boss-filming-locations

Boss Second Season Filming Locations, Chicago

Note: this is a post about civic data and the promise of machine learning disguised as a post about a really good TV show. Here are some more unnaturally-detailed posts along the same lines as this one and a good primer on the overall concept here.

I like Boss, the Kelsey Grammer vehicle about a ruthless Chicago mayor. Good show, and season two begins this Friday night, August 17. I also like civic data, like Public Right-of-Way Use Permits published by the City of Chicago.

I was recently reviewing this new data set and saw that film permits are a subset of Public Right-of-Way Permits, so I made a Custom view using the Socrata data display system to filter for only permits related to the filming of Boss. I used the Permit Type Code of “Filming”, the Company of Boss Kane Productions (they even have a Yelp page), and a Date of after 3/1/12 (because otherwise I’d be catching Season 1 filmings as well).

Next I exported this data and imported it into a Google Fusion Table so I could make a quick map. Here it is:

Boss Season 2 Filmings

So let’s take a look at some of the locations to see what to look out for come Friday.

One chunk of filmings centers just east of Douglas Park, near 16th and Rockwell. There are 12 filmings up and down California, including down to the Cook County Jail and Courthouse at 26th and California. This set of filmings is at or near the Cinespace Chicago studio.

Boss Season 2 Filmings Near Doglas Park in Chicago

This is also the address listed for Boss Kane Productions, which (I think) is where the interior action is shot. My guess is when they need a generic outdoor location, they pull a film permit to go outside and shoot.

Boss Kane Productions Location

There’s another set of filmings (six) in the Pilsen area, scattered around Halsted, 18th, and Roosevelt.

Boss Season 2 Filmings in Pilsen

One of the locations is 1733 S. Halsted, which is the address for Kristoffer’s Cake and Bakery.

Kristoffer's Cafe & Bakery

There’s a set of eight filmings in the Kenwood neighborhood, most of them in a particularly green region bounded by Drexel, 47th, Lake Park, and 50th. This includes one permit at the Drexel Towers, 4825 South Drexel Boulevard.

Boss Season 2 Filmings in Kenwood
Satellite view of Boss Season 2 Filmings in Kenwood

There is a single shoot at 1035 E. 67th Street, which is the address for Oak Woods Cemetery. My assumption is that the scene at the end of this trailer was shot here.

Kitty O'Neil of Boss

There are two film permits in the Illinois Medical District, including one at 1750 West Harrison Street, the Rush University Medical Center Jelke Building. Here it is from 1960:

Rush University Medical Center Jelke Building

On July 10 of this year they worked on Northerly Island.

I would also expect to see a shot this year with Buckingham Fountain (500 S. Columbus Drive) in the background. Maybe it will be a Married With Children spoof.

There’s a permit for 125 E. Monroe, which is basically the Crown Fountain.

They’ve also got the obligatory City Hall shoot (121 N. LaSalle), a “beneath the train tracks” shot on Lake Street between Wabash and State, and two downtown shots at Monroe and Dearborn. You can also expect to see a shot of 225 N. Michigan, a nifty Mies Van der Rohe edifice. At some point there should be a riverwalk shot on or about 70 E. Wacker. Here’s Boss Kane in the City Hall Roof Garden from a new season trailer:

Boss Season 2 Filming: City Hall Roof Garden

Here’s the tracks:

Boss Season 2 Filming: Under the tracks

And looks like there’s a scuffle at Monroe and Dearborn:

Boss Season 2 Filming

Speaking of the river, there is a permit at 333 N. Canal, the Riverbend Condominiums, and one at 300 North Canal, Left Bank at Kinzie Station. I’ll be looking for those exteriors in upcoming episodes— let me know if I miss it (@juggernautco).

Since there is a permit for 702 W. Fulton Market, we can expect to see some dining going on at Carnivale at some point this season (careful– restaurant Web site sound explosion upon click).

There’s a clump of filmings around Franklin and Chicago:

Boss 2 Season Filmings Near Franklin and Chicago

If you see a set of row houses, that would be the Cabrini Row Houses north of Chicago Avenue– four filmings there, including 850 North Cleveland Avenue.

Boss Season 2 filming: 850 N. Cleveland

This looks like T.I. is out in front of that place:

Boss Season 2 Filming: Cabrini Row Houses

There are four Gold Coast filmings, including one outside of the Drake Hotel.

Boss Season 2 Filmings: Gold Coast

West of the Kennedy, there’s a single filming at 2214 W. Walton

Boss Season 2 Filming: 2214 W. Walton

…and one at 835 N. Wood.

Boss Season 2 Filming: 835 N. Wood

All of this info was made possible by civic data, Google search, and a connection to the Internet. What if there was a machine that could do this for me? God bless us all.

Data, Tools,  and Methods


Posted

in

,

by

Tags: