find out More About us
What We Do
At Out & About, we tell the truth of history by tying it to the reality of the present:
The Great Chicago Fire is more than a tragic disaster from our past, it's the catalyst for our iconic skyline today. Many know Chicago as a vibrant immigrant hub, but few know the story of DuSable, the Haitian explorer who founded the city. We reversed the Chicago River for clean drinking water - but at what cost to our ecosystem?
History doesn't live in a vacuum. At Out & About, we connect the dots between the past and the present with as many sides of the story as we can find. Chicago's beauty is as much a result of pioneering visionaries as it is the result of oppression and greed. Get into the messy histories of Chicago as we go
Out & About in The Windy City!
Meet the Team
We met at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where we rolled around on the floor for three years and received our MFAs in Acting. After graduation, we landed gigs as tour guides giving world-renowned architecture tours on the Chicago River. And what started as a side hustle soon became a passion.
Over the course of five years, we developed our deep love of sharing Chicago's history, but began to feel bound by the restrictions placed on our storytelling. The truth is, most tour companies in Chicago want their tours to be easily digestible, wholly positive, and entirely apolitical. But we wanted to give the tour to our guests that we would take ourselves - the tour that told the whole story.
Our love of the city and our desire to tell its unfiltered history to visitors and residents alike became the seed for Out & About.
Co-Owner and Tour Guide
Antonio Rodriguez (he/him)
Favorite Chicago Historical Figure: Kitihawa! She was the wife of Chicago's founder, Dusable. A badass Potawatomi woman who deserves more recognition!
​
Favorite Chicago Movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off - iconic, hilarious, and heartfelt.
​
Favorite Chicago Fun Fact: The guy who designed the Chicago City Flag, Wallace Rice, won a citywide design contest to find the next Chicago flag. Who wrote the rules for that contest? Wallace Rice.
​
Favorite Chicago Food: The Jibarito! A sandwich from the local Puerto Rican community inspired by dishes from the island. Basically a sandwich with plantains as the bread.
​
Favorite Chicago Tour Guide: Rickii Romano! She is a supremely witty guide who knows how to weave a story that draws you in. She's a storyteller with heart and humor and guests are lucky to learn from her. Take Rickii's Tour!
Co-Owner and Tour Guide
Rickii Romano (she/her)
Favorite Chicago Fun Fact: Chicago’s first Drag Balls in the 1930s (featuring “female impersonators”) were racially integrated, thrown in the Southside neighborhood of Bronzeville and organized by Black gay street hustler Alfred Finnie.
Favorite Chicago Night Club: Scarlet in Boystown. My partner and I ended our first date at Scarlet in 2019, dancing to a niche hyper-pop artist named “Charli XCX.”
Favorite Chicago Building: Carbide and Carbon Building. Art deco, gold, terracotta, champagne bottle–an all around cutie!
Favorite Chicago Beach: Hollywood Beach in Edgewater. Known as Chicago’s queer beach, it has ample space for sunbathing and volleyball, a walkable pier, !!!!BATHROOMS!!!!, and a snack stand.
Favorite Chicago Tour Guide: Antonio Rodriguez. He is personable yet authoritative, goofy yet sincere, and can crack a dad joke with the best of them. Take Antonio’s tour!