IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE…..IT’S SMALLVILLE!!

  There is lots of action beginning to happen in of Plano, IL., our neighboring town about 3 miles East of Sandwich.  Plano is very similar to Sandwich…a small town that sprang up along the railroad tracks in the late 1800’s.  Most towns along this corridor and West have been built parallel to the tracks, where all the essentials were shipped in and out of Chicago.  Well, Plano Illinois has just put themselves on the map …They are filming parts of the new movie, Superman: Man of Steel, in Plano.  They have decided to use it as the small rural town of Smallville, where Clark Kent lived as a boy…

On my way shopping,  I stopped in Plano today to get some pictures, as they are busily building sets and facades in the downtown area.

These are all false building fronts being constructed…Note  in the photo on the right you can see the trees through the window..Sure hope they take care of that, it kinda takes away the magic.

 

That Uncle Lar’s Pizza building is the real deal..Uncle Lar’s serves great pizza.. The small white building front next to Uncle Lar’s is just a part of the set…And that concrete building with the columns that says  “First State Bank” WAS the First State Bank of Plano, at one time…They apparently are using some of these existing buildings…

Another old Plano building that hasn’t been touched is the old Hotel…Above is the old Plano Hotel, and is still a very neat piece of history…I believe it is now empty, and obviously FOR SALE…I could see a nice B&B maybe. Of course you would have to put a gazillion bucks into it just to get it up to codes!!

This is what it looks like “behind the scenes” , so to speak…just lots of wood being braced up…

Above left is the front of the actual Plano Train Depot from the ..Sandwich had one too, but the “powers that be” had it torn down a few years ago…what a shame and a waste.  The photo on right is the Plano train depot from the back.   You can see the tracks, and Amtrak still stops here in Plano to board riders…..”ALL ABOARD"!!!!”

They start filming in August and there will be a few stars in town…Superman/Clark Kent will be played by Henry Cavill, Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, General Zod is played by Michael Shannon (is it me, or has anyone even HEARD of these actors?), and Ma and Pa Kent are played by Diane Lange and Kevin Costner..Now there’s a couple names I DO know…must be my age, hmmmm?  There is a wild rumor floating around that Russell Crowe is set to play Jor-El, Superman’s father..(Be still my beating heart..)  They say that after the Plano filming is finished, they will be filming more outdoor scenes in Chicago and the inside scenes will be shot in Vancouver….There ya go , Rick and Paulette, you can become movie groupies!!!

  Our weather here in Sandwich has been next to ideal lately…This could only mean the other shoe of severe thunderstorms will drop soon…Apparently we could truly could use a good rain, …the mosquitos are now just sitting in the sunshine, drinking Bloody Marys.

Dennis, the McGuyver of all trades and Grillmaster at the Cave Dwellings has been doing some great meals here…

Do you suppose I could entice Russell Crowe over for some great kabobs????? Just a thought…And here is another  great thought I found darned funny..

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”

I really need to post that on Dennis’s Facebook page..