Mafia: Definitive Edition: The Real Chicago Behind Lost Heaven

Lost Heaven is a river city before it is anything else. Two rivers, the West and the East, cut it into three boroughs, with Central Island between them, and the game's designers drew that layout from real American cities of the period, Chicago first among them. Chicago's own river runs through the Loop and meets its North and South Branches at Wolf Point, the fork that forms the main stem. The river even supplies the two blue stripes on the city flag. The Riverwalk now follows the south bank.

Location precision: Lost Heaven's rivers are fictional; the pin marks the real Chicago River at Wolf Point as the city-level stand-in.

Visitor guidance: The Chicago Riverwalk follows the south bank of the main stem; Wolf Point is where the North and South Branches meet.

Lost Heaven has streetcars and elevated trains; the Lost Heaven Railroad runs both, and the elevated line is one of the city's period details. Chicago's version is the "L". Its downtown tracks form the Union Loop, the circuit that gave the whole business district its name in the late 1800s, after the streetcar loop of 1882 and the elevated loop of the 1890s. Every line except the Yellow Line still serves the Loop for at least some hours. State and Madison, the corner at its heart, is the zero point of Chicago's street grid.

Location precision: Lost Heaven's elevated railway is fictional; the pin marks Chicago's Union Loop, the real circuit behind the name.

Visitor guidance: Any "L" line except the Yellow Line serves the Loop; State and Madison is the grid's zero point.

The remake thickened Lost Heaven's skyline, adding high-rises to the city center to match the post-war boom of the 1920s and '30s. Chicago's Board of Trade is the era in stone: a 44-story Art Deco tower, 604 feet tall, opened on 9 June 1930 at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon, with what was then the world's largest trading floor. In Lost Heaven the equivalent financial set-piece is the Grand Imperial Bank, which Tommy and Paulie rob in the Moonlighting job so they can retire without cutting Salieri in.

Location precision: The Grand Imperial Bank is fictional; the pin marks the real 1930 Board of Trade as a stand-in for Lost Heaven's financial district.

Visitor guidance: The tower is a popular sightseeing landmark; the LaSalle Street canyon gives the classic view.

Lost Heaven's West Side holds the city's Chinese and Italian immigrant neighborhoods. The Salieri family, which Tommy joins as a made man, is headquartered at Salieri's Bar. Chicago's Taylor Street was the port-of-call for Italian immigrants and inherited the name Little Italy; by 1930 the city's foreign-born Italian population had peaked at 73,960, with the largest settlement around Taylor Street. The Genna crime family was based here, and several Italian restaurants and businesses remain, with Our Lady of Pompeii church nearby.

Location precision: Lost Heaven's Little Italy is fictional; the pin marks Chicago's Taylor Street, the real neighborhood that carries the name.

Visitor guidance: Taylor Street's Italian restaurants and Our Lady of Pompeii church are within a short walk.

In 1932 Tommy and Paulie go to Chinatown to find Biff, a fence who tells them the gang they are hunting is hiding in the old service station nearby. The remake made Chinatown more recognizable, with distinctive architecture and a population representing the era's Chinese communities. Chicago's Chinatown moved south to Armour Square around 1912. The On Leong Merchants Association Building, opened in 1928, was called the neighborhood's city hall; the gate went up in 1975, and Chinatown Square added a two-level mall of restaurants, beauty salons and law offices.

Location precision: Lost Heaven's Chinatown is fictional; the pin marks Chicago's Chinatown around Wentworth and Cermak as the real counterpart.

Visitor guidance: The Chinatown Gate and Chinatown Square are around Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Road.

Lost Heaven's mob fortunes are built on Prohibition, and the game follows the rackets into the 1930s: Morello has a corrupt Border Patrol ambush Salieri's bootlegging operation, and after Prohibition ends the families move into new rackets. Chicago's Green Mill is the real thing, a jazz bar in Uptown with a long mob history. "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn of Al Capone's Chicago Outfit became part-owner, and a curved booth known as Al Capone's booth is still there.

Location precision: Salieri's Bar is fictional; the pin marks the Green Mill, a real Prohibition Chicago mob haunt, as a stand-in.

Visitor guidance: The Green Mill is a working jazz venue at 4802 N Broadway; patrons are asked to silence phones during performances.