I’m offering half-price tickets to the Boystown Tour this weekend. Saturday and Sunday tickets are 10$.

Why Margaret, why would you do that?

Because I love this tour, because I believe in it and because I want to share it with you all.

Why should you come out?

Come out for Boystown. Come out for a neighborhood that has [...]

We started with Vermilion. “Whiskey-and-vermilion hustlers, painting the night vermilion.”

We move on to:

In the Indian grass the Indians listened: they too had lived by night.

And heard, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to roll [...]

It’s time for another round of Marry, Boff, Kill! This time, we shall use skyscrapers.

Marry, Boff, Kill:

The Willis Tower:

The Trump Tower:

The Hancock:

This is a tough one certainly. I’m not here to make things easy on you folks, I’m here to make you THINK. Heh.

Okay, so for me…ugh, this really is tough.

I’m just going to say [...]

I just recently finished Chicago: City on the Make by Algren. I know, I  know. I write a Chicago blog for petes sakes, I’m a tour guide! I know, I know…I just had never read it before. Yet, of course, I quoted the “loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose” all [...]

First!

I have all the entries for the Boystown Tour Tagline Contest. These entries are now on Survey Monkey so that YOU can be the one to pick the winning tagline. Some of the entries are hilarious, some are really awesome, some are … well some aren’t those other two things. I highly suggest you check [...]

Lately, especially with the Boystown Tour, I’ve been having a problem with my job description.

From Wikipedia: A tour guide (or tourist guide) provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest.

Okay, that [...]

Frances over at Me & My Shadow writes a great Chicago blog. She personalizes history, not just recites facts or points out buildings. She’s a fantastic writer, a great advice giver and a master of social media. She’s unveiling a new look for her site today and she and I have gotten together to spread [...]

Hey, did you guys know I give a Boystown Tour? Huh? Did ya? You don’t just want to let the whole summer pass you by without hanging with me and drinking wine right? Make sure you click the “tours” tab up on the left there eh?

Let’s just be honest here, it’s taken me…5 days to [...]

Last time I talked about my formative years in Chicago, I talked about my younger years spent with my father and brothers. We would roam Old Town back in the days of Bizarre Bazaar and head over to Oak Street Beach for long LONG walks.

But as I got a little older, I learned a whole [...]