Thank You To The 80's Movies Rewind Website For Some Assistance In Tracking Down These Locations
Thank You To Richard Poemape For Figuring Out The Alley Location
Thank You To Owen From The When Write Is Wrong Website For Figuring Out The Ending Shootout Location
Thank You To Richard Poemape For Figuring Out The Alley Location
Thank You To Owen From The When Write Is Wrong Website For Figuring Out The Ending Shootout Location
- (0:02) The Alley At The Beginning / Between 7 And 15 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago (Note: The Car Is Going North In The Second Screen Shot)
- (0:16) The L & A Plating Building / 1040 N. Halsted Street, Chicago
- (0:24) A Big Meeting Of The Minds By The River / 333 N. Canal Street, Chicago (Note: There Is Now A Tall Building Standing On The Spot Where The Meeting Took Place. The Train You See That Goes By A Couple Of Times Is The El Over Lake Street And The Bridge That Is Up Is The Kinzie Street Bridge)
- (0:31) The Bar Where Frank Goes To Pick Up Jessie / Halligan Bar; 2274 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
- (0:43) The Building They Are Plotting To Do The Next Heist On / 888 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles (Note: I Believe The Building They Are Standing On Is The Wilshire Grand Hotel At 930 Wilshire Blvd. Since The Movie Was Made The Bank Of America Building Would Block The View Today)
- (0:45) Frank's House / 2948 Catalpa Avenue, Chicago (Note: The House Was Torn Down Shortly After The Movie Was Made)
- (0:46) The Junkyard / Ping Tom Memorial Park; 300 W. 19th Street, Chicago
- (0:58) Spot Where Frank Gets Pulled For The First Time / N. Ashland Avenue And W. Webster Avenue, Chicago (Note: He Was Going South On Ashland And He Turns East On Webster)
- (1:13) Spot Where Frank Gets Pulled Over For The 2nd Time / 2700 W. Diversey Avenue, Chicago (Note: The Expressway Entrance Ramp Has Since Been Reconfigured)
- (1:39) Frank's Car Lot / 3935 Western Avenue, Chicago (Note: The Lot Has Since Been Removed And Some Buildings Now Stand There. Also The Location Is A Rumored Location)
- (1:49) Green Mill / 4802 N. Broadway Street, Chicago
- (1:57) The Ending Shootout At The House / 601 Lorraine Blvd, Los Angeles (Note: The Balmoral Street Sign Is Faked For The Scene)
House in last scene w/ unkn location is @ 2900 blk of balmoral, chgo, blk away from 2948 catalpa
ReplyDeleteSorry but I could not figure it out. The house must have been torn down because the scene took place on the corner and none of the houses match up.
DeleteI always thought the house at the end of the movie was 5400 North Virginia, at Balmoral Ave. The house would be the one on the northwest corner. It is a two story home like in the movie. It is also 3000 west Balmoral Ave. Being that this film is over 30 years old, nothing is the same about the different film locations in this movie.
DeleteChas, I think the house was remodel and we can't recognize it. If I find out anything I will let everyone know.
Southpaw
I too figured that with Balmoral being a couple of blocks away from Catalpa that Virginia & Balmoral was likely for Leo's house. At 1:35 you get a good daytime shot of the house and it is definately not the NW corner house. As the camera rises at the end there is a tall building at the end of the block which is not the case at that location. Balmoral is a pretty common street name in suburban Chicago, so the search continues!
DeleteI am pretty sure that the street sign, Balmoral is a Chicago street sign. Where at on Balmoral is another question. LOL In the fifth picture above, you can see building lights on the top left of the picture. I will have to look at 1:35 again. I hope that tall building is still there!
DeleteSouthpaw
Chaz, Ned,
DeleteThis is diffidently not Chicago. I was wrong Ned. Although the sign, Balmoral looks like a Chicago street sign, the fire hydrant, in front of the car is not. That type has two, 2 1/2" outlets on each side with a 5" outlet in the middle. Chicago has twin 5" outlets. I missed that fact.
The house is on a corner I believe. You can see a car drive down a street or something on the right side of the picture if you are looking at the front of the house at the 96:59 marker. This house could be anywhere. The streets, sidewalks sure do look like Chicago but I doubt it.
Southpaw
The house at the end is 601 lorraine blvd in los angeles, look closely after frank starts walking away you see the big tree with the split trunks
Deletethe car lot was on western just south of irving park rd on the east side of western, condominiums are there now
ReplyDeleteThe car lot was at 3939 North Western Ave. It was called Rocket Motors. This was the sign in front of the lot on the pole. The sign on the building shows Rocket Used Cars. At the end of the movie when Frank burns his car lot you can make out the signs and the address. Now if you Google this address and click on the photo at the top right side, you will see a similar sign the reads Ray Kray's Auto Mart. Same basic sign with a new name. Rocket Motors was a real use car lot back in 1981. I remember it. It was a huge car lot. You can see this by looking at the Historic Aerial photo. According to city records, this lot was built 1951.
DeleteSouthpaw
I think the location of the car lot might be the Enterprise Car Sales lot at 3840 N Western Ave in Chicago. You can pull it up on Google Maps and look at the Street View. It seems to fit, although the building looks a bit different.
DeleteThis blog is vety beautiful post.thank you.
ReplyDeleteNear the end of the film, Frank destroys his house, 2948 Catalpa. The film company built a false front onto a real house and attempted to destroy it with explosives. The explosions severely damaged the real house, however, leading to its demolition.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-wife knew the people who owned this house and this is a true fact.
Southpaw
Let's not forget Dennis Farina, (of Law and Order) who also stared in this picture. RIP
ReplyDeleteSouthpaw
The bar where Frank picks up Jessie is Wise Fools Pub. Notice in the screenshot of Lincoln Ave the brightly-lit sign down the street (somewhat above the parked cars). That's the sign for the original Potbelly Sandwich Works, which then was the one and only.
ReplyDeleteThe Body Politic Theater can be seen on the other side of the street. Dennis Farina was in a production there called 'Some Men Need Help.
No, the bar he picks her up is at halligan's on the corner
DeleteThe bridge over the river that is in the picture with L&A Plating has been replaced with a new one sometime around 2010.
ReplyDeleteSouthpaw
In the background on the right edge of that photo is 1230 N. Burling ("Scamplife") of the former infamous Cabrini-Green CHA projects. All the high-rises of Cabrini-Green have long since been demolished.
DeleteIt upper level of Ogden Ave, featured in the background of the photo, has long since been demolished.
DeleteA bit off topic but the scene with the black car heading west on Randolph with the movie theatre marquees reflected on the hood of the car caught my eye. The United Artists had "Kill or Be Killed" (AKA "Karate Killer") playing, the Woods had a triple feature of "Death Ship," "Duel of the Dragons" (AKA "Duel of the Iron Fist") and "Night of the Cobra Woman." The Oriental wasn't using the big sign above their marquee but the Tribune lists "American Gigolo,' "North Dallas Forty" and "Up in Smoke" as the features. This puts the filming as being done the week of May 2nd to the 8th, 1980.
ReplyDeleteThat's is very good info...thanks a lot. I like that scene also. I used to go to those theaters when I was young.
DeleteThe 1040 Halsted and bridge location is recycled--at first, from the opening job getaway in the '74 Grand Am, cuts to Lower Wacker Dr. then cuts to the Halsted Bridge and exiting, the right turn-in to the hideout is at the round-cornered brick building later shown in the daytime "collection" scene as L & M Plating at the Halsted bridge western exit. The scene shows a gas station adjacent, now Fed-Ex. Being an OG from NW Chicago, and a fellow alum of the "Ant", I recognized many locations as those were the "usual places" back in the day. Many OG cues. On his way SE on Lincoln towards Katzenjammers bar at 2274 Lincoln, Frank passes the Biograph Theater. As you may recall, that was where Dillinger was killed in '34. This is the neighborhood known as Wrightwood. I lived around the corner in '68. The Green Mill was Capone's Speak in the Prohibition era. As to Dennis Farina. He actually was a Chicago cop before becoming an actor. As an aside, Mann cast cops as bad guys and vice-versa. The story goes, at the first screening in Chicago, the usual suspects were in the audience-and they all knew each other.
ReplyDeleteHello Chaz and all, 1st, Want to say thanks for documenting so many of the locations from this great movie. Request: I cannot figure out where the garage/shop was located? It states "under Ogden pillars" in the script and Eldorado looks to be pulling away from the old Pickens Kane warehouse below Ogden overpass/ viaduct ..possibly under Hickory exit (now demolished). Pickens Kane building looks to have wrong size and elevated garage doors? (Can be compared in the film Gladiator) Any ideas? Thanks
DeleteAt the time the Movie was made I lived close to Western Ave. and Irving Park Road. This is where Rocket Used cars was filmed the sign was put up for the Movie, however there was a used car lot there with lights strung over the cars, and the office was there too. When they burned the cars the special effects were gas pipes in the cars that mad it look like the were all burning. When te cut the gas off the fire was out.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if the courtroom scene was filmed at the Leighton Courthouse?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the Criminal Court Building aka Lehighton courthouse. Not sure which courtroom, though. Also, the Cook County Sheriff's Court Service Deputy uniforms and Chicago Police uniforms were authentic at the time. The court service deputies all wore white shirts at the time. Now the deputies wear navy blue. The supervisors are only permittwd to wear white shirts. Also, the CPD patches have since changed. The badges (stars) for both departments have also changed.
DeleteYour location at 1040 N. Halsted was correct. It was a printing company in the 2000's. I worked there for many years. The inside is pretty close. The huge wall safe you see when you walk thru the front door is still there. Locked--lol. One of my favorite movies and to see one of the scenes was shot inside--sweet.
ReplyDeleteWhere was the Chinese restaurant, was it orange garden????
ReplyDeleteLooks too big. My guess with those booths is somewhere in Chinatown. No guesses on the diners?
DeleteChinese restaurant across street from green mill on Broadway
DeleteAlso, are we thinking the steel mill scene is Finkl?
ReplyDeleteI thought so too!
DeleteI think the location of the car lot might be the current Enterprise Car Sales lot at 3840 N Western Ave in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteBefore he gets pulled over for the first time they travel northbound up Halsted approaching Belden Avenue .
ReplyDeleteI thing Chinese restaurant was far east oven in Chinatown
ReplyDelete