Where are they now? Shermer, Illinois

Last week’s “Where are they now?” Walley World post was so popular and we got so many e-mails we are showcasing another Griswold location!

This week we are profiling the Griswold’s home and John Hughes’s fictional town of Shermer, Illinois!

John Hughes fans already know that his films, including the Vacation films are set in the fictional town of Shermer, Illinois a suburb of the Chicago metropolitan area.

The original Griswold House used in National Lampoon’s Vacation was filmed in Chicago, where as, the other Griswold houses used in European, Christmas and Vegas were all filmed on the Warner Brother’s backlot.  As a reference to the Griswold’s home state Chevy Chase wears a black Chicago Bears hat in all four Vacation films.

Shermer, Illinois is home to not only the Griswold’s but the Bueller’s (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), the Baker’s (Sixteen Candles) the gang from the Breakfast Club and many more!  Shermer is said to be based on the hometown of John Hughes, Northbrook, Illinois which was originally named Shermerville.  John Hughes’ high school, Glenbrook North High School and some surrounding High Schools were often used as the high schools in his films including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  Shermer also borrows the real life Northbrook zip code 60062

The Breakfast Clubs school interiors and football field were filmed at Hughes High School, Glenbrook North High School which in real life is located on Shermer Rd. in Northbrook Illinois.  The exteriors of the school and Library were filmed at Maine North High School Located in Des Plaines, Illinois.  Maine North High School, Glenbrook North High School, New Trier High School (West Campus), and Niles East High School have all been filmed as Shermer High School.

An ongoing theme in Hughes depiction of Shermer is the contrast of its resident’s wealth.  Films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Career Opportunities and Some Kind Of Wonderful all show rich and poor kids living and attending the same schools, something which Hughes has spoken about when talking about his own experiences growing up in Northbrook, Illinois.

With the death of John Hughes the days of Shermer are gone but are far from forgotten.  With films like Dogma where two characters “Jay and Silent Bob” travel to Illinois looking for Shermer only to find that it is fictional town and shows like NBC’s Community making almost weekly references to the Hughes films and it’s Shermer residents it looks like the dream of Shermer lives on.

Check out these links for more on Shermer:

The official Northbrook Website: http://www.northbrook.il.us/

Pictures from then and now: http://home.xnet.com/~madman/index.html

A complete list of John Hughes films: http://www.riverblue.com/hughes/films.html

Shermer at Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shermer,_Illinois

Griswold house: thanks to Braden

Ferris and sixteen pictures from: http://home.xnet.com/~madman/index.html

Where are they now? Walley World!

I decided to mix things up a bit this time with our "Where are they now" section and include locations!

This week I am featuring Walley World!

The Actual Walley World is represented by both Santa Anita Park and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Santa Anita's large parking lot and blue-tinged fascia serve as the introduction scenes, while Magic Mountain serves all internal-park scenes. The two roller coasters seen in the film (and still operating today) are Revolution, which can be recognized by the vertical loop and Colossus, the double track wooden roller coaster.

"What is that? What is that?  Walley World, Next three exits!

Thanks to Braden for the pictures!

Where are they now?

I am starting a new feature of Griswold World called "Where are they now?"

It's just a way to catch up on the old' Griswold gang and what they are up to now.

The first star is Johnny Galecki.

Johnny Galecki stared as Rusty Griswold in Christmas Vacation.

Since his days as a Griswold, Galecki stared on the hit sitcom "Roseanne" from 1992, its fourth season, until its conclusion in 1997. He stared in several films and now has his own show 'Big Bang Theory' on CBS.

Galecki just reunited with Chevy Chase recently when Chase presented the actor with a People's Choice award in January 2010.