Get to Know These Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs Through TV and Movies
The dramatic skyline, famous ‘L’ system, lakefront, and beautifully curated museums make Chicago an ideal backdrop for stories of all kinds. Comedies, dramas, love stories, crime thrillers, and superhero epics have all found a place in the city. Catch a glimpse of these neighborhoods in these movies and TV shows filmed in Chicago—from classic movies, newer blockbusters, to popular TV shows.
Douglas Park
“Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Fire,” and “Chicago Med” are the ultimate Chicago shows, ranging all over the city to tell the story of its heroic police officers, firefighters, and doctors. You’ll recognize spots in Illinois Medical District and Lottie’s Pub in Bucktown. But, Douglas Park is the prime spot for these Chicago shows.
Cinespace Chicago operates out of this neighborhood, and the studio creates sets for these shows as well as other big-name entertainment like “The Chi,” “Empire,” and “Shameless,” according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
Evanston
The suburb of Evanston, just north of the city, may not seem like a likely setting for a gritty mobster movie, but “Road to Perdition” makes it work. A scene from this Tom Hanks movie is filmed at Evanston’s Charles Gates Dawes House, a National Historic Landmark.
Fast forward from the Depression era to a more modern time to watch Nicholas Cage have a midlife crisis in the Chicago area. An Evanston home, located at Lincolnwood Drive and Lincoln Street, is featured in “The Weather Man.”
Logan Square
Netflix’s oh-so-bingeable series “Easy,” a show featuring various characters navigating sex and relationships in a series of loosely related episodes, takes place in Chicago. When you watch this show, you can make a game out of how many spots you recognize. “Easy” was filmed in Lincoln Square, the Loop, Wicker Park, and more. Some of the most easily recognizable spots are located in Logan Square.
Insufferable graphic novelist Jacob Malco speaks at the neighborhood's independent bookstore City Lit Books. And, a couple of characters chat at Café Mustache in the second season of the show (in the episode “Side Hustle”).
Joe Swanberg, the creative force behind “Easy,” is no stranger to storytelling in Chicago. His 2013 movie “Drinking Buddies” was largely filmed at Revolution Brewing in Logan Square.
Loop
The Loop is likely the most recognizably Chicago neighborhood, especially for anyone who doesn’t live in the city. Naturally, its most notable landmarks make regular appearances in film and television. Ferris and friends make their way through the galleries at the Art Institute in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, and Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum’s characters get married in the famous museum in the romantic drama “The Vow."
Outside, Millennium Park has attracted its fair share of film crews. Though set in Indiana, the gang from “Parks and Recreation” makes its way to Chicago for an episode. Scenes for the episode (“Ron and Jammy”) were filmed at the park and other spots like North Avenue Beach and Wrigley Field.
The neighborhood’s LaSalle and Van Buren CTA stop makes an appearance in the classic Thanksgiving film “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” Steve Martin and John Candy’s characters bid farewell to one another on the train platform after enduring a grueling journey from New York to Chicago.
West Loop
Union Station is one of the biggest draws for filming in the West Loop. The cavernous Great Hall with its stately pillars, carved wooden benches, and marble steps make it an ideal setting for dramatic showdowns.
In the 1987 movie “The Untouchables,” Kevin Costner’s prohibition agent faces down Robert De Niro’s Al Capone. The movie’s famous shootout scene takes place on the steps inside Union Station. The climactic scene of “Man of Steel,” Henry Cavill’s first time taking up Superman’s cape, also takes place in Union Station.
Another West Loop building is a part of a famous movie scene: the bank robbery at the beginning of “The Dark Knight.” The Old Chicago Main Post Office building serves as a Gotham bank and a suitably dramatic setting for the introduction of Heath Ledger’s Joker.
Winnetka
The wealthy suburb of Winnetka is featured in quite a few classic movies. The house in which Kevin McCallister teaches a couple of burglars (“Keep the change, ya filthy animal!”) a lesson remains standing in Winnetka. Scenes from “Sixteen Candles” were shot at the suburb’s New Trier High School, according to IMBD, and several exterior shots for “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” were filmed in the suburb.
Wrigleyville
Wrigleyville has been prominently featured in film, largely thanks to Wrigley Field. The titular duo of “The Blues Brothers,” a movie that routinely tops the list of Chicago classics, give out the ball field’s address as their own. Ferris and his friends manage to squeeze in a Cubs game during their frenetic day of playing hooky. The ivy-covered walls of the stadium are immediately recognizable as a favorite Chicago location.