How would you like to spend the day with dozens of your favorite movie stars, including breakfast with Timothy Hutton, lunch with Matthew Broderick and dinner with Dan Aykroyd?
Well, you can`t.
But you can take a one-day driving tour of the area and eat, talk and walk in the same places that some of your favorite actors did. So call a date, grab the kids or wake the neighbors. Fill the tank with gas and get going. It`s time to start ”The Celluloid Express.”
Begin by driving north on Green Bay Road into Winnetka and turn right at Elm Street. Drive one block and turn left at Lincoln Avenue. But be careful. Two creepy characters dressed in black have been seen lurking about.
Sight No. 1: 671 Lincoln Ave.
Ahhhhhh! Where is everybody? You must be ”Home Alone,” just like Macaulay Culkin, in the film produced by Chicago filmmaker John Hughes. And what better place to start the tour than the house where the mega-hit was shot.
Driving south on Lincoln Avenue, take a left at Elm Street. Drive to Sheridan Road, turn right, and you and Tom Cruise are in the race of your life.
Sight No. 2: Sheridan Road
It`s ”Risky Business” driving your parents` car, especially when a deranged pimp is on your bumper for 3 1/2 twisting miles of suburban road that leads by the Baha`i House of Worship at Sheridan Road and Linden Avenue in Wilmette. Warning: Police tend to stop nonfictional characters when they`re driving more than 30 m.p.h. on Sheridan Road.
Driving south on Sheridan Road, take a right at Linden Avenue. Drive about 1 1/2 miles, cross the railroad tracks and turn left on Green Bay Road. Drive two blocks south on Green Bay Road. Hurry, it`s time for breakfast with Timothy Hutton, Dinah Manoff and Robert Redford.
Sight No. 3: Walker Bros. Original Pancake House
The pancake house, 153 Green Bay Rd., is a popular breakfast spot, but in 1980, the restaurant was transformed into a diner where two ”Ordinary People” (Hutton and Manoff) meet for lunch to talk about their lives. The scene, directed by Robert Redford, never shows the beautiful collection of stained glass in the building, or the beautiful collection of breakfast food on the menu.
Drive north on Green Bay Road and turn left at Wilmette Avenue. Cross Ridge Road and turn right at Illinois Road. Drive about 1/2 miles and turn right onto Hibbard Road. Drive north about a mile and turn left at Winnetka Avenue. Continue across the Edens Expressway (Interstate Highway 94) to Happ Road in Northfield and turn left. Where is that ugly car spewing fumes going? Sight No. 4: New Trier Township High School West
It`s everybody`s favorite baby-sitter ”Uncle Buck,” played by John Candy. While Mom and Dad visited a sick relative, Buck came to take care of the kids, which includes driving them to school. New Trier West, on Happ Road near Meadow View Drive, was chosen for the John Hughes film. Hughes also used the school, closed since 1985, for ”Sixteen Candles.” Although students at New Trier East in Winnetka (now called simply New Trier) nicknamed their Saturday detention ”The Breakfast Club,” that film was shot primarily in Des Plaines.
Continue south on Happ Road and curve left onto Illinois Road. Drive about three blocks to Laramie Avenue and turn right. Go to Lake Avenue and turn left. Enter the southbound Edens Expressway. Drive about 8 miles to where the Edens merges into the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago.
Sight No. 5: The Edens-Kennedy Split
What could be better than a trip to Milwaukee? Not! But if you turn your head around (try not to crash) you`ll see the sign pointing the way to Milwaukee that Wayne and Garth (Dana Carvey and Mike Myers) of ”Wayne`s World” looked at on their way to the Alice Cooper concert. You`ll have to settle for the ”Wayne`s World” soundtrack. Party on, dudes!
Continue south on the Kennedy for about 7 miles and exit at Ohio Street. Drive east on Ohio Street and turn right at North Orleans Street. Go south one block and turn left onto Illinois Street. Continue east on Illinois Street and turn right at State Street. Drive south on State Street. Heads up!
Sight No. 6: Marina Towers
Although they look quiet now, the Marina Towers, 300 N. State St., once served as the final leap for car and driver in ”The Hunter,” starring Steve McQueen as a bounty hunter in his final role.
Turn left at Wacker Drive and head east to Michigan Avenue, turn right onto Michigan, and continue south to 150 N. Michigan Ave. Children love to slide, but usually on playgrounds, not on the top of a building.
Sight No. 7: 150 N. Michigan Ave.
Children can certainly provide ”Adventures in Babysitting,” especially when they end up hanging on for dear life on a glass roof that looks out on Lake Michigan. A great view, however ill-advised. That first step is a doozy. Continue south on Michigan Avenue.
Sight No. 8: Michigan Avenue
The street became a somber parade honoring the fallen hero of Ron Howard`s ”Backdraft,” where firefighters battled blazes while trying to find a pyromaniac killer.
Continue south on Michigan Avenue to Adams Street. If you`ve cut classes to take the tour, then you may run into Chicago`s favorite high school student at the next stop. Public parking is available at 17 E. Adams St. and costs $8.25 for two hours or less.
Sight No. 9: The Art Institute of Chicago
Matthew Broderick led his crew on ”Ferris Bueller`s Day Off” to some of Chicago`s biggest tourist attractions, including the Art Institute to see ”A Sunday on La Grande Jatte-1884,” by Georges Seurat.
Back in the car, drive west on Adams Street and turn left at Clinton Street, then left at Jackson Boulevard to the entrance of Union Station, either off Jackson or Canal Street. Street parking is available and free on Sundays. Baby carriages are a no-no.
Sight No. 10: Union Station
Brian De Palma set up his Union Station shootout for ”The Untouchables” to pay homage to Sergei Eisenstein`s 1925 masterpiece ”The Battleship Potemkin.” A teetering baby carriage caught in crossfire is yet another obstacle for Kevin Costner`s Eliot Ness to overcome in bringing Al Capone
(Robert De Niro) to justice.
Drive west on Adams Street and turn left at Halsted Street. Drive south on Halsted Street to Taylor Street and turn left. Enter the Dan Ryan Expressway heading south. Time to check the ammo and say your prayers before the violent conclusion.
Sight No. 11: Dan Ryan Expressway
Chuck Norris is a police officer whom fellow friends in blue have deserted after he broke the ”Code of Silence.” But that didn`t stop him from taking the Dan Ryan down to the bad guys` hideout for the showdown.
Exit the Dan Ryan at Garfield Boulevard. Turn left and travel east until you come to Payne Drive. Veer right onto Payne and then turn left onto Midway Plaisance in the heart of the University of Chicago campus where, or more correctly, ”When Harry Met Sally . . .”
Sight No. 12: The University of Chicago
Rob Reiner`s comedy starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as the title characters, who began their friendship with an uncomfortable ride from the campus to New York. Considering how things turned out, it must be a great place to meet someone.
Continue east on Midway Plaisance. Turn left at Cornell Avenue and into the parking lot of the Museum of Science & Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, where strange things are brewing, and it`s not that broken love affair with Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland.
Sight No. 13: Museum of Science & Industry
The museum may not look anything like a medical facility, but that didn`t stop these future doctors from giving each other ”Flatliners” so they can play games with the Grim Reaper. The cryptic setting may not look appropriate, but it fit the MTV-styled direction of Joel Schumacher, especially for the wild party on the front steps. The museum is an unparalleled adventure. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for children 5 to 12 and $4 for seniors 65 or older.
Exit the front parking lot and head north on Hyde Park Boulevard. Veer right onto East End Avenue and follow it to the 47th Street entrance of Lake Shore Drive heading north. Drive about 5 miles north and see the ”goverment offices” used by Gene Hackman.
Sight No. 14: Field Museum of Natural History
”The Package,” starring Gene Hackman, was set in Washington, D.C., but like many movies, it was shot somewhere else. The classic white Romanesque columns of the museum, at East Roosevelt Road and South Lake Shore Drive, provided a convincing stand-in for a government office building.
Continue north on Lake Shore Drive up to the North Side again and exit at Belmont Avenue. Never mind that Tom Cruise`s Porsche is over in Belmont Harbor, sinking. That`s his fault for getting involved with Rebecca De Mornay. Drive west on Belmont and turn right at Halsted Street. Drive north to Addison Street and turn left. Parking, for less than $10, is available next to the park that you will see. Hear the national anthem beginning? And John Goodman is getting set to knock one toward the scoreboard.
Sight No. 15: Wrigley Field
It`s the Chicago Cubs ballpark, 1060 W. Addison St., the site of the famous ”called” home run of Babe Ruth, portrayed by John Goodman in ”The Babe.” A perfect place to catch some rays, a hot dog and, if you sit along the left-field line with Ferris, maybe a foul ball.
Drive south on Clark Street (on the west side of Wrigley Field). Turn left at Division Street. Keep the video camera in the car. Rob Lowe is not fond of them.
Sight No. 16: Mother`s
After a game, it`s good to relax and have a drink with yuppie friends like Rob Lowe and Demi Moore at Mother`s, and talk ”…About Last Night.”
Edward Zwick`s comedy-drama is based on David Mamet`s play ”Sexual Perversity in Chicago,” and was partially filmed outside the bar, 26 W. Division St.
Drive south on Clark Street to the downtown area, over the Chicago River to Washington Street.
Sight No. 17: Daley Center
Even though John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, dressed in black suits, drove a police car across the sidewalk in front of the untitled Picasso statue in
”The Blues Brothers,” you should drive on the street like everybody else.
Turn right from Clark Street onto Madison Street. Turn right on Wacker Drive. Continue north to Randolph Street and take the ramp down to the depths of the city, where fantastic masterminds of criminal activity lurk.
Sight No. 18: Lower Wacker Drive
After a good diamond heist, James Caan, in ”Thief,” and Jim Belushi, his sidekick, switched cars and made a getaway on Lower Wacker Drive. Director Michael Mann, known for shooting dark, steamy scenes, used the river-level street bathed in green lights to full advantage for his feature film debut.
Continue along Lower Wacker and turn left at Columbus Drive. Go north to Grand Avenue and turn left. Continue west to Rush Street and turn right. Drive north to Erie Street, and find parking. Hey, that police car those guys in black were driving is parked in front of that fancy restaurant. Maybe they had a reservation.
Sight No. 19: Chez Paul
Jake and Elwood Blues (Belushi and Aykroyd), ”The Blues Brothers,”
didn`t seem like the type to eat in a posh restaurant like Chez Paul, 660 N. Rush St. But then neither does that Ferris guy you keep running into, and he`s over at the maitre d`s desk making a phone call. Obviously, not everyone can afford to splurge at Chez Paul, but shrimp cocktails are about $7. However, it is suggested that you not throw the shrimp around, unless you are wearing dark sunglasses and can sing the blues.
Go north on Rush Street and turn left at Huron Street. Drive west to North Orleans Street and turn right. Turn left at Division Street and drive 1 1/2 blocks. Turn right onto Clybourn Avenue. Go northwest to Fullerton Avenue and turn right. A great contrast to a fancy dinner is shooting pool with slick sharks. But if Paul Newman is chalking up, it might be best to keep your money in your pocket.
Sight No. 20: St. Paul Billiards
Paul Newman`s back as Fast Eddie Felson, and he still knows ”The Color of Money” when he sees it. And he knows how to take it-pool hustling. In Martin Scorsese`s sequel to ”The Hustler,” Newman has a protege, Tom Cruise. Some of the pool scenes were filmed in the pool hall, 1415 W. Fullerton Ave. Maybe you can be the best 9-ball player in the place, but don`t bet on it.
