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“This place has got everything”

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* It’s amazing to me that this building is still standing…

Bulldozers soon may finish what Jake and Elwood started more than 30 years ago: the destruction of the Dixie Square Mall.

The mall has been vacant since John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd raced through it with police cars in hot pursuit, scattering extras and laying waste to much of the 600,000 square feet of retail space in an iconic chase scene from the 1980 film”The Blues Brothers.”

In the decades since, vandals and the elements nearly finished the job, while officials in south suburban Harvey have tried — at least a dozen times — to find someone to redevelop a site that has become both the city’s bleakest eyesore and most famous landmark.

The zombified property slouches in the middle of nearly 60 acres of craggy asphalt near the intersection of 153rd Street and Dixie Highway, with trees two stories high poking through holes in the roof.

This month, funded by federal money promised more than a year ago during a campaign stop by Gov. Pat Quinn, a demolition contractor has permits in hand and Dixie Square Mall is at long last coming down, city spokeswoman Sandra Alvarado said.

* Disco Pants and Haircuts…

* And speaking of tearing down buildings, what the heck?…

Last week, scrap metal thieves in southwest suburban Shorewood weren’t content with mere scraps.

They first apparently called the owner of a business next to 18400 Frontage Road along I-55 and told him the structure was being dismantled that day because the property had been sold, the Will County Sheriff’s office says.

They then pulled up two semi-trucks to the building — and tore it down. They removed the steel from the structure and then carted it away in the trucks, officials said. At some point, a friend called the property manager to tell her what had happened. Police were called last Thursday, a day after the trucks left.

Sheriff’s deputies then tracked down the building owner who said, no, the building hadn’t been sold — and he hadn’t given anyone permission to tear it down.

I have never heard of such a thing.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 4:09 am

Comments

Dixie Square Mall demolished. Actually all Malls are in a pretty sad state, lots of empty retail space to be rented. We have watched and are still watching companies in trouble. The latest, Sears/Kmart.
Dixie Mall was on the far South Side of Chicago where Congressman Jesse Jackson wanted the Peotone airport to breath life in the area.
If you have ever been out south, way South Chicago, things are getting delapitated all over the area, and rapidly.

Comment by South of the Loop Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 7:28 am
Dixie Mall was vacant before the Blues Brothers trashed it.

It will be a sad day when that decades-long-decaying tribute to failure is finally eradicated.

Comment by Leroy Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 7:28 am
My mom used to work accross the street from the Dixie Mall at a Lincoln/Mercury dealer and got to see them bring the mall back to life for the movie. It was the only reason we got to see it when it came out (that and I think my parents didn’t realize it was R rated). Provided my mom with a lot of entertainment when they were getting it ready.

Yeah, Leory is right, Dixie mall was empty before the Blues Brothers, my favorite plan they had for it over the years was to turn it into a giant Mausoleum…

Looks like the new Oldsmobiles are in early this year….

As for the building theft, I remember at one time people used to steal houses for the Chicago style bricks.

Comment by OneMan Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:10 am
“Do you have a Miss Piggy?”

It still amazes me that the mall is/was still there.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:35 am
“New Oldsmobiles are early this year.”

How it’s lasted this long is amazing.

Comment by Dirty Red Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:40 am
The Blues Brothers is a classic. It will be around long after we are all gone. That chase scene at the Dixie Mall is flat out hilarious. Sad to see a piece of history go but anyone who has driven by the property in the past few years knows that it is long due.

Comment by Stones Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:46 am
I’ve heard of buildings under construction raided for materials, but I’ve never heard of abandoned/vacant buildings torn down in this way. Though old, empty buildings/homes are often raided for copper piping/wiring.

Comment by Wensicia Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:51 am
Quick, call Radogno and Cross and start the presser about this is what happens when you increase taxes. Well maybe not, I think Big Jim was Gov. when this mall went downhill.

Comment by Give Me A Break Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 8:57 am
The costs of tearing the mall down were high in part due to asbestos remediation. As for scrap thefts, last fall a couple of Pennsylvania brothers stole a bridge. Not quite as elaborate as an entire building, but worth noting.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/bridge-stolen-and-sold-for-scrap/

Comment by Boone Logan Square Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 9:16 am
Actually you got to hand it to those guys in the trucks. Instead of taking an easy hit and knocking off a convenient store or breaking into someone’s house and stealing money, jewelry, and a flat screen, they tore down a building. That’s hard work.

Maybe the City of Chicago and Cook county government should find these guys and put them to work on the rest of the vacant and abandoned buildings in the Chicago area. Could be a win/win.

Comment by Jaded Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 9:26 am
Today’s Headline - “Following in the footsteps of Gov. Quinn, Rod Blagojevich, and the GA, over the last several decades as they blatantly ransacked pension systems, dedicated state funds, agencies and institutions; thieves in Shorewood gutted and carted away a whole building leaving nothing but a foundation.”

Comment by Irish Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 10:41 am
In honor of the razing of Dixie Square Mall, Orange Whips for Everyone!

Comment by Jake From Elwood Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 10:42 am
Big things do disappear …

Lost Bridge Trail in Springfield got it’s name from a missing steel railroad trestle; it was dismantled by people salvaging part of the former B&O line sometime after the line was abandoned and before it was revived as a bike trial. There was some controversy about whether IDOT should have protected the bridge or whether the salvage people had a right to remove it. Regardless, the bridge went AWOL. The Park District had to replace it with a new wooden bridge in order to use the trail.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 10:51 am
My all time favorite movie…

Tearing down the mall isn’t sad… When they tear down Wrigley… THAT will be a very sad day.

Comment by Lucky than Good Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 11:07 am
“The Blues Brothers” doesn’t age.

That was a time when booze and blow were about 25% of every movie budget (and I mean that in a good way).

Little known fact: Belushi and Ackroyd got to trash Daley Center and the County Building, in part, because they put George Dunne’s son in the flick. He was the keyboard player (Murphy Dunne).

Any flick that has Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Cab, Aretha, and James Brown can’t go wrong.

And I still hate Illinois Nazis.

Orange Whip?

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 12:11 pm
Will Drudge pick up the building theft in Shorewood as a Chicagoland story?

Comment by anon Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 12:40 pm
wordslinger

You speak the truth…

Any musical worth it’s salt has car chases and nuns as long as it isn’t the Sound Of Music.

Comment by OneMan Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 12:42 pm
In it’s current state, the Dixie would make a heck of a set for a zombie or apocalyptic horror or war movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4xsieSRcKU

Related to the stolen building story, historical trivia: There used to be a couple of aircraft carriers in Lake Michigan, the Sable and the Wolverine, converted from a collier and a frighter into mini flat-tops and used to train new Navy pilots flying out to them from Glenview NAS. George Bush the Elder flew his training there. After the war, the carriers were docked at Navy Pier and the plan was to turn one or both of them into war museums, but the security hired to guard the ships was corrupt (imagine) and illegal scrap salvors surreptitiously stripped the ships practically down to their waterlines in a few days. The remaining hulks could not be repaired or restored, so were towed away to a scrapyard.

Comment by Newsclown Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 12:48 pm
The “Blues Brothers” was, in my opinion, one of the best “art films” ever. Look at the framing of the scenes, the use of gritty backdrops and “regular looking” people, the in-your-face mocking of society. The last time I watched it, I found myself wondering if it could be made today.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 1:27 pm
Rich you are right, I don’t think they could make the movie today. During my misspent youth, the theatre at the mall in Springpatch would roate the midnight movie between the Blues Brothers and the Song Remains the Same. Two classics that I blew a lot of money on after 12:00 AM.

Comment by Give Me A Break Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 1:35 pm
Not to minimize what happened in Shorewood (it’s thievery, after all), but…………there’s money in metal.

A quick-and-dirty internet search shows copper trending at about $2 per pound. Scrap iron is going for around $200 per ton.

Put that together with this Fabulous Ferrous Factoid. In 2010, Illinois’ second biggest export to China (following machinery) was — ready? — “waste and scrap”. https://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2011/03/full_state_report.pdf (at page 23)

Now that’s something to ponder, ain’t it? Our second biggest export to China is junk. Literally.

Comment by Dooley Dudright Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 1:54 pm
===He was the keyboard player===

And was supposed to be Paul Schaffer, the only member of the original SNL studio band that wasn’t in the movie. The rest of the band were playing themselves. The Holiday Inn where Jake and Elwood found Murph and the Magictones was located in Bradley Illinois. God I love that movie.

That Night Train’s a mean wine.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 2:56 pm
“We got two honkies out there dressed like Hasidic diamond merchants.”

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 3:05 pm
My friend Brian could recite every line in that movie, beginning to end. I miss Brian.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 20, 12 @ 3:07 pm