Dixie Square Mall "Blues Brothers"
Original movie scene - circa 1979
Fan reenactment - circa 2005
In 1979, filmmakers descended upon the abandoned Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, to shoot a pivotal car chase there for the Dan Aykroyd/John Belushi 1980 cult favorite, The Blues Brothers. With the help of some of the actual store owners, the mall was temporarily re-dressed to look like it was still in use for the film. The finished car chase scene through the mall, is still a fan favorite today.Which brings me to the two videos I'm posting here. The first, is the actual finished scene in Dixie Square Mall, as seen in The Blues Brothers, and the second is a really fun 2005 fan-shot reenactment of said scene--recreated not only with an exact replica of the "Bluesmobile" car driven by Jake and Elwood (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi) in the movie (a 1974 Dodge Monaco), but best of all, shot again inside the abandoned, and now completely dilapidated, Dixie Square Mall, in 2005! I think it's a really cool idea myself. I believe Travis Bell, from BluesBrothersCentral.com, is the guy behind this video.
Mall history: 1966 - 1978
Architect: Hornbach & Steenwyk (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Fan website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2
Note: Video is Flash format. If you don't see it, you must temporarily disable your ad-blocking programs.
posted by Keith @ 7/05/2006
10 Comments:
Hmm, a dead mall brough back to life only to be trashed again for a movie. Funny little business this is.
Ha! It is kind of ironic, isn't it? Same thought crossed my mind, too.
Why not bring it back to life and then... leave that sucker open, seeing as how they got it looking so nice again?!! :D Does seem weird.
oh great thanx everyone, now i have to watch the Blues brothers :-) and just to see that scene and...ok the whole friggin movie. Has anyone thought that when the BB's ride through old chitown maybe some old type malls might have been gleamed at (but not focused on)
just a though and what about the mall from Dawn of the dead both old and new, or the mall from Bill and Ted's Excellent adv... I know the valley girl mall is gone due to the 80's quake but any info would be cool.
sorry reposted by accident my bad!
No problem, moose, I fixed it. :)
As for the DAWN and other malls, I've done a few Monroeville Mall-related (DAWN mall) posts already, and as I mentioned here recently, plan to do a LOT more with it (that's my favorite movie). I have some old videos of that mall that I'm planning to digitize soon and share here, in addition to many more old photos and maps of it, etc. It's coming soon! :)
Other malls from the movies will be featured, too. I'm about to start a series of "movie featured malls" posts, so I'll get to them all eventually. I've got a list a mile long of planned features for this site, just gotta squeeze the time out to do it. Just wish I could do this blog (and my other ones) full-time! Heh.
Hey Moose, the mall featured in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was Metrocenter in Phoenix, Arizona. Keith has featured it here before. Metrocenter spurred my interest in shopping malls as a child; for more information read this.
Holy crap that video is amazing! Is it THAT easy to run through that dilapidated structure nowadays??
One mall that I recall seeing in a movie from the 1970s: "How To Beat the High Cost of Living" starring Jane Curtain of SNL.
Then there was this made-for-TV movie directed by Ron Howard for CBS: "Cotton Candy." That was filmed at Town East Mall in Mesquite, Texas. The mall originally had these giant ramps and steps, and looked like something right out of "Logan's Run." They had a battle of the bands contest in the midst of the mall. I would love to see this film again.
Dixie Square Mall fell by the wayside like many other malls in the US. Demographics change and as such, stores go. This mall had been dead for a long time and no amount of money was going to change that. Many of the larger stores shown, like Jewel, had only one or 2 aisles constructed while the remaining 1000s of sq ft remained empty.
I remember going to the mall as a kid with my parents. It was one of the first in the area and was a true one stop shop.
we need to open this mall back up in the same spot just re invent its image a little or atlest open this place up for tours or sometin
Anonymous mentioned "Cotton Candy" and the three ramps at Town East Mall in Mesquite that looked like they came out of "Logan's Run"...
That's because they were the ramps in "Logan's Run" It was filmed there 3 or 4 years prior to "Cotton Candy"
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