Queen City History Walking Tours

Saloons, Cellars & Sin Tour begins at Arnold's Bar & Grill, the city's oldest continually operating saloon. Built in 1838, 810 E. 8th St. has been home to a saloon since Simon Arnold opened the doors to thirsty patrons in 1861. Legend says that Arnold's continued to serve hooch straight through Prohibition. Our guests will get the inside scoop on Arnold 's from 1861 to its more recent but equally colorful history. Attendees then walk a route that explores the city's rich social and political history and paints a portrait of life downtown in the 1800s. Beside Washington Platform, another of Cincinnati's oldest establishments, our guests enter a side-alley entrance and travel down into subterranean cellars that were part of the Gerke Brewery complex. The return trip touches on daily nineteenth century life in Cincinnati with all its excitement, splendor and wicked sin. Renowned for its corruption, vice and crime, one of the city's lowest moments came during the Courthouse riot in 1884. Attendees will learn the history of the riot and how dozens of Cincinnatians came to be slain on the streets that surround the courthouse. The tour then return to Arnold's.