Dave Newbart
Managing Editor, News
Dave Newbart is managing editor for news at the Chicago Sun-Times.
There were several places along the perimeter of the track where fans got a good taste of the racing spectacle without going inside.
Greatly reduced traffic opened up streets to cyclists like never before. Biking was a great escape during a ridiculously stressful year — and a way to seek adventure when major travel was out of the question.
In “The Blues Brothers,” Jake Blues — played by John Belushi — faked a French accent and asked the gentleman at the next table to sell him his wife and daughters.
The three days of filming in Daley Plaza featured three Sherman tanks, three helicopters and three fire trucks, along with 100 state and city police officers in 50 squad cars and on 15 horses. Oh, and that famous SWAT team.
For much of “The Blues Brothers,” Jake and Elwood race from place to place: along Lower Wacker Drive, under the L tracks, over a gaping 95th Street bridge as it opens, and through a south suburban mall.
Some of the few recognizable elements are actually stage dressing left by Universal Studios in 1979. The mall had closed a year earlier after just 13 years in operation.
The three-minute chase scene actually covered three states — and more.
The once-vibrant scene, home of Nate’s Deli and impromptu blues jams, has had a makeover since the filming of “The Blues Brothers.’
The movie soundtrack, which featured Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Cab Calloway, sold more than a million copies.