investment to be made here, surely a private entity would have made it and paid for the demolition.
And further, who owns this land that is getting $4mil in taxpayer largess? Hopefully the taxpayer, but you never know. Heck, make it a park and call it a day.
You want to make the land into a park? Fine.
“The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year,”
"This mall has HAD everything...Look! Pier One!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.