It all started with a simple question on Facebook. On June 5, 2025, in the South Oak Park Neighbors group, Brian Stemley posted: “Filming on 100 block of S. Taylor? Curious where/if I might see it streaming?”
While scrolling through the comments, one response from Paul Clark stopped me cold. He wrote: “When they filmed “Return to Me” with Minnie Driver and Jim Belushi and Bonnie Hunt (who also directed) on the 700 block of S. Elmwood, there were long Hollywood trailer trucks parked on two blocks of Elmwood and Van Buren and Ridgeland for a few days for scenes that took maybe five minutes of the film.”
I nearly leapt from my chair. I live on the 700 block of South Elmwood!
I immediately told my family. Later that week, while visiting a friend in Park Ridge, I mentioned Paul’s comment. To my surprise, she rushed to her basement and returned with a tote of DVDs which included, Return to Me. She read the synopsis aloud, and by the next evening, my family and I were watching the movie.
We were instantly hooked, not only by the story but by the idea that our own block had been part of it. Afterward, we debated which house had been filmed. I guessed 724, my husband insisted it couldn’t be. My daughter even stepped outside to compare. With curiosity running high, I emailed my neighbors.
The mystery was solved almost instantly. The homeowners confirmed: “It’s our house! We have pictures and a signed copy of the script. It’s one of my favorite movies, but we didn’t know about it until after we were under contract.”
The floodgates of memory opened. One neighbor recalled spotting Minnie Driver at a Corner Bakery in Streeterville during filming: “She seemed so nice,” they said. Another remembered how the fire department sprayed water to create a rainy scene.
And then came one of the best stories. A longtime resident recalled how their son, Donald Jr., climbed the street sign at Elmwood and Van Buren. They taped the word “Holly” over “Elm,” turning it into “Hollywood.” Wednesday Journal even picked up the prank in a 1999 article titled “The Corner of Hollywood and Vine Buren?”
That detail sent me on a hunt. I reached out to Wednesday Journal for a copy of the article and was directed to the microfiche collection at the Oak Park Public Library. So, one Saturday morning, my husband and I pored over reels of archived issues until we finally came across Ken Trainor’s piece. We were thrilled whereas, true to form, our teenage daughters were far less impressed.
Inspired by a neighbor’s suggestion, we decided to bring the story full circle. At our most recent block party, with the projector glowing, popcorn in hand, and neighbors gathered in the middle of the street, we watched “Return to Me,” 25 years after Hollywood first came to South Elmwood.
Return to Me (2000) tells the story of a Chicago architect who donates his wife’s heart after her tragic death and then falls for the woman who receives it. For us, it’s now also the story of our block, a small but unforgettable piece of Oak Park history.
