Recreate your favorite Ferris Bueller moment with Explore Chicago and Foursquare

by Scott Carmichael on

Long before I ever considered moving to Chicago, I knew the city was amazing – and I owe that all to Ferris Bueller. This classic 80’s movie showed off some of the best the city has to offer, and is one of my all time favorites.

The folks at Explore Chicago already created a Foursquare badge for people who visit five of the locations from the movie, but if merely visiting them isn’t enough, how about being flown to the Windy City for a chance to actually recreate your favorite scene?

The prize package includes two airline tickets, a hotel stay and museum passes. To enter, you’ll need to head on over to the Foursquare Facebook page and tell everyone which scene from the movie you’d like to recreate. Hurry up though, you only have till Friday June 4. Me? I’d love to drive down Lake Shore Drive in a 1961 Ferrari GT California.

And while you are at it – don’t forget to follow Gadling on Facebook and Foursquare!

(Photo from Flickr/ChicagoGeek)

Remembering John Hughes through travel

by Katie Hammel on

John Hughes died yesterday at the age of 59, while out for a walk in New York City.

I was only a few years old when The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science came out, but thanks to repeated showings on TNT and USA in the early 90’s, I grew up watching his iconic films. I wanted to skip school with Ferris Bueller and I had a mad crush on Jake Ryan. So even though Hughes had withdrawn from Hollywood in the last decade or so, I was still saddened to learn of the passing of someone whose movies were such a big part of my formative years.

For other fans out there, the folks over at Jaunted have put together a list of some of the locations used for filming in Hughes’ movies, including Chicago-area sets like the Home Alone house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka and the Illinois Police Station (formerly Maine North High School) in Des Plaines where Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez suffered through Saturday detention.

I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time before we see a tour dedicated to revisiting these familiar locations. In the meantime, I’m going home to watch a Hughes movie marathon. That Jake Ryan is so dreamy.