Uptown Chicago History Tours

Thanks to the folks at Uptown United for letting us know about these great Uptown-based spring tours, hosted by the Chicago History Museum: http://www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/upcomingevents


My Kind of Uptown

Thursday, May 14, 6:45 p.m.

On this walking tour, discover this North Side neighborhood's gangster past as well as its energized entertainment, including the Riv, the Rainbo, and Essanay Studios.

Cost:
$25; $20 members


Graceland Cemetery

Sunday, May 31, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Experience the history of old Chicago as you venture through one of the country's most famous cemeteries. Al Walavich takes you on a fascinating tour through the graves of Graceland Cemetery, including famous Chicagoans Marshall Field, Louis Sullivan, Potter and Bertha Palmer, and George Pullman.

Location:
Tour begins at the cemetery entrance, corner of Irving Park Road and Clark Street.

Cost:
$15; $10, members

Ghost Busted?

UPTOWN'S GRACELAND CEMETERY | If you're hankering for the truth behind a legendary Chicago haunting—have I got a story for you.

October 26, 2007

If you want to be spooked, Chicago's your town.

We've got the phantoms of Fort Dearborn, the spirits of Montrose Point and ol' Resurrection Mary, the ghostly hitchhiker who supposedly stalks Archer Avenue.

Clarence Darrow's ghost is said to show up at a bridge near the Museum of Science and Industry. The owner of the Red Lion Pub, Joseph Heinen, swears he's heard footsteps and a woman screaming, "Help me," on the Lincoln Park tavern's second floor. And there's plenty more ghost stories to go around.

In fact, I'm almost convinced something supernatural locked my cat in the upstairs bathroom with a bag of sea shells the night I moved in to my house in Pullman.

How much you believe any of that is really up to you. But if you're hankering for the truth behind a legendary Chicago haunting—have I got a story for you.

It starts, of course, on a dark and stormy night, Aug. 1, 1880...

See Complete Story at Chicago Sun-Times.

Local Tour Guide Gets a Great Mention in TimeOut

I took Al Walavich's tour of Uptown a few years ago. He knows more about the history of this neighborhood than almost anyone else I've met. He lives around the corner from the Uptown Theatre in a house his family has owned for a long time. The Uptown's artisans used the family's garage as a place to mold and create the decorative plaster for the theatre during construction, building a new garage for them when the job was done.

TimeOut Chicago gave him a great mention this week as one of three "unboring" city tour guides. I urge everyone to go on one of his tours if they get the chance.

Al Walavich

Tours
Chicago Neighborhood Tours and Chicago History Museum Tours

Alter ego
None—Walavich is a master of the art of tour guiding.

How they got their starts
Walavich’s grandmother believed they should visit deceased family members on Memorial Day, so young Al made an annual pilgrimage to six graveyards. Years later, he started giving Graceland Cemetery tours as a fund-raiser for Uptown Historical Society.

Why you’ll love each tour de force
With 25 years of tour experience, there’s nothing this man doesn’t know about the Windy City. He gives tours on the Great Fire, Devil in the White City, literary Chicago, the North Side, Chicago highlights, lake history...

Favorite sites
Little-known monuments in Graceland: the graves of John Dickey, the city’s first firefighter to die in the line of duty, and John Huck, the last person to die in the Great Fire and the father-in-law of Marshall Field’s daughter.

Best lines
“I’m a disgusting ham who can’t control myself! I love sharing things!”

How tourists react
Each year, 300 to 400 people vie for his tours, including repeat customers who’ve been loyal for seven years.

Catch their tour
Walavich will give five Graceland tours (his specialty) on October 27, 28 and 31. For tickets, go to www.chicagohs.org.