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As tour guide at Chicago Detours, I integrate my enthusiasm for culture and architecture with my passion as an educator. Second, Capone’s clients, henchmen, and opponents were primarily working-class and of immigrant stock. Most of their haunts, which were the old working class Italian, German, Polish, and Irish Chicago neighborhoods, have disappeared. Gentrification, demolition, or assimilation transformed these areas over the past century. Even the little bars which became neighborhood institutions shutter all the time.
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Which is entirely understandable, even if it’ll likely never really work. Despite his notoriety, Capone cultivated a public image as a modern-day Robin Hood, championing the underprivileged while flouting Prohibition laws. His charitable endeavors and perceived defiance of authority earned him a measure of admiration among some segments of society. However, Capone’s legacy is undeniably tarnished by his brutal methods and disregard for human life. In 1923, when Chicago elected a reformist mayor who announced that he planned to rid the city of corruption, Torrio and Capone moved their base beyond the city limits to suburban Cicero.
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These processes change a city, often dramatically, and wipe the slate clean every few generations. Considering that, it’s no surprise that we have so little of Al Capone’s Chicago physically present in the architecture of today. First, the city has tried very hard to scrub this bloody history from its popular legacy. Mayor Daley II even tried to block the gangster tours from having downtown storefronts.
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Chicago is unique as it always evolves into the future while holding on to the past. I’m fascinated by how people latch on to old architecture but happily pave over others. My background is in theater and performance and I’ve been a tour guide here for more than 10 years. Currently I’m finishing my Master’s in Public History at Loyola University because I love to teach the history of this scrappy city. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a lifelong resident, the vibrant history and modern majesty of Chicago never ceases to amaze. I’ve worked for many years as an educator at City Colleges of Chicago.
When Capone died, a New York Times headline trumpeted, “End of an Evil Dream.” Capone’s was at times both loved and hated by the media and the public. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, some in the public felt that Capone’s and others’ involvement in selling liquor had been vindicated. But Capone was a ruthless gangster responsible for murdering or ordering the assassinations of scores of people, and his contemptible acts of violence remain at the center of his legacy.
Where Did Al Capone Live And How Big Was His House?
Chicago has so many neighborhoods, buildings, and by-ways that it’s hard to go long without seeing something new, or something familiar from a new angle. I’ve worked as a culture writer for various publications and as an educator of the humanities at the City Colleges of Chicago. I’m thrilled to share my love of this city’s busy past and unique architectural spaces with Chicago Detours.
Crime Prevention
A pistol that the notorious Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone nicknamed "sweetheart" is once again up for auction. Al Capone had a lot of stomping grounds during his time in Chicago, like the former Lexington Hotel in the South Loop, where the mobster lived for three years between 1928 and 1931. Capone and his gang occupied the fourth and fifth floors of the hotel, which became a sanctuary for illicit activities. The famous gangster had his own personal suite featuring a pea-green and lavender tiled bathroom and had a view of 22nd and Michigan. In 1986, the hotel was the subject of Geraldo Rivera's live syndicated television show to break open what was thought to be Capone's vault. The building met its demise in 1996 despite talks to preserve and restore.
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Tribune readers voiced the same concerns following a front-page headline about his impending death in 1947. Find out more about the history behind the Capone family home at myalcaponemuseum.com. Though most of the people interviewed for this story are watching the Capone auction intently, none believed they would be in a position to win the lots they might be interested in bidding on. There’s a lot of “bling” in the auction, including diamond-encrusted money clips, tie bars, stickpins, cuff links and a pocket knife. The watch is not working and is missing its minute hand, according to Witherell’s.
Al Capone's old Chicago home for sale, with hints of a secret tunnel
It was around that time that he started playing hooky and hanging out at the Brooklyn docks. One day, Capone’s teacher hit him for insolence and he struck back. The principal gave him a beating, and Capone never again returned to school. By this time, the Capones had moved out of the tenement to a better home in the outskirts of the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.
She said that as far as she knew, her grandfather carried the pistol with him everywhere he went. Torrio was running a numbers and gambling operation near Capone’s home when Capone began running small errands for him. Although Torrio left Brooklyn for Chicago in 1909, the two remained close. Early on, Capone stuck to legitimate employment, working in a munitions factory and as a paper cutter. He did spend some time among the street gangs in Brooklyn, but aside from occasional scrapes, his gang activities were mostly uneventful. Torrio moved out of his home and left for Europe, only returning to New York to testify for Capone during his tax evasion trial.
A local landmark known for its glamorous facilities and ties to Presidential politics, the Blackstone Hotel was apparently also a haunt of Alphonse Capone’s. According to the hotel’s own history, Capone frequented the hotel barbershop because it was windowless. No chance for an assassin to do his dirty work with no lines of sight.
I’ve told the story of these buildings countless times on our old walking tours. These days, if you want the full scoop, you can reach out to book a custom private tour. A home where infamous gangster Al Capone once lived with his wife, mother and sister is on the market. Before Al Capone became the most famed American gangster in history, he moved into a two-unit brownstone with his wife and mother in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood.
