Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Scenes from... Crown Point, Indiana

We are so excited about the movie Public Enemies that opens today. It was a happy coincidence that we were in Northwestern Indiana this weekend so we could take a look at downtown Crown Point where some of the movie's scenes were filmed. We only wished that we had more time to take this cute town all in- we'll have to go back when we aren't so rushed.


The "Grand Old Lady" Crown Point courthouse:

Did you know that Rudolf Valentino was married here? There's a Valentino's restaurant and ice cream parlor in the first floor of the courthouse.

After we browsed at the shops on the lower level, we went to the upper levels of the courthouse. Even though the museum wasn't open, it was still worth taking a look at just to see the gorgeous woodwork and floors. This directory is engraved:








We adored the Crown Theatre building:


We've heard good things about The Circle restaurant. They had lovely outdoor seating right across from the "Grand Old Lady":

At 223 S. Main St. (just a quick walk south of the town square) is a lovely Carnegie library:



There was a street fair going on the day that we were there so it was hard to get a long shot but this is the Lake County Criminal Court building (across from the Carnegie Center). According to this page, there is a Dillinger pub and grand ballroom inside.



At 201 N. Main Street is A Conservative Cafe.


With good reason, the businesses of Crown Point are eagerly anticipating the Public Enemies movie too. These special screening posters were in a lot of shop windows. What a great city this would be to view the movie.



4 comments:

baikinange said...

I'm probably going to skip the Dillinger movie, but want to go to the IN State Library exhibit & reception: http://www.dillingerlegend.org/

WYA! said...

Oh, thanks for the heads up on that!

Dr. Harl Delos said...

I remember talking to my mother about Dillinger maybe forty years ago.

As you may be aware, there is a legend about John Dillinger. The guards at the Smithsonian say the most commonly asked question is the location of a certain exhibit, of Mr. Dillinger's anatomy.

The guards always say that there is no such exhibit. Whether or not the Smithsonian has some of Mr. Dillinger's tissue soaking in formaldehyde or not, well, the museum denies that it exists.

My mother, however, had a friend in Bluffton, who claimed to have had Mr. Dillinger hide out at her residence overnight. According to that friend, the legends about Mr. Dillinger were fairly accurate. This friend, Mama said, was very conservative, and would never have mentioned that aspect of her life, except that she was thrilled, and had to tell someone. Mom said her friend asked her not to repeat the story, and during her friend's life, she kept mum.

Apparently, Mr. Dillinger was fairly popular among the citizenry. There were, Mama said, banks that had favorable and unfavorable reputations, and Dillinger left the "good guy" banks alone, and only robbed the ones that were hated in their own community.

I have a bum hip, and cannot sit still long enough to watch a movie in the theatres. I want to see this as soon as it is available on PPV.

WYA! said...

The Indianapolis Metromix site has an article about Dillinger stating that Smithsonian exhibit is just a myth.
http://indianapolis.metromix.com/home/producer_guide/the-legend-of-john/1278429/content