Experience a Chicago Crime Tour
I love finding activities for my colleagues and I to enjoy when we travel to work conferences. It often requires a lot of online research to find activities that work for the group. It’s also challenging when taking the weather into account – because it can get bitterly cold in Chicago in November. We ended up booking a Chicago Crime Tour to learn about mobsters and crime bosses in the Windy City.
The Chicago Crime Tour is great for large groups or even individuals looking to try something new. Plus, in the cold of winter, the bus is heated, making it ideal for an “indoor” group activity.
Here’s a rundown on what you can expect on the Chicago Crime Tour and a few tips to help you maximize your experience.
How to book a Chicago Crime Tour
Booking your ticket for the Chicago Crime Tour is super simple. Visit their website and click on the yellow TICKETS button. The screen will open up a calendar with all of the tour times available on a given day. You can book a tour for the following day or a few months in advance.
The best part about the calendar is that you can easily see which days of the week and time slots you have to choose from. There is so much variance in the days of the week and the tour start times, so my best recommendation is to look at the schedule for when you’ll be in Chicago and find the time that works best for your group.
After picking your date and start time, follow the prompts to enter your contact info and payment information. After you complete that process, you’ll get a confirmation email with all the details about your upcoming tour.
What to bring and where to meet
I always wonder what I need to bring on a tour like this so I don’t bring too much and risk losing something – like I did at Madame Tussaud’s in Las Vegas. Well, this Chicago Crime Tour doesn’t require you to bring much… just yourself and a camera (or camera phone).
Since there are spots where you exit the bus to take a closer look at some things, you do want to plan for the weather. Our November tour was a little chilly at night, so I was glad to have my warm coat. But if the weathers good, you don’t even need to bring that. Then us is heated in the winter, so it’s perfect.
The meeting spot for the start of the tour is the same: 163 E. Pearson Street. When you arrive, you’ll see the red and yellow bus waiting, and the tour guide will start checking names and allowing you to board the bus.
There are no restroom stops along the tour, so if you need to go, I recommend doing so before you board the bus.
Once on board, find a seat and get ready for the tour. If you have a backpack or bag with you, there are overhead shelves you can use. Then sit back and get ready for the tour to begin.
What you’ll see from the bus
The tour covers several Chicago neighborhoods. Maddy, our tour guide, was great at pointing out things as we drove around. She had a handy spotlight she would use to point out things from the bus.
I don’t want to spoil all the historical stories she shared on the tour, but here are some of the topics we saw from the bus:
- Site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
- Numerous speakeasies from the prohibition days
- An infamous McDonald’s drive thru (“Happy Meal with just the toy”)
- The store at the center of the Tylenol debacle
- Bullet holes on the side of a church building
RELATED POST: Check out the Mob Museum in Las Vegas to see a section of the wall from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
The challenging part about all these sites you see from the bus is capturing a photo of them. It’s dark and the bus is often moving. But there are a few of the stops where the bus does stop so you can get a good look.
Just note that the city has changed over the years, so things don’t look quite as they did during the height of the mobsters and crime bosses.
What you’ll see off the bus
During our nighttime Chicago Crime Tour, there were two spots where we hopped off the bus. The first one was probably the most interesting. Leading up to the stop, we learned a little about some of the crime bosses and infamous mobsters of Chicago. One of the included John Dillinger.
Well, we hopped off the bus and walked a half block to the Victory Gardens Theatre. While there, the tour guide shared with us the story of the final moments of bank robber Dillinger, explaining how he walked out of the theatre with his girl on his arm. The cops pursued him and he was shot dead down a little alley. There’s a large mural on the wall, marking said alley. We had our group photo taken in that alley, then made our way back to the bus.
RELATED POST: Visit the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia to see one of the cells that held Al Capone
The second spot was at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse (33 W Kinzie St, Chicago, IL 60654). In the basement is an underground tunnel, safe and other artifacts about the mobs and crime bosses of the era. It was interesting to read the old newspaper articles about some of the folks and events. Don’t miss Nitti’s address book, which was found in the walls of the building that’s now the restaurant. This artifact is in a display case just inside the main entrance to the place.
Although I would’ve liked to have hopped off the bus more and walked around some of the sites, I know time was limited and there was a lot to see. Our group had a great time and it was fun to learn more about the likes of Al Capone, George ‘Bugs’ Moran, Frank ‘The Enforcer’ Nitti, Hymie Weiss and Lester Joseph “Baby Face” Nelson.
The Details
Address: 163 E. Pearson Street, Chicago, IL 60611 (SE side of Michigan Ave & Pearson)
Cost: Ticket prices start at $40 for daytime tours and $45 for nighttime tours.
Hours: Start times vary by season and day of the week. Common tour times are 10 a.m., Noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Night tours are also an option, starting around 7:30 p.m. on select days of the week.
How long to spend: Tours typically last 1-1.5 hours. Night tours are closer to 2-2.5 hours.
Website: https://chicagocrimetours.com/
Phone: (312) 888-6224
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