Bueller, Bueller … Anyone know the way to Shermer, Ill.?

Today’s Wisch List column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

Bueller, Bueller … Anyone know the way to Shermer, Ill.?

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 15, 2009

Scour a roadmap of the Land of Lincoln, and you won’t find it anywhere. Plug the town’s name into Mapquest and you’ll get bupkiss. And if you ask a Chicagoan for directions?

Well, whatever you receive in return, it’ll be wrong.

That’s because the town of Shermer, Ill., doesn’t exist.

Although, I hardly let that stop me from setting off in search of the place this past Sunday afternoon. And, as it turned out, I actually found Shermer to be all across Chicago’s North Shore.

There were bits of it here in Highland Park and pieces of it there in Winnetka. I found stretches of Shermer in Northbrook and in Evanston and in Kenilworth.

The town may be mythical. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely fictional, too.

Just ask Ferris Bueller.

After all, he calls the place home.

On Aug. 6, legendary filmmaker John Hughes, who directed such iconic ‘80s teen comedies as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and created the 1990 smash hit “Home Alone,” died of a heart attack at 59 while visiting family in Manhattan.

Hughes grew up along the North Shore and turned it into the backdrop of adolescence for an entire generation. And this week he was remembered at an invitation-only memorial service in Lake Forest attended by the likes of Vince Vaughn, Ben Stein and Matthew Broderick.

Since my invitation must have, you know, gotten lost in the mail, I decided to instead stage my own memorial service for Hughes by seeking out Shermer through a local tour of famous movie locations that can hold its own with anything the hills of Hollywood can offer.

Meant to loosely represent Hughes’ hometown of Northbrook – which once was named Shermerville – Shermer served as the setting for 16 John Hughes movies, including “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Weird Science,” “Uncle Buck,” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

And my personal adventure through this imaginary suburb began with me driving north out of Chicago to Evanston, where leafy neighborhood streets look as if they come directly from central casting.

At 2602 Lincoln Street, I puttered – without my car backfiring – past the house where John Candy as “Uncle Buck” babysat his brother’s kids. And less than a mile away, at 3022 Payne Street, sits Samantha Baker’s home from “Sixteen Candles,” where a girl (who wasn’t Molly Ringwald) came out to get the mail as I traveled by.

Leaving Evanston, I then weaved my way north to 230 Oxford Road in Kenilworth, where Steve Martin’s character arrived – finally – for Thanksgiving dinner with his family at the end of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

And next up was Winnetka, where I made a quick jaunt past the real estate office at 583 Chestnut Street that employed Katie Bueller (Ferris’ loving mother) before arriving at 671 Lincoln Avenue, where Macaulay Culkin was so famously left “Home Alone.”

Tooling west, I then headed to 2300 Shermer Road in Northbrook, site of the football field at Glenbrook North High School that Judd Nelson’s character marched defiantly across in the closing scene of “The Breakfast Club.”

After driving up Shermer Road – and seeing Northbrook’s water tower appear on the horizon (the “SAVE FERRIS” message on it is long gone) – I popped in at the Northbrook Historical Society and was greeted by the board president …

“Judy Hughes,” she said, much to my amusement, before adding, “No relation. But I get that all the time … And my son’s name is John Hughes, so he got a lot of kidding in high school.”

Hughes – Judy, that is – said that the filmmaker’s passing was the talk of the Northbrook Days festival held in town last weekend.

“It’s sad,” added Liz Green, a lifetime resident who appeared as an extra in “Uncle Buck” when she was 14. “Everyone has a John Hughes story growing up in Northbrook. I still remember kids at (Glenbrook North) wearing T-shirts that said: ‘If it’s good enough for Ferris, it’s good enough for me.’ ”

After bidding Northbrook adieu, I headed into Highland Park and rolled past 1407 Waverly Road, where heartthrob Jake Ryan hosted the wild party in “Sixteen Candles,” before making my final – and favorite stop – on my tour:

The house at 370 Beech Street where Ferris Bueller’s pal, Cameron, sent his father’s Ferrari flying out of the garage and into the wooded ravine below.

I think I could still hear the glass shattering.

So, while Shermer, Ill., exists only in the movies, its homes are firmly planted in reality. And they’re all there just north of Chicago for you to see.

Although, if you do, remember to respect them as private residences.

Otherwise, I’ll send Dean Rooney to look for you.