Farnsworth and I decided to go on an adventure around Chicago television filming locations. Along the way we had fun, frustrations, and fascinations.
Our first stop was where I was looking the most forward to: The Family Matters House. Growing up I loved Family Matters and I would watch it often. I can still sing the theme song word for word. Last year there were some speculations/news that the house was being torn down, but I thought that it was resolved. Sadly the house is no longer.
However, after I cried a little bit inside my friend and I noticed a plaque commemorating the show. That made me very happy. The house was very close to DePaul, and I wish I had visited it sooner. Also the neighborhood is pretty much the same as in the show's title sequence.
Here is a link to the video, you can also see the original house in it:
The next place we went to was the Webster house. It's a show most people my age probably don't know about, but my mother was very adamant about me watching it. Fun fact this house was sold for 9.5 million in 2016 (it's huge)!
The next location was about a five minute walk from the webster house. It's the Playboy Penthouse mansion! It was so large that I couldn't even get the whole thing in the picture, also it was very guarded.
The next location was the Billy Goat tavern and this is where things got a little complicated. We got very lost and could not find it, since the restaurant is underground! So we decided to come back to that later and head to the Museum of Broadcast Communication. Yet, once we got there they had closed, so hopefully a picture outside will suffice!
On our way to the next location, we ran into a live news taping! I made direct eye contact with one of the reporters and it was...awkward.
After our quick pit stop by the news station and trying to find the Billy Goat Tavern we headed to The Blackstone Hotel, which was the original Sun Times Building. Fun fact I made friends with one of the doormen there my freshman year. It's a complicated story but I spent three to four days a week there because of The Theatre School Reskin Crew.
Sadly on the way to the next filming location, Farnsworth ripped a little....guess he was exhausted.
Next location: The Buckingham Fountain is where the Married With Children title sequence was filmed. I've actually never really seen the show, but the fountain was gorgeous.
Last but not least is The Billy Goat Tavern, we had to go on a different day because I couldn't find it the first time. Yet here it is!! This place was parody-ed on SNL, I'll include a video below.
Here's the video: The Billy Goat Tavern really does not have fries and they didn't have grill cheese when I went...so I couldn't get anything on the menu which made me laugh (A LOT).
And that's all folks!
