Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Al Capone's Cicero Hangout


Al kept his wife, mother, and son at the family home in Chicago, but also kept this apartment building at 1600 Austin Blvd., in Cicero, as a crash pad for late night parties. Not far from his Cicero business headquarters, this unassuming home was protected by a heavy steel door (which appears to have been replaced -- see below), a 8 foot backyard fence, underground escape tunnels, and two or more bodyguards prowling the grounds at all times.

The block is one of the most well-kept in Cicero, but the current owners seem to have purposely allowed the shrubbery to obscure the entry and windows.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

where is this place? how do you know about the tunnels?

Kendall said...

The home is located at 16th and Austin Blvd., in Cicero, Illinois.

The tunnels are cited both in Herbert Asbury's Gem of the Prairie and in Laurence Bergreen's exhaustive biography, Capone: The Man and the Era.

Anonymous said...

OMiqOSh tHiSz HOUSE iS 3 HOUSESz dOWN fROM MiNE &&+ ii kNOE tHE pEOplE WHO OWN it ii HAVE tO qEt iN tHERE ANd SEE fOR MySELf ANd tAkE PiCtURESz!!!

Anonymous said...

I wouldnt do that if I were you

Unknown said...

My dads old gf used to own this building

Anonymous said...

It seems like every 6 months there is a For Rent sign up and I always wondered why. I was going to rent the first floor once. My kids' father checked it out and said it was huge and the layout wz different. This is cool to find out the history behind it.

Anonymous said...

i live here! not haunted no new renter every six months!! lol it is big spacios awesome theyre are blocked doors the chimney was covered, one closet in one room leads to another in another room! alot alot of mirrors i love my home its soo peaceful!

Anonymous said...

I was born and raised in Berwyn and my grandmother lived 61st ave. how interesting and what a history Cicero and Berwn to have.
My dad use to tell me stories about Al copone and just lots of different goings on.
Tunnels, amazing those days...I always love to watch 1920-30 movies..

Anonymous said...

I live there ��

Anonymous said...

I live there and its really peacefull and the house may look ugly from the outside but the inside is a whole lot of diferent story... Its really nice. I love my home and its realllyy peacefull and all the people who live here are so cloee to each other and are nice, we all get along! (:

Joker71 said...

I lived there with ny mom in the early 70s my mom passed away in the building she had a seizure going up the steps we lived on the second floor apt facing Austin remember very well

Anonymous said...

I live couple of block from there ans grew up walking by that place every day. I'd dig thru the floors or walls just to be curious what I can find :)

Droosmom said...

Berrrwynnn

Sherry Toerpe Martin said...

I lived here when I was 5 years old with my mom. We lived on the top gloor and my brother and his wife lived on the bottom. My mom managed the building. She knew Al Capone as a young girl, as my grandmother use to cook for him.

Unknown said...

You live in Al Capone's old apartment on the second story. does it still have the original lighting fixture in the living room. I cleaned the carpets there for a history channel special. I wonder if you may know the name of the special that was filmed there. I think it was lost city Capone's Chicago. Does it still have that Frankenstein wallpaper?
also do you know if any of Al Capone's relatives lived on the third floor?

John Binder said...

I looked around in the Bergreen book and could not find the reference to this building. Do you have a page number handy perhaps?

Unknown said...

the apartment where he threw the piano out of the Window

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Unknown said...

Bottom of page 115

Anonymous said...

Where did the tunnels lead to?

Anonymous said...

A garage a couple blocks away

Anonymous said...

Are they still accessible?

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