Here are a few pictures from the Prohibition Resistance Tour and the Subway Tour I took last Saturday. I also added a few shots from the West End.

 

The first 3 pictures are of the Kauffman Brewery sub-basement (Vine Street - now Guildhaus Building)

 

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2.

 

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4. Klotter/Bellevue Brewery on Central Parkway

 

 

 

5. Entrance to the Race Street subway station (Race & Central Parkway)

 

 

 

6. My only picture of the Race Street subway station platform (sorry it's so bad - pictures are technically forbidden, so I just took a quick shot)

 

 

 

7. Brighton Street station entrance (this wasn't part of the tour, but I just wanted to see where it was)

 

 

 

The following 3 pictures are not related to the tours. I just went for a drive in a section of the West End I had not visited previously (near the Western Hills viaduct).

 

8. Western Hills Viaduct (view from Spring Grove Avenue)

 

 

 

9. Chem-Pack building on Spring Grove Avenue

 

 

 

10. Looking up at the Western Hills Viaduct

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice.

 

It will interesting to see when they redo the Western Hills Viaduct if the art deco styling will remain in one form or another.

Neat shots!

Good stuff!

 

I think this nonsense of forbidding photography has gotten completely out of hand. Sometimes it's paranoia run amuck, and sometimes it's just some authoritarian SOB throwing his weight around and telling people "no" because he can. :whip:

very nice!

Nice.

 

It will interesting to see when they redo the Western Hills Viaduct if the art deco styling will remain in one form or another.

 

whaaat? oh no. yikes. is there a thread on that? thx

The tunnels and underground areas in the Brewery District are so cool.  That area needs to be featured on that show on the Discovery Channel - Underground Worlds.  That would be so cool.

Are they doing any more tours in the near future?

As far as I know, those tours are only offered once a year. Information about them is usually posted on UrbanOhio, but if you want to go directly to the source, you can use the following websites:

 

Heritage Program Tours (run Subway tours, and a host of other tours):

http://www.cincymuseum.org/information_center/programs_events/adult_programs/heritage.asp

 

In 2008, the subway tour information was announced in January. Tickets always sell out quickly, so you need to be fast.

 

 

OTR Brewery District (runs Prohibition Resistance tours)

http://www.otrbrewerydistrict.org/

 

 

Great photos Jerome.

 

I heard a rumor that there has been some thought about some sort of tour maybe in fall with Oktoberfest.  Just something I overheard.  Keep checking the OTR Brewery District website for anything if it does happen.

 

 

Uncle Rando, many of us in the Brewery District have knocked this idea around jokingly, but as we pointed out on the tours, it's very plausible that there are many, MANY more tunnels under OTR that were just forgotten when they turned obsolete--so this seriously could make for a really cool show! My boss actually suggested, that if we could make a map of these places and continue uncovering them, Cincinnati could become some sort of center for wine storage, or document storage!

Wine storage for sure.  I actually have thought about renting a little vault over in the Czech republic (one of the cheapest places to do it) where folks actually pay from $300 - $1500 (depending on size) a year for a little cubby to store and age their wine.  THAT is certainly worth looking into.  The real question is how cold does it get down there?

I've heard that the temperature in those caves remains constant at 53 F all year long. In the tour, they said that additional cooling methods were used to have the right temperature for brewing lager beer (using ice and iron pipes).

Hmmm, well 53 is great for storing wine but its also actually really close to the temp you need for lagering beer - 50 - 55 or so... not sure why you would need ice?

The temperatures down there are pretty much always cool, but they are not cool enough consistently to brew lagers year round. Sometimes breweries would actually run out of beer for a particularly hot summer back then, because they could only brew lager for a period of time. That's why the tunnels were later abandoned when commercial refrigeration became available in the 1880s, and pretty much forgotten. BTW, has anybody seen the previews for Channel 19s program on Cincy brewing history on Thursday? I hope they give it more than just a minute or two. Looks pretty cool though--and they got a shot in of the Clyffside!

The temperatures down there are pretty much always cool, but they are not cool enough consistently to brew lagers year round. Sometimes breweries would actually run out of beer for a particularly hot summer back then, because they could only brew lager for a period of time. That's why the tunnels were later abandoned when commercial refrigeration became available in the 1880s, and pretty much forgotten. BTW, has anybody seen the previews for Channel 19s program on Cincy brewing history on Thursday? I hope they give it more than just a minute or two. Looks pretty cool though--and they got a shot in of the Clyffside!

 

Hmm, well if there is enough variation in temperature outside of the lagering temperature range not sure they would work for wine storage either (without some atmospheric controls).

 

I'll keep my eyes peeled for the chan 19 program :)