So, there are a few things that are absolutely essential for a
beautiful Christmas time. Christmas trees, fairy lights, Santa Claus, of course,
Wham!, Mariah Carey, and a beautiful Christmas movie.
A movie that's called "Home Alone". In the year 1990,
this famous film was first released in cinemas, and I'm not really sure if
the producers knew at that time what Christmas evergreen they
had actually created. "Home Alone" tells the well-known story
of the McCallister family that flies to Paris and unfortunately forgets
their son, Kevin, at home. Not only the family quickly notices this,
but also two gangsters, the wet bandits, who have decided to rob
the entire neighborhood. And, well, the story begins. I saw the film on video for the first time
recorded from television in the 1990s. Well, and since then, this film has been on my personal
Christmas watchlist basically every year. I'm pretty sure this is also
the case for many of you. This famous Christmas film was shot in a town called Winnetka in the USA,
not far away from Chicago. This year, it's finally time for me to find the famous shooting locations
of this famous Christmas movie. Time for another trip
to the United States of America. So, here we are, welcome to the USA
and welcome to Illinois. I arrived here yesterday after
a long road trip through the nature. I saw a lot of farmland and a lot
of windmills and stuff like that. It was quite interesting. But this will not be my last
road trip on this route. In the next weeks, you will see a lot of new videos
from the USA here on my YouTube channel. I prepared a lot of interesting topics for you, including a lot
of filming location tours. So if you don't want to miss that,
please subscribe. And the first shooting location tour I'd like to show you today is,
as promised, "Home Alone". And the first place I'd like to show you
today is also the most important place from this movie, which is,
of course, Kevin's house. I would say let's get into the car,
let's try to find it. Okay, this is it, the big moment you've all been
waiting for, and so have I. This is it, the famous McCallister House,
as we all know it from the movies. And this is how it looks
like today, 33 years later. Maybe first, before we compare the film
scenes, a few fun facts about this house. This building dates back to 1920,
so it's a very old residential building, and it had its first star
appearance in the 1970s. For example,
this house appeared in the magazine Better Homes and Gardens because this
house had a very special kitchen. The really big fame,
however, came in the 1980s. At that time, the house belonged to the Abendsheen
family, and they also made this building available to the "Home Alone"
production company for filming. Apparently, finding this house
for the film wasn't that easy. The director, Chris Columbus, once said,
quote, "We needed to cast a house that would work for the stuns and also
a house that was visually appealing, and if this makes sense,
warm and menacing at the same time. It's the house if you were a kid,
it would be fun to be left 'Home Alone'. I wanted it to feel timeless." Yeah, I would say that definitely worked. The house was definitely a stroke of luck. Back then, when they filmed for "Home Alone" 1 and 2, most of the scenes shot at this
place were just filmed around the house. Most of the inside scenes of the house
were shot in a studio set. There are a few pictures that you can find
on the internet of the inside interior of the house, and a few things
look almost like in the movie. For example,
this entrance area with the stairs on which the whole family
always runs up and down. This obviously also exists in reality,
but the bedroom, for example, where Kevin sleeps, or the kitchen,
they look totally different. As far as I know, most of the scenes were shot not inside the house,
but in a studio set. In 2012, 25 years after the Abendsheen family moved in, they sold this house
to the new owner for $1 million. And since this day, this house
has been kept very private. The new owners don't give any TV interviews or anything,
and they obviously also feel a bit bothered by the masses of tourists
that walk around here every day. Even now, as I stand here,
there are lots of people here. For example, the family that now lives here put up a fence that wasn't here
33 years ago when they shot the movie. And what is also quite interesting,
this street where the McCallister House is standing is also not available
on Google Street View. So just a little tip, I say this a lot of times in my videos,
but here it is once again: if you want to visit famous or very famous
filming locations yourself, like in this case, then please
behave while you're here. I know everyone who buys such a famous house should know that probably some
tourists come there sometimes, but it doesn't mean that you have to
totally annoy the people that live here. Okay, and now I would say let's
compare the film scenes with reality. Here in this picture, we can see
clearly what I just mentioned. The whole area in front of the
house looks different today. A large fence was built here, and also the driveway that leads
to the house looks a bit different. You can see that in the film scene,
and you can probably remember that too, in the film,
this driveway leads to the garage, and it also turns right
to the front door of the house. You can see that, for example,
in the scene where the two vans are parked in front of the house where all
the luggage is loaded, and also in the scene where the pizza
delivery guy comes here and repeatedly hits the statue in front
of the house with his car. This today, 33 years later,
obviously is no longer possible. It seems to me that this driveway that leads to the front door is now just
a small walkway through the garden. You can no longer drive there with your
pizza taxi, but the house itself actually looks not that different
than it did in the film. It has a slightly different color, but that probably has more to do
with the color grading of the film. In movies, the colors always
look a bit richer and brighter. But in terms of construction, everything basically is the same as
we saw it back then in the movie. The tree there on the right side of the
house is obviously still here today. What is obviously missing are the two trees that are on the left
side of the house. They apparently were felled
in the past 33 years. Here we can see the entrance
area of the house in close up. Thirty three years ago,
the McCallister house had two small archways with lanterns on top
and a mailbox on them. This thing no longer exists today. Instead, this fence has
been put up there today. Now it's finally time for pizza. Now the pizza delivery guy
comes around the corner. He drives as fast as he can
around this curve over here. Well, and in this scene, we have a nice view of the street
in front of the McCallister House. Not much has changed here, even 33 years later,
we see the two houses in the background. It seems like they are still there. We can see in the film that this street
really has a bit of spooky charm. You really don't want to walk
here alone as a small kid. There are no people on the street. It's very dark. Well, in reality,
that is not the case at all. There are a lot of people here. There are also a lot of cars
parked on the side of the road. What we no longer see in this form today, 33 years later, are those lanterns
that we can see here in the film. They are no longer here today. Well, and in the next scene, this drunken pizza delivery guy drives
onto the driveway of the McCallister House. Then hits this statue in front of the stairs, just like the airport
bus that we can see in this scene. This is, as you might know, the running gag in the film that this
statue is constantly being hit by cars. All of this was shot here in front of this staircase, and here we can
also see quite clearly. The color of the staircase
has completely changed. Thirty-three years ago, it was a staircase
that was completely painted red. Not today. Today it has exactly the same look
as the McCallister House itself. Oh, and by the way,
also the statue is no longer here either. In this scene, the two airport busses are
standing in front of the McCallister House. Here we have another very good view
of the house and the neighborhood. For example, we can also see the house that is standing on the left side
right next to the McCallister House. It also still exists. That's by the way, I think the house
where the creepy neighbor lives. And just like the neighbor, also this
house looks quite special, doesn't it? Well, the house is still here, but it's painted and plastered
completely differently. Back then, it used to be white.
And in this scene, we also have another beautiful view
of this garden in front of the McCallister House,
which looks completely different today. In this scene, the neighbour's boy
comes to the McCallister House. I think his name was Mitch Murphy, this annoying bastard
who's talking to everyone and the bus driver, and is also quite responsible
that Kevin was left "Home Alone", right? Well, this scene was
definitely filmed from here. And now we come to one
of the key scenes of the film. One of the reasons why Kevin is left home alone is, as you might remember,
a big storm raging outside the windows. Those windows we can see here, yeah, they look a bit different today, and there
are also no branches in front of them. I think this was just fake in the movie. And then, as you might remember,
one of those branches or trees falls on the power line and causes this
bucket thing to explode. And guess what? This bucket thing actually
still exists today. This is not fake. I don't really know what
this thing actually is. I Googled it, but I didn't
really understand it. The viewers of my German video told me
that this obviously is a transformer. It's called transformer, right? We don't really see those things
in my home country, Germany, because our power lines usually are
underground and not above ground. Anyway, this bucket transformer thing explodes and the electricity
in the McCallister house is gone. And the next morning after the storm,
we can see an electrician working on a little square box trying
to get the power back on. And also this was no fake either because
these little square boxes are really hanging on those electricity poles
right in front of the McCallister house. Well, and shortly afterwards, Kevin finally wakes up and he runs
to the garage in his pajamas to see, The cars are still there,
but my family is gone. What's going on here? And as you can see, this can no longer be recreated today because the garage
has been demolished since then. That's a bit of a shame, isn't it? But if you look at this picture, this garage never seemed
really practical to me. Look at those cars
standing in this garage. They stick out a bit at the back,
and you also cannot really get into the car on the left
side or the right anymore. I don't know, this garage probably was built at some point in the 1920s
for cars that were much smaller. Anyway, within the past 33 years, this building obviously
was completely demolished. There's no garage anymore. The McCallister House is not the only
famous house in this street. Right on the other side of the road,
we will find the neighbor's house that the thieves rob and they put
it underwater and stuff like that. That's also the place they meet
cabin for the very first time. This is it.
The Murphy House, as we know it from the film,
beautifully lit with lots of colorful fairy lights, beautiful American kits,
just the way I love it. Yeah, of course, we can't see that here today, but otherwise, the Murphy House
looks exactly like in the film. On this side of the street,
time has more or less stood still. We can see the Murphy house in the middle. We can also see this garage right next
to the Murphy house on the right. There's still this neighbor's house on the left, which is also
still here 33 years later. Almost nothing has changed
here in front of this house. This is the reverse shot.
On the left side, we can see the van of the two crooks
standing right next to the Murphy House. We can't recreate this scene in detail now because we can't walk
onto people's driveways. Nonetheless, the neighborhood that you can see in this scene still looks
the same as it did back then. We have the McCallister house on the left. We have a white house on the right
side that is still here today. It's just painted yellow,
and there is a driveway in between. In this scene, Kevin meets the two gangsters,
the wet bandits, for the very first time. He walks along this sidewalk in front of the Murphy house, and we are
looking out of the van window. In this scene, we can also see quite clearly this house, which can
be seen in the background. It was white back then,
but it's still exactly the same house. We can see this round door with the two windows next to it on the left side, and
then a larger window front on the right. It's all still there. It's just painted completely
differently today. And obviously, they built some a crossing or something like that,
a bridge on the left side where this driveway is, apparently it
didn't exist back then. Then Kevin accidentally runs
in front of the gangster's van. This is all happening right here. Once again, we can see, yes, the Murphy House looks exactly
like it does in the movie. The only thing that has changed
is that it now has a red door. In the film, 33 years ago,
it was still white. And then Kevin is almost hit by the van of the wet bandit, and that happens
right over here. Kevin notices that something is very
strange about these two craftsmen, so he decides not to turn
right and go into his house. No, he continues walking down the street,
and this scene was filmed from over here. This is the two gangsters van from this perspective that was
filmed from over here. And this is the last scene I want to show you from this place here,
from this street. Kevin finally starts running. Something is very wrong. All of this was filmed
here on this street. We can see something has happened
to the houses in the background. Apparently, they were all
completely repainted. The street here, however,
still looks the same as it did back then. Well, and I would say, run, Kevin, run, and we will drive to our
next filming location now. We continue chronologically. Right after Kevin meets the thieves, he runs away from them,
and then he hides at a church, a church that also plays a quite important
role in other scenes of the movie. Well, actually, in reality, this church
is not right next to Kevin's home. It's actually in the neighboring
village, right over here. And this is it, the famous church as
we know it from the movie "Home Alone". And this is what it looks
like today, 33 years later. This is Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette, built in 1928
in the English Gothic style. In the film, this church can be seen not only from the outside,
but also from the inside. However, those inside
scenes were not filmed in this church. It was a completely different one, the Grace Episcopal Church
in Oak Park, Illinois. And all of the outside scenes were
filmed right here in Wilmette. And as you can see in this scene, the area here almost looks exactly
the same like it did 33 years ago. Nothing has changed. The church itself hasn't changed at all. On the left, there is still
this little house next door. It looks like the trees and bushes right in front of the church
were changed slightly. We can see freshly trimmed hedges here
today that were not here 33 years ago, but otherwise the area around
hasn't really changed. This sidewalk we can see
on the right is still here. That's the sidewalk Kevin is running on. And then, as you might remember,
he hides in a Nativity play. In this scene, we can see
the church again from a close up. The van is turning around the corner and the two crooks keep driving
because Kevin is hiding. All of that was filmed from over here. Here we can see the scene again
from a different perspective. The van drives on the street. Here we can see a bit of the neighborhood
right next to the church. This is what it looks like
today, 33 years later. This is the place where the Nativity
scene stood in the film on the left. Today, there is a display board that draws
attention to the church services. We can see this funny-looking tree on the right, which obviously
is also still here. It's much bigger today. Last but not least, here's the Nativity play in close up,
and this scene was filmed from over here. Okay, let's talk about another storyline. You might remember in the movie
"Home Alone", we see the classic hero's journey, which means at the beginning
of the movie, we see Kevin as a scared kid who is afraid of his own basement,
and during the movie, he grows up. But during this journey,
he also fails a lot of times. For example,
when he stands in a supermarket, wants to buy a toothbrush,
and then he sees his neighbor, and then he steals the toothbrush
by accident because he runs away. Yeah, all of that was filmed
in a small corner shop. But to show you that scene,
and we have to go back to Winnetka.. And here it is, the famous toothbrush shop,
as we know it from the movie, which is by the way,
not a supermarket, it's a pharmacy. We can see there is
written "Pha..." on this shop. By the way, the concept of pharmacies here in the US is something I
don't really understand. For me, as a European, a pharmacy is
a shop where you can just buy medicine. You go into a pharmacy when you're sick. But just a few days ago, I went to an American pharmacy to buy some
medicine, and they sold all sorts of stuff, like cosmetics
and even cigarettes. I don't really understand this concept. I know there is a difference between pharmacies and drugstores,
but this shop was not called Drugstore. It was called Pharmacy.
So I thought I would find medicine there. I didn't, but I started
smoking afterwards. Anyway, this pharmacy we can see in the "Home Alone" movie is not a pharmacy
and also not a drugstore anymore. It's an ice cafe today. We can see the whole building looks totally different today, but we can also
see it's exactly the same building. There is still this brick pillar
that we can see in the movie. It's still here. It was actually pretty
crumbled 33 years ago. This problem obviously was solved. Well, and also this whole facade of this building looks a bit different
than it did in the movie. Kevin runs out of the pharmacy in fear. We can already see the policeman
following him on the left. This was filmed from here. And once again, we can see this pharmacy building on the right, which by the way,
looks like a half-timbered house, a style that is very popular in Germany or
in Switzerland, but you will also find those kinds of houses
in Denmark or in the UK. But what I learned from my roadtrips
and filming location tourism in the US, the Americans obviously love to paint
their houses in this half-timbered style. A lot of those houses are not
really half-timbered houses. They are just painted like that,
which always looks a bit funny to me. Well, and also this building looks a bit like it's just painted like that,
but I'm not 100 % sure. This is the reverse shot of the scene. Kevin runs towards a park
with his stolen toothbrush. This is Hubbert's Wood's Park, which was created in 1912
and has existed ever since. But what we can also see here a little
bit has changed over the past 33 years. For example, a green hut was built on the left side, which apparently
didn't exist while the movie was shot. At that time, there was a wooden pavilion on the right side instead,
but it's no longer here today. There is now a large children's
playground here at the same place. Another scene from this place,
Kevin is totally shocked when he sees the police officer that was filmed
in front of this house over here. And then Kevin finally runs into this park across the ice rink, and then he
finally flees from the policeman. That was filmed from over here. Once again, we can see this large half-timbered style building
in the background where the pharmacy was. Yeah, and this is how it all
looks like today, 33 years later. Here we can see Kevin sliding across the ice and this ice ring
used to be here, I think. Well, and right after the scene, we can see Kevin running over a railway
bridge, and then he finally returns home. He feels really ashamed
that he stole the toothbrush. Well, and for this scene, they didn't
look for a special bridge in the area. No, this bridge is actually right
next to Hubbert Woods Park. There is a small train station here
and also the bridge Kevin runs across. And if we walk over this railroad bridge,
we also end up in a residential area. However, this is not the residential
area in which Kevin's house is located. In reality, you would have to walk another 19 minutes from here before
finally arriving at Kevin's house. So in reality, Kevin would have been on the road for quite a long time
to buy or to steal a toothbrush. The
last place I want to show you today doesn't play such an important role
in the storyline of "Home Alone". However, the shooting
location is quite beautiful. Look at this.
There is a small fountain and a park here. Yeah, this is the place where Kevin meets
Santa Claus right in front of his car, and I think the car was
parked right over there. And here he is, Santa Claus,
smoking and slightly drunk in front of his absolutely junk car that's parked
here on the left side of the street. On the right side,
on this little strip between the two streets, there used to be this little hut
where Kevin first asks Santa Claus Elf where Santa is, and then he finally
meets him in front of his old junk car. This little strip we can see here on the right side of the street is
the so-called Chestnut Court Park. Looks really cute. There are benches and lantons
and a small fountain and so on. And around it, the streets and shops. So you can sit here
and have your lunch break. And in the background,
we can see only rudimentally here in the film and in reality,
the Winnetka Village Hall, a historic event hall which also
houses companies and stuff like that. I think everything looks really
clean and nice and tranquil here. Maybe that's also because of the fact that Winnetka is one of the richest
towns in the United States. You really notice that a little bit when you walk or drive through the streets
here, it's a bit high society here. You always see very expensive cars,
the buildings and the gardens, and even the small parks between the
streets are always very well maintained. It's not like that in every town
in the United States of America. Well, and we can also see
that in this film scene too. Well, and here we can see this whole scene
once again from a different perspective. This is also the last scene I'd like
to show you today on this location tour. Here we can see Santa Claus's hut again,
which is in this little park between the two streets in the background,
the village hall. Today, it doesn't really look like Christmas here,
but still wonderfully cute. Okay, here we are back in the hotel. That was my shooting
location tour of "Home Alone". I hope you liked it.
I really did. That was a really great trip today. Well, at this point, the story of Kevin could be over,
but as you might know, it's not. There's also a very famous second part of the movie, "Home Alone" Two,
lost in New York. Well, guess what we're doing in two weeks? A shooting location tour of "Home Alone" 2. For me, of course, that means I have to go
from Illinois to New York, which means a two-day car ride,
but I think it's worth it. And then we're going to see each other back in two weeks with "Home Alone 2",
lost in New York. Yeah, that's it for today. I hope you liked this video. If you did, please leave a thumbs up. You can also hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so you won't
miss any upcoming video. And if you like to support me and to my work, you can also do that,
for example, on Patreon. The link is in the description down below, or you can become a channel
member on my YouTube channel. Then you will also get exclusive stuff,
for example, all the addresses of the places I showed
you today, and also new videos before everyone else, so you
should check that out. That's it for today.
Have a safe journey. See you next time in two
weeks from New York. Bye-bye.
