Andrew Sargis of Wendella Tours & Cruises

currently uh we're sitting in the Civic Opera building which I think is also
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known as insull's Throne that's right and the only reason I know that is
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because maybe two decades ago I was on one of the tours the architectural boat
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tour that Wendella does it is a highlight of our tour yeah and I I I literally I call this building the throne I had to admit I had to Google
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what's the story about it uh but I think it's Samuel insult was from New York
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didn't get the promotion to president that he wanted a general electric so when he came here he was involved with
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the building of this building and so wanted the throne with the back makes it facing west yeah facing west
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yeah one of the highlights of the tour so it'll be a point for me to say well
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this is a pro- Chicago tour uh pro- Chicago podcast this is not an anti- New York podcast but uh I thought it just be
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kind of a fun way to start yeah we try not to be Petty with our archit Ure but you know over the years things have
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happened so awesome so Andrew uh for today would
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love to dive into a little bit about start about the business then touch on some of things about your role some of
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things of the market uh some of the behind the scene your Trends we're seeing that sort of thing um I love
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talking about it why why don't we get why don't we get started there so yeah uh have at it well
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you know a few things I'd love to start off is that this is wendela tours and
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Cruz's 90th anniversary season oh wow so giving architecture tours uh cruises
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private events ferry service on the river water taxi service on the river for 90 years now so company starts in
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1935 there is a Swedish immigrant his name is Albert borgstrom he's the grandfather of our current owner and
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he's a carpenter at Navy Pier and he finds an abandoned wood and Diesel yacht called the wendela and this was in the
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middle of the Great Depression so people were abandoning these craft at at at what was a business called Criss Craft
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on Navy Pier they sure furbished boats they were carpenters and he acquired this boat and started giving tours on
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the river in Lake Michigan this was the first time in history that somebody was giving tours of Chicago uh not to
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mention this was on a boat as well and it's funny because we actually have a picture of the late 30s at Navy Pier
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that we found on eBay and it has this giant sign it's so funny how marketing has changed says come ride the palacial
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wandela be snoody and part of the Upper Crust that was really what the sign says and you could see all these people walk
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around you imagine is in the middle of the Great Depression and there's this Swedish guy on the on the pier which
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wasn't even a tourist attraction and he's yelling at people to to come and take a boat ride for 25 cents so be
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snoody be snoody part of the upper crust and so that's that's the late 30s marketing but um what an incredible and
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industrious man this was and building from you know one vessel wooden diesel yacht up to now we have nine boats we're
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building a ten this year um we've had several vessels in between that we've
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built and Acquired and then retired but the business has really evolved there's now multiple competitors and the Chicago
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River architecture tour whether it's ours or one of our competitors is the most popular thing to do we believe in
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the world for tourists yeah and actually Trip Advisor uh would tell you that
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their online travel agency platform Viet sells more Chicago architecture tour
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tickets than Vatican entry tickets wow is the number one most popular ticket
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sold on their site uh ours is the best but you know our do a good job do a good
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job too so that is incredible yeah so I want to go back to the the upper crust
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and and getting started in and kind of the state of Chicago at that
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time and also just the river itself like it has gone through different personalities
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sure I've noticed and I've heard many of stories of Chicago and why it flows a certain way and what type of contents
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were in the river and you know and kind of getting into that yeah but um would
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love to know you know some of the ways and maybe we don't go all the way back to 90 years ago but some of the things
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that you have seen or the stories that you know on how uh it's been it's
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changed over the years I would imagine the business is different now than it was then yeah well you know certainly
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the the Chicago River is much cleaner than it was at one time we know that during the Great Chicago Fire the river
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itself caught fire right so I mean you can imagine the river's on fire what put
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water on it well it's on the water I mean but you know there's there's been an incredible effort um since the
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reversal of the Chicago River uh to clean it up and it really took off in the last like 20 years or so which I
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feel like is really when environmentalism sort of became mainstream I know when I was a child
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there wasn't much talk of things like Plastics and and greenhouse gas emissions and that really accelerated um
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as I got into my teenage years like the late 90s and and 2000s and really the cleaning of the river really coincides
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with how the city of Chicago itself was really kind of in decay in the 70s and
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80s my my parents talk about this a lot and then really started going through this sort of Renaissance where all the
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Millennials wanted to move back into the city whereas the Boomers took them all out to the BBS Millennials all moved
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back in focusing on things like finance and Tech technology uh but everything
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really started to improve you know in the 2000s but then when R Emanuel came
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onto the scene and he was the first mayor to really give the river the recognition it has he said Lake
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Michigan's our front yard the river is our backyard we're going to build this River Walk um and we're going to bring
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people down to this River you know Community organizations like Friends of the Chicago River got a big boost the
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visibility of the river got a big boost and uh it was really good for our client and and the health of the river so but
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you know you know things I've seen here's here's the truth of it is that Chicago's sewer system is Antiquated so
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our storm water and sewage water combines uh in the sewer so when there is a massive rainfall event and the
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sewers are going to overflow and this happens pretty frequently they have to release that sewage into the Chicago
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River uh this happens probably a handful of times a year they built the the big
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tunnel so-called project in the south suburbs a giant Reservoir to house this
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extra water to prevent these these discharge events um but but the
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improvements been phenomenal there still are this still happens multiple times a year and in fact certain years in 2013
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it was so bad they had to open the lock and reverse re- reverse the flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan and it
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was terrible yeah um you know I don't know what the solution is I I I I can't
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say if climate change is going to continue to make this trend worse but the river is much cleaner than it was
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when I was a member of the Marine crew where if you fell in the river you would have to go to the immediate care clinic
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and get antibiotics get your ear ear drops y um nowadays I I don't think that
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would I don't think it' be needed if were to fall on the river I mean in fact today on a sunny day in Chicago there's
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a line of people signing up to take kayaks out and all kinds of stuff I've
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seen some interesting stuff in the river uh is a nice word we use a different word for it but
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yeah yeah we talking about the floating hot tubs or uh floating hot tubs floating
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mattresses the jetpacks I mean every day there's something new on the river
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that's awesome it's insane so starting from a place of giving tours right and
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that that was my first interaction with your organization um as I know today tours I
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can see that expanding into cruises yeah and then there's also the taxi that's right I would love to know the evolution
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of how that came to be and just like or something in work so so for oh man
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probably 75 years it was just the tours the architecture tours and these these
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boats giving these architecture tours would break in the morning and afternoon to shuttle people from Michigan Avenue
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to the train station right across the the river here so it's called the wendela commuter Cruiser so the one boat
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is doing both thing shuttling people back and forth um and then doing the architecture tours now even way back
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before then uh when when Dela was just doing the architecture tours on the river and on the lake there really
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wasn't much to see we have brochures from the 1940s 50s and it's funny to
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read that the Drake Hotel was one of the biggest highlights of the the lake tour
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uh and the Chicago Armory Club is another highlight and you're thinking what are these people even looking at out here um but but nevertheless it was
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very popular mid-40s come around and this is the first time Wendell is doing Transportation so the US in the middle
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of World War II uh Wendel's vessels are all federally registered vessels and and
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we're all Merchant Mariners and Wendella was pretty much the way the story goes for lack of better term drafted into
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service almost in sort of bringing Sailors from uh Northwestern train station okay which was O Union Train
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Station at the time it was Northwestern train station was bringing sailors out to Navy Pier got it this is the first
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time the wendela fleet is doing transportation and they're bringing Sailors out to Navy Pier and they're training out there to be mechanics in
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the Navy they're training out there to to take off and land on aircraft carriers and several um tens of
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thousands of Pilots actually train there including George HW Bush and others that ultimately ended up going uh to face the
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the Nazis or the Japanese the Pacific or Atlantic so Chicago really had a great role there uh in the war effort and and
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wendela did too so then time goes on Wendella you know the war ends when Del
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starts doing the commuter Cruiser in between its architecture tours and then really maybe in the in the early
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2000s um we add the cruise component and and the difference is is that there's
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really a light narration or no narration okay so things like fireworks Sunset wine and cheese Cruise beer and barbecue
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cruise and really this is an attempt to offer something to more locals or those
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that want a more authentic kind of vibe yeah um and that's really been one of our main themes as of late is trying to
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be more authentic and connected to Chicago we do that in many ways but the cruises is one way you know the wine and
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cheese cruise is like a happy hour event we try to Market that more to locals so that's that's the cruise versus the tour
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component then the water taxi evolved over the years uh 1999 Wacker Drive gets
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torn up they they're going to resurface it Water Taxi starts running Transportation fulltime as a whacker

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Drive alternative and just continued from there oh wow so it was that construction project that started
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started from just morning and afternoon rush hour service on the tour boats yeah to we're going to do this fulltime uh
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acquire Wendella acquires two boats it's the Wendella River bus at the time it was called okay and I I actually started
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as a deck hand on the River Bus Y and went from from oan Union Train Station to Michigan Avenue stopped in between at
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LEL and then on weekends went to River East over by Navy Pier oh wow and then after the Wacker Drive is reconstructed
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it just just continues on and went from you know a six Monon to a 9 Monon to uh to now we're at about a
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9mon you know service maybe around one day really so and then and this might be
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a hard stat to produce but I always thought it'd be cool to cool to take a helicopter to work it'd be cool to take
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a boat to work it would be it's such a better quality of commute um it works on
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the river you know we get questions all the time can you bring a boat up to W met and bring us down the lake you it's
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it's it's not as practical when you're going those large lengths and when you're on the lake but on the river it's very reliable um you know the river
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traffic does slow us down especially on the weekends but it is the best quality of commute you know I mean as opposed to
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being on a bus or being in a taxi uh our biggest competition is really walking
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yeah uh you know when it comes to commuters downtown I could see that now in terms of the so I'll start by saying
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uh the tours right to me is it's just a thing you do if you're in Chicago right
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and I am probably being 100% accurate by saying anytime I've hosted someone from
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outside of Chicago sure and I'm tasked with let's find something for them to do I either send them there or I take them
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there it it really is the best thing to do you get to see the city you get to be on a boat which people enjoy people get
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to see the river they get to see the lake it's such a it's the quintessential Chicago experience
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um the comments we get are are just fantastic you know people people really love the product they say things like
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you know like Michigan looks like an ocean they think people can see across it yeah they love the river you know in cities like New York and San Francisco
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the river is around the city our River cuts right through the the heart of it it'd be like if in New York Broadway was
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a river right you really don't have this type of layout anywhere else so so you know the the the cruise is spectacular
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the architecture tours are are spectacular it is the best thing to do yeah I I totally agree um and so
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questions you mentioned a couple of times I didn't know this about your history that you started sounds like you started uh in the thick of it in terms
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of your role in the organization right um I I eventually want to navigate
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towards you clearly have a depth of History uh on both wendela and Chicago in general y tour guys are amazing love
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to know where you started and what you do now well tell about so so the the current owner of the company who was the
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grandson of the Swedish guy that that set this up in the 30s is my godfather
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okay so when I was a teenager me and my cousin first started running brochures
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for the company I remember Trump Tower was being reconstructed there was the the Sun Times building was getting torn down um started running brochures grew
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up going on the boats my father's 40th birthday party was a surprise party on
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the boat and and boo the clown came down you know our grandparents 50th anniversary party was on the boat and
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and we you know went on a late cruise uh so we were very familiar with it once you're 18 and able to become a deckhand
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I started off in the Marine crew on the River Bus okay and at the time the the
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the training at the time I I I it's funny I thought at the time I I considered it to be pretty robust training now I considered it to be to be
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very basic uh which goes to show you how much we've improved our Safety and Security posture over the last you know
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10 to to 20 years um but you know it work through the Summers and then went
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to school uh went to college during the year and then worked on campus during the year and every summer would come back and and would work for wendela and
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then by the time I graduated the uh River Bus had evolved the Chicago water
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taxi and they were looking for a full-time manager and and and the role was available for me so that's that's
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when I started that's awesome um Wendel's history is is fantastic and the
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stories you hear from you know the so-called Old-Timers um are just amazing
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and the evolution of this business where it was and where it's come now is is just um it's really humbling and it's
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it's great to be a part of it you know they'll tell stories from the 70s where they would do three architecture tours go get a drink at billy goats and come
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back do another tour um you know things you can't even imagine that type of Behavior now right you know I mean it's
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it's it's interesting to hear these stories um you know the actually the original wandela was sank because a guy
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was driving a barge drunk down the river and hit it no passengers were on it it was duck but it sank and uh I said so
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what was the you know you know what happened to this insurance the company paid for it and it was like this was the
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50s yeah it was just open it was like the wild west no he just drove off and they cursed at each other and gave each
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other the finger and that was it it's like wow in fact a quick sidebar you uh
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I've always heard that the laws are different on water versus land does that play into the river at all yeah I mean
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not to get too technical because we can go on and on for for we could have a whole another podcast about this but the
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Chicago River is a ferally navigable Waterway okay so federal law trumps local laws on the river and and this is
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a point of contention especially the last few years as business on the river expands yeah I think the city would like
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to have greater oversight of what goes on especially from a from a taxation perspective but it is a federally
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navigable Waterway uh there's benefits to that um but yeah
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yeah laws are different on the federal Waterway than on like a lake or or even on land interesting so Federal that's
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inter you know you know speaking to the thing grabbing a drink after the tour you know there's there you know you could drive a car with 8 you know sure
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what alcohol level with a boat you could not at all oh really yeah no you cannot have even a drop of alcohol if you if
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you blew on a breathalizer or or had a an oral test uh you know the slightest
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blood alcohol level would show up and that'd be grounds for immediate termination and and your license would probably be terminated as well yeah that
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I mean it's good to hear I I appreciate hearing there's a heightened safety on the water yeah I'm in a Karma offense I
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almost wish that it was sure sure it was that direction as well um very cool so
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sorry for the Sidetrack on the regulation it's something I was always curious with so back to your so you you got started uh we're now at the point
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where Chicago water Tex the manager of the water taxi and at this point it's overwhelmingly personnel management okay
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it's making the schedule it's training the employees it's hiring and firing there's an HR component to it at the
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time um and really most of my day is taken up with you know Personnel issues
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quality control training things of that nature uh the role kind of evolves over
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the years to become a little bit more corporate uh the wendela team grows I also took on another role as kind of the
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director of sales on our sales and marketing team okay um sort of these dual roles and it's interesting because I have I have
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two different titles the the Chicago water Tex achieve of operations and L's director of sales sometimes it can be
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confusing um the roles don't overlap a lot they do a little bit yeah uh but depending on the the function I'll kind
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of maybe pick and choose a title depending on who I'm who I'm talking to what I need or what business I'm trying to do uh but you know it's it's a great
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business to be a part of yeah um the response from our customers overwhelmingly positive and I you know
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just love talking about it people find it so interesting yeah um talk about what we do and where we've come from and
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where we want to go so absolutely so um I stay focus on uh wendela for a little
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bit sure uh versus the water taxi so what are some of the shifts that you're seeing in um I'll say Chicago tourist
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since I know that that uh uh caters a lot to the tourism we've got the Riverwalk now is something I feel like
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last summer I hadn't been there in like a summer yeah and it was tripled the
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size it is absolutely absolutely floored yeah so we we're seeing a few
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things uh you know Chicago leading up to the pandemic uh was becoming more of a
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tourist oriented City you know hotel room hotels were expanding there were more inbound flights more inbound
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visitors the stats coming out of chw Chicago which tracks this s of trending in the right direction
20:29
Co happens then we we know how bad that was but then what we see afterwards is a
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is an extremely remarkable recovery this is driven by by many factors um but one
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is is that we're not an international destination right and it was interesting how for years we lamented this fact
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until covid hit and then we saw that we recovered far quicker than New York San Francisco um Seattle places that are
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international destinations Americans started traveling right off the bat we are still seeing this Trend where
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American destinations like uh Chicago um are still doing much better and surpass
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pre-pandemic numbers as there's plac like San Francisco and New York are still seeing hotel rooms and inbound
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flights uh not reach those 2019 levels yet yeah uh you know I could go on and
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on about the strengths of our city but I think what we're seeing is that the tourism Market is expanding expanding
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quickly uh we had not just wendela but our competitors the hotels have had the
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last few years have been each year has been our best year year-over-year in terms of inbound visitors really inbound
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traffic yep and and for the hotels as well yeah we're seeing NASCAR events we're seeing concerts back we're having
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you know the the biggest political rally the DNC was in Chicago um and these
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events all went off very well with without a hitch now uh one of the
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negative Trends we've seen since the end of Co is that the work from home status of a lot of downtown's workers is has
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become permanent semi-permanent we're seeing Tuesday through Thursday people are back in the office at near
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prepandemic levels maybe not quite but close to it y Mondays and Fridays there's no there's nobody working down
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here um but the city is still crowded because it's all tourists yeah so this has changed a lot of the way that we
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think about our products especially the water taxi and we've had to amend our schedule to become more tourist focused
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and now we've cut down a lot of Rush Hour departures we've increased non-rush
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hour weekend departures we've increased departures to Chinatown which is more tourist oriented and our numbers are
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surpassing pre-pandemic numbers so um I think that Chicago really needs to lean
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into its strength as a tourism hot spot ohare is the most connected airport in
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the United States correct um you know direct flights from Every American city Chicago is more affordable than the
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coasts are and everything can be done in a walking distance down here it's not like LA or Orlando where you need a car
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to get around you could walk you could walk everywhere and we have a lot to offer um so you know I uh you know we're
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very confident over these next few years uh we're feeling good we're building a new boat um you know our biggest concern
23:12
is just which I think a lot of people talk about is what's going to happen to all these Office Buildings over the next 10 years right we hear stories of
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long-term leases coming due and people not resigning and buildings handing over the keys to their lenders yeah um you
23:25
know what do what does that mean for us uh just the the one more thing I want to add is that we talk about the
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Magnificent Mile a lot you know people aren't going to go there for high-end retail anymore you can go to Nordstroms
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in Old Orchard and and ski you can go to Woodfield and shop at Tiffany's so
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really the mag mile is trying to reimagine itself and it's focusing more on experiences instead of shopping and I
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hope that they continue to do this we we are active in in the magmile association but there's really a lot of of strengths
23:57
of focusing on the experiences over the retail but I really just hope that they are open-minded to all experiences uh
24:05
and not focusing only on certain types because you know uh as much as people might not like things like casinos and
24:12
dispensaries I mean things like this really are going to draw people in soed towards towards towards everything yeah
24:18
I think open-minded is key and you mentioned experiences which is very interesting you talk about going to
24:24
Nordstoms at Old Archard mall or versus down on Magnificent Mile it is an
24:30
entirely different experience sure to be walking down that street breathing the Chicago air you know and all the
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activity the hustle and the bustle yeah um it's exciting right and I think the
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um the businesses that are really adapting to that being a experience
24:49
instead of a transaction because even before covid right retail was obviously
24:55
challenging against there's there's no the most optimal way to buy something is
25:00
online right absolutely so why have a store it's because of the experience that's right you go to places like the
25:05
Starbucks Roastery and uh places like Italy and know these aren't just regular grocery stores or cafes and this is
25:13
really what what they got to lean into so you know we're seeing the Museum of ice cream and these new attractions pop
25:18
up uh you know we we hope and think that'll continue yeah but you know Chicago is going to have to continue to
25:24
reimagine and reinvent itself you know retail the way as we know it is is going to be going out the window uh but I do
25:30
wonder about these Office Buildings you know they have to repurpose like like they did here yeah 100% so we uh we work
25:38
with a lot of real estate developers who before the pandemic came to us and said we're building these giant buildings on
25:43
the river we want a water taxi stop here and we told them how easy it would be to do so you just need a seaw wall we'll
25:50
put some fendering up some cleats and and and and a hinge gate and that's that's really all we need and now
25:55
they're calling us back and saying well are we still going to do this and question as well you know Salesforce you just announced that you were permanent
26:02
at home you know five days a week right so what are we going to stop there for right you know well you know so it these
26:09
conversations have changed a lot um but I do wonder what's going to happen because that that that that is a true
26:15
story they have this beautiful Tower one of the best I've ever seen y they announced everyone's at home full time
26:21
uh maybe they'll go back on that maybe they won't but if they don't what happens then to this giant Tower they
26:26
have that is totally empty totally you know what will that mean for us downtown
26:32
totally and I I've had folks in the commercial real estate uh Chicago commercial real estate market on this
26:38
podcast and one of the things that they point out is sure it's a thing we've got the big buildings I think a lot of the
26:44
armchair quarterbacks say turn them into condos and no one's thinking about what it's like to put a kitchen in you know
26:51
50 kitchens AO easier said than done easier said than done and so um I think
26:56
one of the good things is everyone is looking at it and thinking about it right it is a thing that is being discussed um and therefore people are
27:03
starting to build strategies around it but it also comes into another one of the themes of this podcast is the
27:08
diversity of Chicago's economy sure and so if you take a look so I'm in the I'm in the tech world right um we've got a
27:17
very flexible policy in ter we kind of always did that's just kind of you got to do that in technology I have friends
27:24
at law firms they're there every day right sure um you can kind of go down industry by industry by industry on
27:31
who's adopting what trends yeah and I think that insulates us a little bit
27:37
from versus uh San Francisco which is predominantly Tech right right so if
27:42
that industry shifts especially related to commercial real estate and everything else and we've seen that right we've
27:48
seen we've seen what's happened there in New York with uh being heavily in the financial services so um I think that's
27:54
an interesting thing where the resilience of Chicago comes out of that diversity yeah I I think that's right
28:00
yeah um and I think the other interesting thing uh which is again maybe for another podcast is the shifts
28:06
in corporate culture that we're seeing right you see a lot of this um Professional Services is getting a lot
28:13
of people are having the conversation that the junior level jobs of doing spreadsheets and research that used to
28:22
kind of prepare you and get exposure to those upper level people first the argument was they not in the same space
28:29
anymore that's going to be drastic now ai gets tossed into there too sure and so what happens without that training
28:35
ground as these other things so I think we'll find a balance um again I think our city is probably positioned better
28:42
than most I think so um from a from a aspect of resiliency but is interesting to hear that because you know and you
28:48
have these beautiful pieces of land they want to develop things like Sterling Bay on the North side D Lincoln yards and
28:54
and uh related Midwest has this large plot of land on the south side of the city and at first they wanted to do
29:00
mixed use and then it was well no maybe we'll do um you know the white sock
29:05
Stadium who knows what they might try to do there but you could see how they're adjusting their plans now to fit this
29:10
new reality uh but you know the focus will have to be on things that'll draw people that aren't aren't Office
29:16
Buildings right you know I think housing could be great and if not housing then you know things like attractions
29:22
stadiums casinos tourist attractions uh you know 100% things that nature and
29:28
that's where they have to go so yeah being a destination and in fact you mentioned Italy uh before I have planned
29:36
family trips to Italy it's fantastic I've never planned a family trip to yeah
29:41
to je I love juwel but yeah no that's that's how it is so you know the the the
29:47
magmile association is a is like a chamber of commerce for Michigan Avenue correct and they kind of talk about this
29:53
idea a lot and really that's that's where where that's where it's going interesting and we have to be open minded you know trying to pigeon hole
30:00
like you said that diversification is key y you know when I hear well this this this proposal isn't in the
30:06
character of the magmile um I don't like caring those things if someone's going to set up a business that could potentially bring you know tens of
30:13
thousands of customers and foot traffic into the mile you exactly we got we got to figure out what people are reacting to that's right and go that direction so
30:21
experience is important I've experienced your experience yeah I have a question
30:26
let's hear it the tour guides on those boats they're great aren't they it's more than just information and I've I've
30:34
I'd argue I've been on the boat with the same tour guide different times and I get different stories where are you
30:40
finding these people what's you know it's it's funny there there was a point in my career where I was doing
30:46
interviews for new hires and sometimes I wouldn't know if someone was interviewing for a potential job until
30:51
we'd sit down in the interview room but when you would shake their hand I would know immediately if they're interviewing to be a tour guy yeah cu immediately are
30:58
talkative they're they're presentable they're like actors you know most of these tour guides are highly seasonal so
31:05
they have other jobs a lot of teachers um we have a lot of people that are in the entertainment business okay you know
31:11
actors actresses comedians singers people who are good with performative Arts uh and you know how do they become
31:17
a tour guide if they get hired we have an in-house training program okay it's pretty rigorous it's pretty extensive um
31:24
but but I mean really that's it it's a very desirable position highly desirable it is competitive in the sense that we
31:30
have far more applicants than we have spaces available really they work really hard they're fantastic they're great we
31:36
encourage them to be authentic we encourage them to Pepper some of their own experiences in um we like having
31:42
people that are from here you know act like they're from here sound like they're from here present themselves like they're from here yeah you know
31:48
have personal stories about this is my favorite pizza place you know this is where you get the best hot dog in the
31:53
city uh you know we want that authenticity and and we get it and they're fantastic yeah so it's I think
32:00
Warner Brothers phrase was uh they wanted everything to be enlightened education educate and entertain I think
32:07
with the three e that they go by and I'll tell you like it's a comedy act yeah they're great and at the same time
32:14
I'm getting hit with information that I never knew I'm always walking around I'm still carrying the throne comment about
32:19
Civic opera house around sure um our competitor uh that is the has the
32:25
architecture Foundation Doss okay and when you're on their boats it's like you're in a college lecture sure it's
32:31
like the scene from Ferris berer people you know people pay twice the money to fall asleep in in the corner our tour
32:38
guys meanwhile are are making noise and jokes and and they're really entertaining people and they're giving people great information uh but you know
32:45
we we love that Vibe on the boat 100% we have a lot of great people we've had retired cops with thick Chicago accents
32:52
we have young uh Urban people from the inner city people from all over that have done a great great job and like I
32:58
said a lot of them you know come from uh you know backgrounds where they've done a lot in the performative Arts you know
33:04
whether it's it's their trade or just their passion and that obviously helps because they're up in front of people talking and answering questions and and
33:11
whatnot right so and then you provide some of those um because there are some like quintessential things you say as
33:17
you go by the building so there's a training program there is so they're not following a exact script but there is uh
33:25
there are for lack of a better term all the points that they have to hit yeah and each tour differs a little bit you
33:30
know the river architecture tour is very extensive with all the architecture on the river we lake and river tour it just
33:36
kind of abbreviates the river because you're splitting that time with Lake Michigan and the river yeah we do a 45
33:42
minute tour more for people with young kids or or shorter uh time spans available um that's also more
33:48
abbreviated so they kind of adjust uh you know the the route could be different right we might go east first
33:54
one day and based on River traffic we might go west first the other day um and they do a great job they know
34:00
exactly you know what points they have to hit they know what jokes people react to um you know I I I learn something new
34:07
almost every time I go on that tour people say don't you have a memorize but like you said I don't because they'll they'll say new things every time every
34:14
time um you know and I try to go on a boat ride at least once a week when I can oh really yeah I do 45 minut tour is
34:21
is a newer product and it really helps for us who are busy in the office to get down there and get out there and and and
34:27
see the product and see the people and do that quality control and see how our customer service and and see how our
34:33
strategies are working on the ground um you know the water taxi and the 45 minute tour makes that a lot easier to
34:39
kind of view that but I'm on it all the time for personal reasons you know my friends love it my family loves that they come to town I always bring them on
34:46
I never miss a a river dying Cruise uh so you know I I always I never miss a fir works on Memorial Day Weekend the
34:53
first of the year so you know these these these are just things that are just part of my life um and I love experiencing them and and and part of it
34:59
is seeing how everyone's doing so well and it's it's I I I can't think off the
35:05
top of my head of a business is more in intertwined in the cultural aspects of Chicago sure right than what you all are
35:11
doing I mean a couple sentences ago I think you mentioned billy goat and Bozo the Clown and like these are all like
35:16
Chicago Staples right kind of built into that experience so the keeping up with
35:22
that history yeah I forget the name of the building but there's a building uh on the river
35:28
that the foundation is smaller than the footprint is smaller than the rest of the building sure and uh I was educated
35:36
by one of your tour guides that they've got big Mobile water towers that kind of move from side to side that help balance
35:43

it and I I won't quiz you on this I believe it's at Lake Street it is at Lake Street it's the newer building there yeah yeah so my question is is
35:51
there a historian like how are you guys staying on top of all this information yeah so are we not NE necessarily
35:58
historian but I guess kind of I guess it' be an unofficial historian that every time a new building is built we'll
36:03
research it uh sometimes get in touch with the people who've been involved with it um and then we'll provide those
36:08
materials and add them into our training now what's funny is we get calls all the time almost on a weekly basis from
36:16
people who are Architects businesses uh land even Landscape Architects who say
36:21
how do I get my work into your tour yeah and we say well is it interesting well you know this park here we put these
36:27
bushes in it's like you know I don't know if that's going to make it in right right right you know we've had people say we call out my restaurant every time
36:32
you go by well you know I don't know if that's relevant um you know we've had people call us and say you said this
36:38
about our building and and we take issue with that so you know we we've heard it all over the years but it's funny they
36:44
they're people calling and Advocate to get what they want into the tour yeah yeah when when the St reg just went up
36:50
we we you know knew about the construction of the building we knew about the people involved a lot of it was public information and we
36:56
conglomerate what's most interesting and relevant about it and then that that becomes part of our training materials
37:01
that's awesome coincidentally uh I'm filming a podcast episode with mellan at
37:07
St reges uh in the next UPC ask him about their wind tunnel on the top of the building there's a there's a there's
37:13
an open floor which is meant for the wind to just pass I guess if it didn't exist there could be some sway yeah in
37:19
the in the in the building so that's awesome inter I'm gonna add that to my list of uh questions um very very cool
37:27
so uh in terms of we've talked about history we've talked about the different businesses um we keep tying it back to
37:34
Chicago so obviously there's a relationship the with Chicago yeah um
37:39
and then as I think about kind of the community and how it kind of works together what are some stories that come
37:45
to mind in terms of either you mentioned Rah Emanuel I do this a lot I ask
37:51
questions and I give answers I think no well I'll I'll I'll tell you because I know where you're going with this so
37:56
when Del we are incredibly vulnerable to good but also
38:02
bad things that happen in this city if anything good happens in this city we're going to benefit immensely anything bad
38:08
happens in this city we are going to suffer along with them what might be some examples oh yes so this has been
38:13
true always so you know like I said you know World War II happened Chicago is a training ground you know we we need your
38:20
boats to be part of this this program right in the N late 1960s or early 70s
38:25
there was a massive CTA strike we have pictures in our training center these black and white pictures of people all
38:31
the way up the stairs and down Michigan Avenue trying to get onto the boats Y and the boats are overloaded and
38:36
architecture tours are being canceled to get all these people back to the train station when when there's this bus strike you know time goes on and every
38:43
Championship that the Bulls win the boats are packed as people are coming downtown to see these parades uh 911
38:49
happens and boats are bringing people out of Michigan Avenue towards the train stations you know we get to the
38:55
Blackhawks parades and then the Cubs and all that uh and then you know Co hits
39:00
and we got hit extremely hard by Co we were in an industry that could pivot to working at home or or offering
39:06
alternative products right um so you know we really throughout the course of the city's history we really our our
39:12
destiny is intertwined with the city to a degree that a lot of businesses aren't we can't pack up and move our
39:18
headquarters to Miami or or Texas right uh you know if if something happens in this city that negatively impacts it if
39:26
if things like Rising crime rates if the media is always going to call that out then we're going to suffer right you
39:31
know if the city has something that happens that's good like the DNC or the NASCAR races we will benefit off of that
39:37
so uh I really can't speak enough to how intertwined the fate of lendel is with
39:43
the city of Chicago yeah you know it's incredibly personal to us uh this is home and and and the city is really
39:50
everything to our business yes and we have a lot of pride in it um but you
39:55
know in addition to that what I would say you know if if if I had to talk about a person or particular event you
40:01
know my favorite in terms of an event would be of course the St Patrick's Day celebration sure every Saturday before
40:07
the official St Patrick's Day they dye the river green the plumbers Union takes a orange vegetable dye and dumps it in
40:13
the river turns it a a bright neon green it's a great cultural celebration it's a great tradition it's very unique they
40:19
don't do anything like that anywhere else in the world people come from all over the world to see it yeah and now
40:25
that we're in this age of digital media the pictures resonate internationally people see it and say oh my God that's
40:31
the coolest thing I've ever seen and even if they're not going to come to Chicago to see that they're going to come here once they see that piure
40:37
correct just the city looks so cool uh but you know in terms of one person I mean you know for my career it was
40:44
really Ram Emanuel he was the one that put the focus on the river um and it was contentious for a while because what a
40:50
lot of people don't know is Rah emanuel's plan essentially said we're going to build a Riverwalk on the river it's going to bring a ton of people down
40:56
here they're all going to enjoy the river you're going to get more patrons we're going to get more tax revenue but Wendell is going to pay for this that
41:03
was really the deal and our competitors yeah uh you know first lady does the architecture cruises Us and Them
41:10
primarily paid for that the loan on that Riverwalk I did not know that they they increased our so so we rent a land from
41:18
the Department of Transportation okay they came to us for the money they took out a loan from the federal government
41:23
and then once they built the Riverwalk they monetized the assets of that Riverwalk to continue paying back that
41:29

loan the money that us and our competitors pay to use those City docks
41:35
are going to that to that River Walk fund oh wow and we're talking between us and our competitors I mean we're talking
41:40
millions of dollars that could to pay back this this this Tiffy loan that they took from the federal government so you
41:47
know um I don't think a lot of people know that no Noah knows that yeah that
41:52
is interesting because uh if if you hadn't known that you can have a little little bit of a must be nice to be
41:59
Wendel in the city doing all these wonderful things sure sure but you you have an active role
42:05
in creating what I thought was an awesome summer experience last summer
42:11
that's right going up and down there and and and the truth is is you know at the time there were some Skeptics about this idea of the Riverwalk but the the um the
42:19
gravity of Chicago's tourism scene has really shifted from Navy Pier to the Riverwalk now yeah and you know I I grew
42:25
up going to Navy Pier we all did but you know I I gotta tell you I've been there recently and just doesn't have the charm
42:32
it doesn't have the energy that it did at one time and I'm feeling that on the Riverwalk and of course the big Buzzard
42:38
we use all the time is authenticity people want to go to a city and they want to feel like they're experiencing
42:43
it the way the locals do and they're they're not feeling that way at Navy Pier they feel that way when they're on
42:48
the river so yeah and I think one of the things that might play into that too is Navy paer is a destination at the
42:55
destination right you you can't whereas the river right is something you you can stumble over as
43:02
you're walking to your wherever you're going that day in the city and in fact some people aren't stumbling they're taking your taxis to get to the other
43:08
place it's more integrated as you said they they have across from us at Michigan Avenue on the Riverwalk they have a little um like a little Mall kind
43:17
of setup where there's a bunch of little window shops and they the city has uh
43:23
awarded these little you know Windows to these very neighborhood oriented like
43:29
small businesses people that like Stitch their own clothes from pilson um you
43:34
know chai vendors from certain neighborhoods I mean really kind of cool stuff um so the so a lot of this isn't
43:41
even big business the walk you know these are small popup shops and now they're selling you know uh you know
43:49
interesting you know clothes on the Riverwalk or Chicago gear or you know chai lattes and stuff and it's it's it's
43:56
great so that is awesome and I think you know we take a look at Economic Development as well the big stories well
44:03
I mean the Riverwalk is a big story right but um but we get into big story such as who's working from home or who's
44:10
buying you know the old post office and all that type of stuff um I think it's
44:15
so ex it's almost a new neighborhood right the Riverwalk in terms of just that entire experience and the people
44:21
that are going down there um very very cool so I got to ask so having you go on
44:29
a lot of your own tours right obviously uh as I'm learning Chicago
44:35
historian yourself yeah what's your favorite do you have a favorite story
44:41
when you're going down on the tour oh you know I mean I it depends I don't
44:47
know if I'd say I have a favorite story um as a Chicago kind of amateur
44:53
historian there's a lot of things I'm very interested in I love reading about the history the Great Chicago Fire sure
44:58
how streeterville is essentially this neighborhood built on top of rubble that they they push into the lake uh you know
45:04
Fort Dearborn was right where Lake Michigan once was there's a tribute to it on the Michigan Avenue Bridge right
45:11
there um all those things are very interesting we took a water taxi down once with the armac cor Engineers to
45:17
Bubbly Creek and you know we all a lot of us in school read up in St Clair's the jungle about these these uh um meat
45:24
factories that were located on bubbly Creek and it was interesting to be there and to see that uh but you know in terms
45:30
of my favorite stories I have a lot of funny stories that revolve around just random bits of Anarchy we've seen on the
45:36
river you know we we have people jumping off Bridges when they die they tried to Die the river blue when the Cubs won the
45:41
World Series it didn't work amateurs did no the city did oh okay and it just it
45:47
just didn't work it just doesn't display like the Green River dead yeah um and
45:52
people were jumping into it were coming out you know all blue like a like a Smurf um you know all sorts of stuff like that
46:00
uh we have a lot of good stories our crew has rescued lots of people up and down the river I've been on boats I've
46:06
seen this firsthand I when I was a dein I took place in in a real man overboard um there's several spots on the river
46:12
that we go by today and I'll have you know memories of doing drills there training there of when our crew members
46:18
have pulled people out of the river there have rescued people there uh there's really a lot of history along
46:23
the river um you know and it's really kind of exciting to think about where we'll be in the next 10 to 20 years
46:30
compared to where are now because there there is still a lot of land available you're talking about building stadiums and casinos and and new developments and
46:38
we hope these things come to fruition because if they do there could be a lot more people down the river a lot more focus and and I think it' be good it
46:44
would be good for our industry certainly yeah 100 per. and that brings me to you know some of my kind of final questions
46:51
so um you've got a new boat being built
46:56
that's right we're talking about Trends we're talking about what we're excited for if I was to ask a question you what are some of the things that you're
47:03
excited for in the future of the river and when some things you're doing and
47:08
kind of also in the context of what what are some things that the rest of us should be excited about too yeah so um
47:14
one of the things we've been doing the last few years is running yearround a year round operation okay so now the
47:20
boats you know historically when I was the marine crew we we you know every every winter to this date we bring boats
47:27
to our offseason Shipyard it's in Dolan Illinois okay so we run nine boats during the summer and then as the fall
47:33
comes around one by one they go to the shipyard and then we shut down entirely for the winter and then this we rehab
47:39
all the boats we're repainting them varnishing all the wood overhauling the engines sometimes repowering them
47:45
entirely and in the spring the boats start coming back down one by one so after the pandemic well before the
47:51
pandemic we had a plan to run year round and we did in 2019 into 2020 of course
47:56
everything being shut down in March of 2020 uh I want to say in 2022 to 2023 we
48:01
started running year round again now instead of bringing all nine boats to the shipyard we just bring you know
48:07
seven and move two down two downtown and then throughout the winter and spring we would rotate them out of the shipyard so
48:13
that there are boats running throughout the winter and what we found is that you know albeit the market is is not nearly
48:19
what it is during the summer there is still enough of a market that it is still beneficial for us to run year
48:26
round yeah the boats are heated the architecture still looks great if there's no ice in the river it's still a
48:31
great quality of tour we have a full service bar on the boat um and it's still beautiful we have these great
48:37
videos where it's it's it's snowing but it's still beautiful on the boat you're on the boat and you're going through the
48:42
snow and the architectur is there the buildings are lit up in red and green for for Christmas colors or you know
48:48
pink for Valentine's Day um so that's something that I'm pretty excited about is the year round nature of the business
48:55
now yeah that is very good for our um for our labor because now a lot less of
49:01
our employees are taking time off are spending time being laid off we can
49:06
offer them year round employment to a much greater degree than we were before we can offer year on employment to a lot
49:12
more people than we were to before and we've turned what was when I was much
49:18
younger a seasonal job into what it is now but is is a great career for someone
49:23
yeah um who's interested in in the maritime industry but want wants to live in Chicago and doesn't want to be on like a container ship or or a barge yep
49:31
so that is exciting in fact I didn't even I guess I I did realize but the year round is something that you don't
49:36
typically think of when you think boat ride yeah and I think that's unique too um especially in Chicago when sometimes
49:42
there's limited options of things to do people still want to go out right sure sure but yeah so th those are things I'm
49:48
excited about for when Del is is is this trend we're building this new boat in manak Wisconsin it's about an hour
49:54
selfic Green Bay uh it'll be a sistership to our existing torbo vessels
50:00
in terms of the city what I'm excited about we we have a lot of new developments that I think could really be successful they're not geared on you
50:08
know people commuting in and working in an office they're geared more towards entertainment and Recreation um I would love to see the
50:15
white sock Stadium uh or or a stadium be built uh at Roosevelt on the South side
50:21
at that beautiful piece of land down there they have pickle ball courts now um they've been talking about maybe a white sock St
50:27
maybe another Stadium which would be fantastic that' be a huge hit and Wendel
50:32
would bring thousands and thousands of people to there every game they wouldn't have to drive there people could take the Metra in from any suburb and we
50:39
could bring tens of thousands of them a game to this area so we could improve
50:44
the traffic congestion and we could improve access to that site we also have a casino on the North Branch that will
50:50
be will be great as well um I know a lot of people had um had some issues with
50:56
the idea of a of a casino I heard a lot of erroneous comments like this isn't going to be good for security but but
51:03
you know it'll actually be the opposite you know the idea that people are going to go rob a casino is is is insane to me
51:09
I mean right you know this isn't the 19 you know 20s uh you know these casinos are going to have massive security
51:16
presences cameras everywhere they're going to be well lit there's going to be a lot more traffic there's going to be police um you know if anything it's
51:23
worse for security Now to have an abandoned you know broken down Factory on this site but that'll be on the river
51:30
and we'll be prepared also to bring thousands of people there a year so that'll that'll be great too um we'll
51:36
see what else happens they're going to add uh a marina to the North End of Navy Pier right now it's just it's just a a
51:42
road uh they're going to bring a marina there that'll be pretty cool uh the Chicago Spire site is going to have
51:48
something potentially built on it so this is really from from a Chicago perspective we would just love to see
51:54
new developments new markets and and good use of this land yeah around here and it'll be good for everyone there'll
51:59
be more people in the city so awesome and you know one of the things I I learned today and I guess I should have
52:05
thought ahead of time is it's always clear to me right that you're tied into what's happening to Chicago because
52:11
you're going up and down a river and that's happening around you yeah what I didn't really fully comprehend until our
52:18
conversation today is how involved you are yeah with a lot of those
52:23
developments the Riverwalk being the obvious one sure um I'm hoping someone from the White Soxs board who's talking
52:30
about that stadium is listening to we could bring tens of thousands of people there they're building something on the
52:35
river you know you you they they well they do these these real estate developers understand this river is an
52:41
opportunity provides access and it provides an attraction to their building and and and will'll help them monetize
52:47
these these River edges there and it'll be good for their tenants or their customers and it helps with
52:53
accessibility too so that is awesome so final question for you so you've got
53:01
tours you've got the cruises got the taxi um if you had to recommend one yeah
53:11
what's what's the what's the quickest the quickest path I would say it's the it's the it's the lak and River architecture tour if we're going to take
53:18
the St Pats River dying which is more of a one day event out it's going to be the lake and river architecture tour okay
53:24
you're going to see the main highlights from the river going to go down around wolf it's going to go to about Wolf Point you're going to get a good view of
53:30
the Wills Tower you're going to see all of the new buildings that are built around Wolf Point you'll see things like the merchandise Mark you'll see all of
53:37
our beautiful bridges on the main branch of the river the St reges then you'll get to see our Chicago Lock And
53:42
Engineering Marvel then you're out on Lake Michigan and we hear all the time people are astounded at how big the lake
53:47
is they you know they come from California and Florida in New York and they think you're going to be able to see across this Lake you know they just
53:54
don't appreciate that this is a great lake and it's it's massive and and you can't see across it and they say oh my
53:59
God this is like an ocean here yeah and they see the play pen and they see Oak Street beach and they say we never
54:06
thought of Chicago as a anything other than a landlocked City but it's anything
54:11
but oh yeah and we introduce people to this Third Coast and and it's beautiful but but there's no better tour than the
54:16
lake and river the lake and river architecture tour that that is the best one noted that is awesome and if I
54:22
wanted to sign up for that today what's the what's the easiest way to uh Wendel boats.com all right we have a great
54:29
great website and and go there and buy tickets and you know we uh we offer
54:34
tickets um for not only adults but we offer a child ticket as well uh and if
54:40
the lake and river architecture tour is too long we have the 45 minute architecture tour too so awesome a
54:45
shorter one for for the kids it's helpful awesome well Andrew this is awesome uh I feel like I just got a
54:52
Chicago History lesson uh definite uh just an awesome appreciation for first
54:58
time I'm going to thank a guest for everything they're doing for the city directly and getting involved it's our pleasure um but this has been awesome
55:05
really appreciate the time yeah thank you so much all right awesome cool that was great man yeah
55:11
that that that the time went fast yeah

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