Remember the mall scene in The Blues Brothers movie (1980)? You know, the one that Jake and Elwood destroyed when being chased by a flock of Chicago police officers. Have you ever wondered where that mall is and what happened to it after the filming? Here’s the story.
The Dixie Square Mall
The entire mall chase scene was filmed at the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois. The mall was at one time the pride of Harvey. Built for a cost of $25 million dollars, the mall opened in November 1966 with 50 committed retail stores. By 1968, the mall had 64 stores, including a J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth, Walgreens, and a Jewel supermarket.
However, in the early 1970s, crime was becoming an increasing problem for Harvey which was a suburb just 20 miles south of Chicago. In 1972, a woman was fatally shot near the mall. Then in 1973, another person was shot within the mall. Soon due to an increase in crime and economic decline, Dixie Square Mall began to lose stores.
By 1977, the mall was down to just 20 stores. The final anchor store JC Penney departed in january, 1978. Walgreen’s left by the spring of 1979 and by the summer the last store, Jewel Supermarket, vacated the mall.
The Blues Brothers
Meanwhile, Hollywood director John Landis was looking for a mall that he could film a wild car chase scene in for his new movie “The Blues Brothers.” Discovered by a professional film location company, the abandoned Dixie Square Mall was perfect. In August 1976, his production company rented the entire mall and went about dressing it up so it appeared fully-functional and open. By the end of the year, production began. The result according to the movie buffs at www.robertshonda.com/? One of Hollywood’s most famous mall-trashing car chase sequence!
The Cars Involved
The infamous Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco ex-police car and featured “cop tires, cop suspension, and cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant” as mentioned by Elwood in the film. A total of twelve Bluesmobiles were used in the movie, including one that was built just so it could fall apart.
The Chicago police cars were used police cars purchased from the California Highway Patrol and painted to look like Chicago patrol cars. A total of 91 were used in the filming of the movie. It is said that only a few of the 91 police cars were actually usable after filming was finished.
Post-Blues Brothers
A large portion of the mall was destroyed during filming of the mall chase sequence, and when the film crew departed, they left much of the mall in complete ruins. Since the property was technically just rented by the film’s producers, the city district attempted to sue Universal Pictures for the extensive damage. Fortunately, financial issues forced the district to eventually abandon the property and terminate legal proceedings.
During the 1980s, the mall deteriorated quickly. Vandals broke every remaining pane of glass and stole all the copper or other valuable building materials that they could find. In 1985, the canvas over the food court area was stolen which further exposing the mall to the elements.
The 1990s saw the mall turn into a haven for gangs, murders, and drug activity. The homeless, vandals, and others set up camps in the mall turning it into a vision of post-apocalyptical urban squalor complete with fires, tents and makeshift housing.
End of the Road
By 2010 the governor of Illinois finally announced a government grant of $4 million dollars to demolish the mall. In January of 2012, the permits for demolition were finally issued and the final demolition of the mall was completed on May 17, 2012. Today the land is a level lot awaiting future development.
