RetroFed Forum
Your home away from modern life.
Decayed Harvey, Illinois Mall Used in Blues Brothers Chase Scene Torn Down After 30 Years of Abandonment
Post Reply
AuthorMessage
time2lose lemmy.world time2lose@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-08-21
Quote

The mall featured in the iconic Blues Brothers chase scene was located in Harvey, Illinois. It had recently closed and was left to decay for 30 years before being torn down.

Gallery image 2

Gallery image 3

81   Original
RonnyZittledong lemmy.world RonnyZittledong@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-23
#2 · Quote Reply

They never did recover from that police chase

31
FiniteBanjo feddit.online FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
Joined: 2025-12-23
#3 · Quote Reply

I like to imagine some old well off guy refused to sell it or use it until it got to this point, now it'll cost more to gut it than it would have to just maintain it.

0
Scrambled Eggs lazysoci.al ScrambledEggs@lazysoci.al
Joined: 2025-03-28
#4 · Quote Reply

But that mall had everything

9
AeronMelon lemmy.world aeronmelon@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-12-26
#5 · Quote Reply

They never did recover from that police chase

They didn’t have a Miss Piggy, people started shopping elsewhere.

6
yesman lemmy.world yesman@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-06
#6 · Quote Reply

I hate that movie. The idea of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin singing backup while Dan Aykroid blows into a harmonica is too gross to contemplate. George Carlin called it a sacrilege.

-11
neuracnu lemmy.blahaj.zone neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-14
#7 · Quote Reply

I hate that movie. The idea of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin singing backup while Dan Aykroid blows into a harmonica is too gross to contemplate. George Carlin called it a sacrilege.

I’m curious about Carlin’s thoughts here.

Jake & Elwood had their own songs, sure, but at no point in the movie were Charles, Franklin, Cab Calloway, James Brown or John Lee Hooker ever “singing backup”. In fact, all their on-screen time and songs appeared to be explicit showcases of the real musicians, with Jake & Elwood only dancing in the background.

I grew up with the tv edit of the movie and saw it a ton. It did a lot more to help expose my young suburban-white-kid ears to those musicians rather than disgrace them IMO.

25
ChonkyOwlbear lemmy.world ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-24
#8 · (edited) Quote Reply

I’m curious about Carlin’s thoughts here. Jake & Elwood had their own songs, sure, but at no point in the movie were Charles, Franklin, Cab Calloway, James Brown or John Lee Hooker ever “singing backup”. In fact, all their on-screen time and songs appeared to be explicit showcases of the real musicians, with Jake & Elwood only dancing in the background. I grew up with the tv edit of the...

It's definitely a love letter to black music and culture in general. Putting two goofy white guys in front of it all made it palatable to white audiences. Also, the big villains were racist hicks and white supremacists.

17
Onomatopoeia lemmy.cafe Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
Joined: 2025-01-02
#9 · (edited) Quote Reply

I hate that movie. The idea of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin singing backup while Dan Aykroid blows into a harmonica is too gross to contemplate. George Carlin called it a sacrilege.

I believe it was Cab Calloway who told John to not be a cover artist, and to be himself on stage, that he "had the blues".

It's nothing like you describe. John and Dan both lamented the depreciation of the Blues and these fabulous artists, and wanted to showcase the Blues (and Motown).

If it weren't for them, and that movie, I wouldn't know of half the artists whose music they used in the movie, and a bunch of others that weren't well-known (or largely forgotten) by the 80's.

That movie, and John and Dan, are credited with re-invigorating Blues and Motown in the 80's and later.

11
Onomatopoeia lemmy.cafe Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
Joined: 2025-01-02
#10 · (edited) Quote Reply

I’m curious about Carlin’s thoughts here. Jake & Elwood had their own songs, sure, but at no point in the movie were Charles, Franklin, Cab Calloway, James Brown or John Lee Hooker ever “singing backup”. In fact, all their on-screen time and songs appeared to be explicit showcases of the real musicians, with Jake & Elwood only dancing in the background. I grew up with the tv edit of the...

Hell, the big Cab number near the end is Cab like he was 50 years before! Incredible.

They introduced multiple generations to music and artists from decades before.

8
Onomatopoeia lemmy.cafe Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
Joined: 2025-01-02
#11 · Quote Reply

It's definitely a love letter to black music and culture in general. Putting two goofy white guys in front of it all made it palatable to white audiences. Also, the big villains were racist hicks and white supremacists.

It was also music the two of them grew up with, and loved.

Total homage to the genre. Besides, what's not to love? Aretha belting it out, Cab putting on his big show. Bad. Ass.

6
jqubed lemmy.world jqubed@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-01-10
#12 · Quote Reply

So it was torn down around 2009/2010?

4
Ninja876 lemmy.world Ninja876@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-01
#13 · Quote Reply

It's definitely a love letter to black music and culture in general. Putting two goofy white guys in front of it all made it palatable to white audiences. Also, the big villains were racist hicks and white supremacists.

Illinois Nazi's... I hate Illinois Nazi's

10
bad1080 piefed.social bad1080@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-27
#14 · Quote Reply

lot's of space in that mall

4
SatansMaggotyCumFart piefed.social SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-16
#15 · Quote Reply

Word for word recent reddit repost.

The ai powered bot swarm lives.

12
Cattypat lemmy.blahaj.zone Cattypat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-07
#16 · Quote Reply

Word for word recent reddit repost. The ai powered bot swarm lives.

you should look at OP's profile description

8
grue lemmy.world grue@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#17 · Quote Reply

Word for word recent reddit repost. The ai powered bot swarm lives.

A bot doesn't need to be "AI" to repost, especially "word for word." If it were restating the titles, then I might be inclined to accuse it of being AI.

3
SatansMaggotyCumFart piefed.social SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-16
#18 · Quote Reply

you should look at OP's profile description

What’s that?

Banned from the site?

2
scutiger lemmy.world scutiger@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#19 · Quote Reply

What’s that? Banned from the site?

9
SatansMaggotyCumFart piefed.social SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-16
#20 · Quote Reply

It’s beautiful.

5
Constant_Velocity thelemmy.club Constant_Velocity@thelemmy.club
Joined: 2026-02-08
#21 · Quote Reply

Was passing through the area years ago, and wife and I stopped to take a look from the parking lot. She got creeped out and we didn't stay very long.

2
Martineski lemmy.dbzer0.com Martineski@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-09-07
#22 · Quote Reply

I don't have issue with the reposting however keeping the titles claiming to be the OP is tilting me. Lol

9
Post Reply
Back to top