A Letter from Dad About Fun Tours in Chicago
This blog post is written from the point of view of Alex as “Dad,” as immortalized in a photo from Halloween years ago. Hello sport, This is your father writing. Remember me? Man who bred and raised you. I’d hope you do! (haha!) Wanted to send along the photo up above. Do you still have that […]
Architecture in Oak Park Beyond Frank Lloyd Wright
This late February heat wave has me itching to go outside and explore the incredible architecture of Chicago and its surrounds. And the Chicago Detours ethos encourages going off the beaten path. So I set myself the challenge of tracking down notable architecture in Oak Park that goes beyond Frank Lloyd Wright. Obviously, the pioneer of the […]
Should We Trash or Save the Thompson Center?
The James R. Thompson Center is only thirty years old, but Governor Bruce Rauner announced in the fall of 2015 that he wants it sold and demolished. Just this month, in January of 2017, he floated the idea of a 115-story skyscraper taking its place. That raises a question for us Chicagoans to consider: should we trash or […]
Guided Field Trips in Chicago from an Educator’s Perspective
As a tour guide with Chicago Detours, I very often find myself leading field trips in Chicago that focus on the city’s history, architecture, and culture. Most of my professional life, in fact, is working as an educator of some sort. I also teach courses about cinema, the mass media, and pop culture at Harold Washington […]
Ghosts of Black Fridays Past on Chicago’s State Street
Black Friday in Chicago always brings hordes of deal-seekers to the downtown State Street shopping district. The term Black Friday arose in the 1980s, but State Street, that “great street,” has been a shopping mecca since the days of the great department stores. What about the stores of holidays past, the ones that are no longer […]
What’s New at Navy Pier?
For our outing this month, the Chicago Detours team decided to head out to see what’s new at Navy Pier. Much like our Segway tour adventure in September, we wanted to change gears for a Chicago experience more frequented by tourists than locals. I’ll admit that my interest was also piqued because 2016 marks the centennial celebrations for Navy […]
Designing a University of Chicago Tour
Special for the University of Chicago, we’ve just developed a new tour of the University of Chicago campus and surrounding neighborhoods. The University of Chicago hired us to offer this tour for “Family Weekend,” when parents, siblings and grandparents of undergraduate students come to Hyde Park to learn more about the student experience. While the […]
The Magic of Working in the Monadnock Building
The Monadnock Building is a favorite for many Chicagoans, and we are ecstatic to call it the new home for Chicago Detours. A landmark skyscraper built in the 1890s, the Monadnock has been through a lot. We research stories from Chicago history, architecture and culture like this while developing our live virtual tours, in-person private tours, and custom […]
Theater’s Architectural Relic Discovered on State Street
Architectural Relic at Demolition Site I found a pretty cool architectural relic yesterday. Clinging to the walls of the former Amalgamated Bank building on State Street are plaster details that looked distinctly like they were once in a theater. My guess was that over time the details on the bottom levels of this former theater had been […]
The Story Behind Chicago’s Downtown Office Space
We are currently in the market for Chicago downtown office space because we must leave Chicago Detours’ home for the past 5 years. We’ve been in the historic Bennett Brothers Building at Adams and Wabash. I’ve always like this cool retro ceiling in the lobby. Time for a New Space We have to move because of the changing […]