Blues Brother Filming Locations: Take 2

While we still have some nice weather in Chicago, I wanted to visit some more filming locations around the Chicago area.  The first one I found quite by mistake! I went to a car show Friday night in Wasco, IL and while driving to the spot, I noticed a sign showing IL-47 being X number of miles away.  Seeing as The Blues Brothers were traveling southbound on IL-47 from the Palace Hotel Ballroom to Chicago, I just had to take that way to expressway 88!

On Sunday we had nothing to do and I wanted to get out of the house with the boy for awhile to enjoy the weather and keep him off of those darn video game!  So I told him we were going to search for movie locations.

First stop:

95th Street Bridge

Normally a utilitarian bridge such as the one on 95th street would be nothing to go out of your way to see.  It’s not like its the Golden Gate or Brooklyn Bridge.  It took The Blues Brothers infamous jump scene in the beginning of the movie to prove the Bluesmobile’s merit to Jake to make this bridge a Chicago icon.

Located near the 3200 block of East 95th street, it is really quite easy to fine.

For a cool article regarding the bridge, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/95th-street-bridge

After hanging out by the bridge for awhile, we worked up a bit of a thirst and desire for snack.  While not  a film location, Skyway Dog House is a nice place to stop in for a meal.  Unfortunately they did not have fried chicken.  Visit their website Skyway Dog House.

A good friend and fellow Bluesmobile enthusiast tipped me off to a bridge further down the street on Ewing that was permanently closed.  The bridge is in the up position with provided my with some really cool pictures.  While not the 95th street bridge, it is very similar!

Triple Rock Baptist Church

After the bridge photo the boy and I slid on down to the Triple Rock to catch Rev. Cleophus to hear what he had to say.

Located at 3235 E 91st St, the Pilgrim Baptist Church stood in as the Triple Rock.  While it has changed slightly in the 38 years since the movie was filmed, we had no doubt that we were in the right place.

While Rev. Cleophus wasn’t there, Deacon Larry was there in his place.  The nice Deacon welcomed the boy and I in for a little tour.  The interior of the actual church was not used for the dance scenes, that was filmed on a stage in Hollywood, you can clearly see they tried to replicate the actual church.

After thanking the nice Deacon Larry for the tour, the boy and I left for our next location.

Palace Hotel Ballroom

Instead of going back to the expressway, we took the scenic route up Stony Island.  The original plan was to turn onto E. 71st to go directly to the South Shore Cultural Center which was  the Palace Hotel Ballroom, but I took a little detour through Jackson Park so the boy could see the bridge over the lagoon where The Blues Brothers drove the Illinois Nazi’s into the water.

Driving back south on Lake Shore Drive we reach the cultural center located at 7059 S South Shore Dr.

We didn’t bother to go inside because all interior shots were filmed at the Hollywood Palladium so there would be no resemblance.

Chez Paul

After leaving the cultural center we to a nice drive up north on Lake Shore Drive to N. Rush Street to the location of the former Chez Paul restaurant.  While the building is still there, sadly the restaurant has been closed for many many years.

Wrigley Field

Our last stop on our Sunday tour was Wrigley Field, as 1060 W. Addison was Elwood’s falsified address on his drivers license.

There was a Cubs game that day, so all of the bars down Clark Street were packed!  It was very enjoyable to see the looks on peoples faces as we drove down the street.  They were more exuberant than usual, either it was because the Cubs won, or the alcohol.

I’ll let you decide.