If you live in DuPage County, you may have driven through the intersection of Garys Mill and Roosevelt Roads in West Chicago. There is no street light at the intersection, and it does appear fairly nondescript, but did you know that filming for one of the most iconic films of all time took place there? Here’s a bird’s-eye view of the intersection…
Just beyond the intersection, on the southwest corner, you may have barely noticed a tiny, aging motel. Here is a somewhat recent photograph of the West Wind Motel…
The motel is a throwback to the mid-sixties, when drive-up motels were often run by independent operators. Many of these motel owners lived in a house on the same property as the motels they ran (just like the Bates Motel in Psycho, and no, the West Wind was not used in the movie Psycho). The West Wind Motel still stands and is open for business today, and if you don’t recognize it from the photo above, maybe this next photo will refresh your memory…
If you still don’t recognize the motel in this last photo, you probably don’t remember the scene from Blues Brothers when the model Twiggy was waiting for a late-night rendevous with Elwood Blues (actor Dan Aykroyd). Yep, that’s the West Wind Motel behind Twiggy from the all-time-best Chicago-movie, The Blues Brothers. So if you thought the West Wind Motel was just another old motel with no real significance, now you know better 😉
Use the Google Street View below to explore the area around the West Wind Motel / Garys Mill and Roosevelt Rd intersection…
