Queen City's 2013 Saloon Tour Series On Sale Now!
Why Choose Our Tours
The Saloon Tour Series offered by Queen City History and Education enter places that you will not see and tell stories that you will not hear on any other tour in town. We also work in partnership with nothing but the best Cincinnati saloons.
More importantly, our tours have been designed by and most tours are given by Michael Morgan, a founding father of heritage tourism in Cincinnati, voted “Best Local Author” by CityBeat readers in 2011 and named one of “Cincinnati’s Most Interesting People” by Cincy Magazine in 2013. If you are going to entrust your time to a tour guide, go with the one that other tours cite as a primary source of their information.
To ensure a quality tour experience, space on our tours is limited, so advanced registration is highly recommended.
Other details: All tours are rain or shine. Due to restrictions on tour space, all ticket sales are final. Tours are designed to last approximately 90 minutes. These are walking tours, and entering the Gerke brewery cellars involves approximately two flights of underground steps. While we are happy to make reasonable accommodations for all people, tours are not recommended for very young children or people for whom walking is difficult.
Arnold'
s Brothel's, Bootleggers and Booze Tour
Arnold’s Brothel’s, Bootleggers and Booze Tour begins at the most logical place to start it – Arnold’s, Cincinnati’s oldest continuously operating saloon. Built in 1838 as a brothel, 210 E. 8 th became Simon Arnold’s Saloon in 1861 and has been serving libations to Cincinnatians ever since, including straight through Prohibition. Our tour guests get the inside scoop on Arnold’s from the beginning to its more recent but equally colorful history. The tour then takes a walking route that explores the days when Cincinnati’s dozens of breweries and distilleries and almost 2,000 saloons made it notorious for inebriation and mayhem. Guests then enter a side-alley entrance into subterranean cellars that were part of the Gerke Brewery complex. Renowned for its corruption, vice and crime, one of Cincinnati’s lowest moments is the Courthouse riot of 1884. Guests hear about the history of the riot, how dozens of people came to be slain in the surrounding streets, then return to Arnold’s – where cold beverages and great food always await at the place that Men’s Health Magazine has voted one of the “Top 50 Bars in America,” and CityBeat readers have declared the “Best Outdoor Dining” year after year. Tours start at Arnold’s, 210 E. 8 th St, every Saturday at 11:00AM, from May 11, 2013 through September 14, 2013. Tours last approximately 90 minutes. Ticket price is $25. (A portion of proceeds goes to support the non-profit Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. and the preservation of our brewing history.)
| Dates: Every Saturday from May 11th through Sept. 14th Start Time: 11am Start Location: Arnold's Bar & Grill - 210 East 8th St, Downtown Cincinnati Price: $25 per person |
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Rise and Fall of Over-The-Rhine: The Japp's Tour
Over-the-Rhine was once one of America’s most densely populated neighborhoods and one of America’s most German. This sometimes lead to conflicts with the rest of the city, most notably when residents barricaded the neighborhood and engaged in three days of urban warfare in 1855. Guests take a walking route that explores this history of violence and conflict and learn about the dark, deadly histories that lie beneath the beauty of Music Hall and Washington Park. The neighborhood’s German immigrants had a voracious thirst for lager beer. As a result, Over-the-Rhine was home to almost 300 neighborhood saloons. All of that changed – the neighborhood’s identity, social life, and economy – with the double-blow of WWI and Prohibition. Guests will witness the stories of nineteenth-century saloons and the anti-German hysteria of WWI that neighborhood buildings still tell. Guests take a vivid trip through OTR’s immigrant origins, ethnic conflicts, drunkenness, decline and rebirth. At the tours conclusion, guests return to Japp’s and get a chance to enjoy a pre-Prohibition era cocktail designed by renowned mixologist, Molly Wellmann. Tours start at Japp’s, 1134 Main St., every Wednesday at 5:30PM from May 15, 2013 through Sept. 11, 2013. Tours last approximately 90 minutes. Ticket price is $25 and tickets include one of Japp’s signature cocktails.
| Dates: Every Wednesday from May 15th through Sept. 11th Start Time: 5:30pm Start Location: Japp’s - 1134 Main St, Downtown Cincinnati Price: $25 per person |
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Private Tours: Queen City History & Education Ltd. will give private or custom tours. To discuss possibilities and terms, use our Contact page to contact Michael Morgan.