Maly's Studio
517 Central Ave.
Taverns-Bars-Saloons-Beer Gardens-Cafes, call them
what you will Cincinnati and beer were synonymous with each other in the 1800's
and early 1900's. In 1840 Cincinnati had 8 breweries to satisfy a population of
46,000 people. By 1860 there were 36 breweries for 200,000 people. Beer
production in 1870 was 354,000 barrels. In 1862 there were 38 breweries. By 1870
production rose to 656,000
barrels and in another ten years it had soared to 1,115,000 barrels. This equates to a staggering total
of 35,700,000 gallons of beer of
which a little less than 1/2 was exported. The rest was consumed locally. The per capita consumption of beer nationally in 1893 was 16
gallons. In Cincinnati an incredible 40 Gallons for every man woman and
child was consumed. In 1879 a reporter for the New York Times wrote an article
about the incredible drinking habits of Cincinnatians. "At the
Kauffmann brewery the employees consumed 18 kegs of beer daily. They
averaged 35 glasses apiece....The employees at Moerlein's brewery averaged
25 glasses of beer per day. The J. G. Sohn and Co. brewery allow their 30
employees five kegs of beer daily." This was a common practice in those
days and I don't understand how they actually accomplished their jobs without
killing themselves or their fellow workers.
In 1887 there were an amazing 1,837 saloons for a population of
225,000. In 1890 it dropped to only 1,810 for a population of 297,000.
This meant since only adult males used saloons there were, in 1890, ONE SALOON
FOR EVERY 37 MEN. In 1890 there were 34 saloons on Court St., 41 on Liberty St., 55
on both Walnut and Main Sts. Central Ave. had 100 saloons, but the all time high
was Vine St. with 136. Between 12th & 13th Streets there were 23 saloons. On Fifth St. between Main & Sycamore Sts. (1 block) 20 saloons
flourished. A corner location was preferred because it gave the bar the most
exposure to potential costumers, and if it were illegally selling beer on
Sunday, it was easier to spot the police.
The person that is most well known for her hatred of saloons was Carrie Nation.
She arrived in Cincinnati in 1901 with her famous hatchet
to wage battle with demon alcohol. Most tavern owners knowing Carrie's
propensity for taking her ax to glass windows, ordered new glass ahead of her
visit. Carrie was asked later why she had not broken any windows was heard to
say: "My goodness, child, if I had undertaken to break all the windows of
all the saloons on your Vine Street I would have dropped from exhaustion before I
had gone a
block". Before leaving the Atlantic Garden, a woman lush laid her head on
Carrie's shoulder and cried. She then left promising the temperance leader she
would mend her ways and lead a better life. Ten minutes later Carrie noticed
that her earrings were missing. Carrie forgave the woman for lifting them.
Carrie Nation - not postcards.
Cincinnati Breweries in 1890
All Time Cincinnati Breweries
* 
The two pioneer cards you see above are, by far, the earliest cards I have. The card shown above these, as you can see by the *, I do not possess. They were sent by the Frank G. Tullidge & Co. distillers of Cincinnati. I am unable to read the dates on these cards, so the only way I can estimate when they were sent is by the address given for the Tullidge Co. The address on both cards (back of cards on the bottom) is 37 & 39 Race Street. The Tullidge Co. moved many times during its existence but I have now determined that the 1881 directory first lists Tullidge's office & warehouse at 37 & 39 Race so these cards were mailed between 1881 & 1885 which is when they moved to 33-35 Vine Street. Remember these are considered postcards because of the stamp, or in the case of the second card a stamp box. They do not have a stamp imprinted on them which would make them a postal card. The first card is mostly in German so good luck in reading it. Some nit-wit trimmed the second card by removing the white border.
This is another very early card. The Guggenheimer - Becker Co, were only together from 1898 to 1899. The distiller than became the Guggenheimer Distilling Co. and was in business until 1909. When this over-large (7" x 5 1/2") card was mailed the company was located at 101-103 E. Pearl (se cor. of Pearl & Walnut Sts.). It looks like they added some sprinkles to the front and back to add a little pizzazz. (I hope it is just sprinkles!)
Carey's Cafe.
Chas. Hoffmann's Cafe.
Columbia Cafe.
Dreyer's Cafe
3832 Glenway
Ave.
422
Vine
541 Walnut
1854 Baltimore Avenue
Exchange Cafe. Hoffmann's Cafe. Cliff Langdon's Cafe
8th & State 520 Vine St. Peebles Corner. W.H.
Centre Hotel & Cafe 2963-65 Colerain Ave.
Saratoga Bar 78 W. McMillan
The 2nd photograph above shows the building as it looks today.
Imperial Cafe. 520 Vine (same as Hoffmann's above)
Front & 3 backs of the Elm Cafe. S.E. corner 5th &
Elm
I have three cards of the Elm Cafe with different backs, so I just put the front of one of them up.
Yesterday's Saloon
Mogle's Cafe
Geile's Cafe
941 Pavilion St. Mt. Adams
Lockland, Ohio
n.w.cor. 9th & Vine
The Mogle card states that George Mogle was also a glass blower and he had turned his bar into a glass bar. There were 1200 pieces of mirror plate glass installed in the back bar and the serving area.
John C. Weber Cafe 522 Vine St. Later
Became Alt Heidlberg Cafe
Keller Bros. Cafe
11 E. 5th St.
The Alt Heidlberg Cafe remained in business until the late 50s when it became The Isle of Capri.
* 
The Turf & Field.
Tom.L.Johnson.
The Weber Bros. Cafe.
Chic's Cafe
532 Walnut St.
S.E. Cor. Court &
Vine
1212 Vine St.
1229 Vine St.
Wielert's Cafe. 1408-1410 Vine St. Niemes Cafe S.W. Cor. 5th & Vine St. Gaslight Restaurant & Lounge
For more Wielert's 9 West 5th St. 5479 North Bend Rd
* 
Shevlin's 27 E. 6th St.
Gehle's Cafe
Joseph Hess Cafe
E. Caproni's Cafe &
427 McMicken Ave.
Court & Walnut Sts.
Restaurant. 621 College St.
*
Grammers Cafe 1440 Walnut St.
Tavern in
Westwood Lake Edward Tavern
(notice ladies entrance)
Harrison Ave. & Kemper Ln.
North
Bend
Grammers began in 1872 on Liberty Street. When Liberty Street was widened all the buildings on the south side were demolished and so Grammers just swung around the corner, keeping the original bar, to Walnut St. They are still in operation today.
Jacob Pittner's Cafe
Wishing Well Tavern
Schultes Tavern
The Old Tavern
Eighth Ave. & Vine
Located east of Milford
4400 River Road
Pleasant Ridge
Harry Welsh's Cafe
Perkin's Blu-Room 430 W. 5th Street
Mercantile Bar
1601 Main Street
410 Walnut St
*
*
*
Zinzinnati Cafe located at 2800 Colerain at the corner with
Marshall Ave.
Baker's Log Cabin Lounge The Frontier Coach Room Scott Parmerton's Cafe
602 John Street Route 52 8th & race Sts. 535 Central Avenue
Hi-Hat Restaurant
Imperial Hotel Bar
Fred Lewing's Saloon
Oscar Guth Saloon
124 E. 6th Street
n. e. cor. 3rd & central
549 Clinton
The Oscar Guth Cafe/Saloon/Bowling alley was located at 3217 Jefferson Avenue. Oscar was a person of varied talents, in 1915 he was listed as a confectioner.
William Kimmerling Saloon 151 East Clifton Ave.
The 2nd image above is a photo of what the building looks like today. It is still a tavern and if you have any doubts about whether it is the same, look at the step the men are posing on in the 1st postcard.
*
Harvey Landon Saloon 11 East fifth Street
Eddie Schubert's Cafe
4th & Vine Street
The card below has been scanned into 3 parts in order to fit the scanner.
The Mecca 431 Walnut St.
Owners/Managers?
The New Cotton Club - 966 East McMillan
The Galaxie Club Newport,
Ky.
The original Cotton Club was at 6th & Mound at the old Sterling Hotel, when it moved to East McMillan (misspelled on card) I don't know. The original Cotton Club was the only integrated nightclub in Cincinnati that saw hundreds of the greatest black orchestras and celebrities of the era. Stepin Fetchit was the mainliner on this card. How the Bossa Nova Twist was involved is beyond my limited knowledge. Fetchit was a star of stage and films and his real name was Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (1902-1985). His films (54 in all) portrayed him as the stereotype of the servile, shiftless, simple-minded black man. He was criticized by civil rights leaders for the film roles he played but, in the end, he had the last laugh when in 1976 he was awarded a special NAACP Image Award stating that despite the stereotype his famous alter ego played, his had been a trailblazing career without which many Black film careers would have been much more difficult to make. Perry was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1978. His star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I rarely show my Northern Kentucky cards on this site but I thought these two cards belonged together.
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