Des Plaines goes Hollywood for Vaughn visit

For a few hours Wednesday morning, Des Plaines residents got a taste of Hollywood celebrity with actor/comedian Vince Vaughn taking over the Choo Choo Restaurant to film scenes for a television show pilot.

The restaurant, at the corner of Lee and Jefferson streets, was closed for filming all day and the adjacent city employee parking lot served as the staging area for production equipment. A few off-duty Des Plaines police officers blocked off streets and sidewalks redirecting pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Dana Travaglio, 19, of Des Plaines was among a small crowd of spectators gathered behind barricades to catch a glimpse of the veteran actor.

"This is probably the biggest thing that's happened around here," said Travaglio, who missed a community college pottery class to be there. "He's from Chicago. He's like the coolest person ... always at the Cubs, Blackhawks games. I just want to see him, maybe shake his hand."

Marisa Messina, 24, a stylist and store manager of the Hair Cuttery across the street from the Choo Choo, spent much of the morning gawking at Vaughn through binoculars from the street before being shooed away by police. Yet, that didn't stop her from peering through the shop window.

"I would marry him if I could," Messina said. "He's hot, for sure. I think he needs to get his hair cut by me."

Vaughn, of "Wedding Crashers" fame, recently starred in "Couples Retreat," which was partially shot in Buffalo Grove.

Vaughn is no stranger to the suburbs. Vaughn played football and wrestled while growing up in Buffalo Grove. He later graduated from Lake Forest High School.

He is directing the pilot, produced by Vail Romelin and Funny Little Man Productions LLC. The show is about "a bunch of kids in the suburbs who get their first place in the city," said Vaughn, shaking hands and signing autographs.

"It's such a great spot to shoot in Des Plaines," Vaughn said of the Choo Choo Restaurant, though he would not elaborate why he chose the 1950s-era diner.

In recent years, the restaurant has been engulfed in controversy since the city had been eyeing that downtown block at Miner and Lee streets for a future police headquarters. Talk of redeveloping the area has died down in the past couple of years, however.

Arlington Heights resident Brian Kaempen, 21, who is working on a documentary about what he described as the Choo Choo's "David and Goliath" like fight with the city, wondered whether it would be around much longer.

"When the casino opens in a year or two and they (the city) have more money, what will the Choo Choo be in a couple of years?" Kaempen said.

Des Plaines Mayor Marty Moylan said he was happy to see the Choo Choo and Des Plaines get their 15 minutes of fame. "I think it's great for the city," said Moylan, who confessed to being a Vince Vaughn fan. "It's nothing but positive for the Choo Choo and our local businesses."

Moylan said he would like to see more filmmakers use Des Plaines as a shooting location.

"We would encourage it because Des Plaines is a great middle class community and has a lot of good Midwestern qualities," he said.