The 1990 American Christmas family comedy Home Alone was filmed in the Chicagoland area! Several scenes were shot at the O’Hare Airport and in Winnetka’s neighborhoods, where the fictional McCallister family’s home still stands.

Filmmaker John Hughes grew up on the North Shore and wanted the movie to be filmed in a real neighborhood, rather than a set. Many of the iconic scenes took place in real parts of the home.

National Illinois Day is celebrated Dec. 7 each year to commemorate the Land of Lincoln and Prairie State. From the Windy City down to Southern Illinois, the state has a lot to offer.

Today, Illinois is the fifth most populous state in the U.S. Illinois became a state on Dec. 3, 1818 and was the 21st state to enter the Union. The General Assembly adopted the state slogan, "Land of Lincoln," in 1955.

Today is Walt Disney’s birthday! He was born in Chicago’s Hermosa community in 1901. His name has since become synonymous with entertainment and enchantment.

Disney attended McKinley High School in Chicago, where he took drawing and photography classes and was a contributing cartoonist for the school paper. At night, he took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1919, after pursuing careers as a newspaper artist and an advertisement animator, Disney decided to open his own animation business. Disney was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1923, but soon moved to Hollywood with his brother Roy and began the Disney Brothers’ Cartoon Studio, which later became Walt Disney Studios.

These days, Thanksgiving traditions include football, family, turkey and pumpkin pie, but it started as a holiday simply to remind Americans to give thanks for one another.

In 1863—in the middle of the Civil War—Illinois’ very own Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving would be celebrated nationally on the final Thursday in November. Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote the nursery rhyme “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” is said to be the one who convinced President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, after writing letters to him for 17 years.

The Dark Knight is a critically acclaimed superhero movie. It drew audiences from all over the world, making $1 billion at the box office. What you may not know is that large parts of the movie were filmed in Chicago. There are a few scenes worth highlighting.

The opening bank robbing scene, where Heath Ledger’s Joker is introduced , was filmed at the old Chicago Post Office on 404 West Harrison. However, there is an exterior shot during the scene that was filmed on West Van Buren Street and Canal Street. There was an extension of the set built onto an adjacent vacant lot. At the end of the scene, there is a convoy of school buses that the Joker escapes in, and they head down West Van Buren Street.