Iconic beach of ‘Blues Brothers’ fame reopens

With a line of visitors waiting for the gates to open and skies to clear, Phil’s Beach in Wauconda, renowned for its appearance in the 1980 film, “The Blues Brothers,” hosted a limited crowd Wednesday for the first time in decades.

“We’re very excited to be able to open our facility today even though it’s under COVID restrictions,” Wauconda Park District Executive Director Nancy Burton said of the 11 a.m. soft launch of the beach along the western shore of Bangs Lake. “Our community has been in full support of the facility and the whole entire project, so we’re pretty excited about opening.”

The beach had been used by generations of families when it was operated by the Wauconda family of the late Phil Froehlke, the beach’s founder.

Known for its oversized J-shaped slide, the beach achieved Hollywood recognition when Blues Brothers actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were shown driving on the beach.

Brave-hearted swimmers were filmed going down the tall J-Slide.

The J-Slide is still there for 2020 patrons but at landlubber status.

Phil’s Beach is remembered as a popular Lake County attraction since the 1920s.

“The story is, there’s a family (that owned the beach), it was a private beach for years until the eighties when the cost for insurance skyrocketed for them, that’s the reason why they closed down,” Burton said.

From 1986 until discussions in 2016 with the Wauconda Park District, the property was part of a private residence, Burton said.

“When you walk in there, you get this different feel. You start to reminisce about how it was days long ago,” Burton said.