Dave Newbart

Greatly reduced traffic opened up streets to cyclists like never before. Biking was a great escape during a ridiculously stressful year — and a way to seek adventure when major travel was out of the question.

In “The Blues Brothers,” Jake Blues — played by John Belushi — faked a French accent and asked the gentleman at the next table to sell him his wife and daughters.

The three days of filming in Daley Plaza featured three Sherman tanks, three helicopters and three fire trucks, along with 100 state and city police officers in 50 squad cars and on 15 horses. Oh, and that famous SWAT team.

The three-minute chase scene actually covered three states — and more.

For much of “The Blues Brothers,” Jake and Elwood race from place to place: along Lower Wacker Drive, under the L tracks, over a gaping 95th Street bridge as it opens, and through a south suburban mall.

Some of the few recognizable elements are actually stage dressing left by Universal Studios in 1979. The mall had closed a year earlier after just 13 years in operation.

The movie soundtrack, which featured Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Cab Calloway, sold more than a million copies.

The once-vibrant scene, home of Nate’s Deli and impromptu blues jams, has had a makeover since the filming of “The Blues Brothers.’

In the movie, Elwood and Jake spent Jake’s first night out of jail at the Plymouth at 22 W. Van Buren. Filmmakers shot inside the hotel, including its long narrow flight of stairs up, its dingy second-floor lobby and even inside Elwood’s cramped room.

Sundays at Pilgrim Baptist Church jump and ring with praise and hallelujahs.

Although the brothers’ mission was to save the St. Helen of the Blessed Shroud, it didn’t exist in real life.

In 2005, the Sun-Times published a five-part series looking at the worldwide impact of the iconic movie — and what happened to the Chicago people and places featured in the film.

Maybe she's really the one. Actor Kelsey Grammer strolled into Insight Studios in Noble Square Saturday and braved a tattoo needle for the first time to get his latest wife's name inked on his waistline. The 57-year-old who plays the fictional mayor of Chicago on the Starz series “Boss,” and his…

The mother of 4-year-old boy who died of blunt-force trauma was charged with concealing a homicide, and her boyfriend, who lived with the family was charged with murder.

Despite his affinity for the North Siders, Cusack insists he’s a fan of both teams and he can cite old statistics and obscure players from past White Sox teams to prove it.

The number of foreign students at the downstate Urbana-Champaign campus — well over 5,000 — is higher than had ever attended any public university in U.S. history, according to a 2007 report.

International undergraduate applications increased sevenfold to 2,400 in 2007-2008, from just 330 a decade ago.

Bindu Ganga got her Psy.D. -- the clinical equivalent of a Ph.D. -- from the Rolling Meadows campus of the for-profit school in 2000, and was working as the downtown campus' director of training when a student accused her of plagiarism.

Like many for-profit schools nationwide, Argosy has seen a huge increase in enrollment in recent years.

The famous man-eaters likely killed far less people than reported and are no bigger than other lions — although they lack manes, 2004 book notes.