MovieChat Forums > Call Northside 777 Discussion > Chicagoan's please answer

Chicagoan's please answer


In the scenes where McNeal visits Wiecek's mama there is a hugh church. What is the name of the church? Is it still in use or did the area really go down hill in the 60's? Was that an actual Chicago neighborhood or Hollywood magic

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I just saw the movie last night, and liked it very much. I live in the Chicago suburbs and plan on finding that church, it is definatly in Chicago.

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Hi...Please tell me all about it when you investigate. Old RC churches are a hobby of mine.

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The Church was St. Anthony's on 28th and Wallace. Southside. (Bridgepoert) The Church is still there and both my parents were waked there. My Dad, was an extra in the movie, and an extra, a child in the distance in a scene near the end. Cannot really see him well, but it was him and some friends.

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Very interesting - thanks for sharing.
Tidbits like this are why I love IMDB.

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I ran across a comment that said it was Holy Trinity. There are actually 3 "Holy Trinity" churches in Chicago, but it seems the most logical choice is Holy Trinity (Polish) Church. The church is just off the Kennedy Expressway on Noble St. on the Northside. Here is a picture:

http://www.schlacks.org/JamesPhotos/QofS/Queen%20of%20all%20Saints%201.jpg

This seems to be confirmed by the following blog:
http://2random4chance.com/blog/

(You'll need to page down quite a bit!)
Hope this helps!

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Thanks for the info Steve D. That was a great site. The interior photo was unbelievable! They sure could build them way back when.

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I grew up in Chicago during the 60's. The city has been a location spot for many movies big & small. I had an opportunity to see the the last film Steve McQueen shot in Chicago. The film was shot mostly in the downtown area (The Loop). Marina Towers is where they did the climatic scene of the car careening off the building's parking deck and into the Illinois river on the side. I worked in the IBM Building across the street. It was amazing to see how this was done. They used a trailer full of new Chevy Malibu's to film the chase scenes. You could hear the crashing, brakes squelling, horns, and all the noise & excitement for the two weeks they used to film that sequence which took about 10 mins. on film. I also got to see Steve McQueen in person and his stunt double filming a scene on the outside of Marina Towers. It was funny - but just as Steve McQueen's character was supposed to get punched or wrestled to the ground - the director would yell "CUT" and insert his stunt double, then yell "Action". I thought that only happened in the movies!!
With the boom of independent films being produced - Chicago is on the list as a prime location for shots & moviemaking.

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that would be the Chicago River

**** --------------- ****
It's all in the reflexes!

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Yes, it is Holy Trinity on Noble in Chicago. Here's a link that has a picture of the outside of the church (what you see in the movie):
http://www.trojcowo.com/

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Thanks for the link. I don't understand Polish but the pictures were beautiful. It's wonderful that it is a vibrant parish after all these years rather than shut down and abandoned like many old churches are....

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That whole area is (to my knowledge) still a huge Polish neighborhood. When I was a kid I would take the Division St. bus into town - when you got near Milwaukee Ave., the signs were all in Polish!

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what about the young kid who gives jimmy stewart some serious 'tude? is that part of what is known as 'the chicago way'?



"It's for the pain. Rarely touch the stuff...Can I have another?"

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Holy Trinity Church, 1118 N. Noble.

The church is on the near northwest side of Chicago about 2 miles from downtown, in the Pulaski Park neighborhood - just southeast of the Wicker Park and East Village neighborhoods, and part of the West Town census district. The church is near the intersection of Division, Ashland, and Milwaukee - once the unofficial Polish capital of Chicago, with such alumni as writers Mike Royko and Nelson Algren.

This neighborhood was a mostly Polish, working-class area in the 1940's. It became increasingly Puerto Rican in the next three decades, but always had Poles too. Today, it has many Poles (many recent immigrants), Latino's, and an increasing number of young white adults moving southeast from Wicker Park.

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It took a while but someone finally got it correct. What kag2-1 offered is entirely accurate. Sadly, as it is in nearly all Chicago neighborhoods these days, the illegals have become a significant percentage of the population in this area. If this attack on our heritage isn't corrected soon, it never will be. It may well be too late now.

Remember When Movies Didn't Have To Be Politically Correct?

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That's traditional in Chicago. Each new wave of immigrants is despised by the former waves of immigrants. The old term, "there goes the neighborhood," was always in season in Chicago. I imagine it is the same in other cities.

My parents in what were then the exurbs were surprised that the Italian family near us was all upset because a Polish family was moving in next door. My brother married a Pole and she is hostile toward the old German ladies in Chicago, believing they are saying mean things about her in German. My father worked with Sears Bank to rehabilitate the neighborhood around the bank, in its location before the Sears Tower. The founder of Sears was highly philanthropic and the board of directors wanted to stop blacks from being redlined to prevent them from getting mortgages, as well as working to prevent whites from being terrified into selling their homes for a song. The homes were then resold for more money to the blacks, using hatred as the tool to make the evil people rich.

You are just one more in a long line.

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I might add that for about a century prior to 2005 Chicago was the Polish capital of the world, with more Poles (and half and quarter Poles) living in greater Chicago than in any city except Warsaw. In Chicago you often hear Polish spoken, particularly on the NW side where stores have signs in Polish, they had lots of Solidarnosc (Solidarity) signs, and there is a Polish-language newspaper and radio station.

But when Britain allowed increased Polish immigration around 2005 Poles flooded into London, making it now the #1 international Polish city.

Jen Dobri!

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by kag2-1 ยป Mon Dec 12 2011 21:40:45...Holy Trinity Church, 1118 N. Noble.
I did a google map search of the location. The street Stewart walks down {intersecting the front of the church at a 90 degree angle} is no longer there. Were the houses demolished? What about the Street?

'Three can keep a secret ... if two are dead'

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Yes, that little street (only a block or so long then) is gone and the houses along it demolished as that's now the middle of the Kennedy Expressway, built (as the Northwest Expressway) at the end of the 1950s.

As Jimmy Stewart walks towards the house, you hear a loud constant train bell. That's the old Chicago & NorthWestern Railway, which would have loomed just ahead of Stewart (but not shown on screen) until he turned into the gangway. I'm guessing there were only a couple more houses on that block before it dead-ended at the railroad. The railroad is now right next to the east side of the Kennedy, while the church is on the west side of the Kennedy.

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You can view a front exterior photograph of that Holy Trinity Polish Church on Noble Street in Chicago by visiting https://i2.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8500936991_c4be03566d_z.jpg?zoom=2

Compare the front exterior photographs with the movie video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qTEdKaCUzs
Using your mouse, advance the scroll bar to the right and pause the video at 1:12:09 where you can see the front exterior of that church as it appears in Call Northside 777. That is Jimmy Stewart wearing the suit and hat in the lower right hand corner.

Although that church has a web page in the Polish language, if you use http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-web-page-translator, Google will translate the Polish words into English words.
Type in http://www.trojcowo.com/ as the URL and select Polish in the FROM box and English in the TO box.

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