Arnold’s Last Hurrah - Cincinnati, OH

The Final Five, plus the guy with the camera.

As with all things, the origins of the Steampunk Symposium started small. On Saturday, October 15th, 2008 six people met for dinner at Arnold’s Bar & Grill on 8th Street in Cincinnati and that night formed the League of Cincinnati Steampunks. From that day forward the League met on the first weekend of each month and the “salon” slowly grew. For a short while the League moved to Highland Coffee House near the University of Cincinnati campus, and was hosted a few times in people’s houses before coming back to Arnold’s, back to its birthplace, and then it really began to grow.

Bathe while commuting to work?

Arnold’s was the perfect choice for the Cincinnati Steampunk Salon; it opened in 1861 and is one of the longest running bars in the nation. During Prohibition Arnold’s remained open and legend has that the bathtub in one of the upstairs dining rooms is the same tub that was used to make bootleg gin during those “dry” years. This bathtub has become iconic for Arnold’s and they even have a motorized bathtub that is driven in parades; the League of Cincinnati Steampunks has marched along side it representing steampunk and Arnold’s in the Bochfest Parade each March, but not this year.

April 2011, the Salon when the Steampunk Empire Symposium was officially declared.

Over the last five years, new anachronistic ladies and gentlemen have ventured to downtown Cincinnati to join the fun and the numbers steadily grew to a recent average of 50 to 60 people each month, and inevitably the Cincinnati Steampunks have outgrown Arnold’s; the time has come to move the Salon to a bigger venue. Saturday, February 1st, 2014 will the last one held there; this is Arnold’s Last Hurrah and if you are anywhere near Cincinnati, Ohio we invite you to come join us in this emotional farewell to a place that has been so important to the Cincinnati Steampunk scene for so long.

The new home of the Cincinnati Steampunk Salon

Saturday, March 1st, 2014 the Cincinnati Steampunks will be celebrating Mardi Gras at the fourth annual Voodoo Carnival masquerade, the Pandora Society’s pre-Symposium show, and then on Saturday, April 5th, 2014 the Cincinnati Steampunk Salon moves to its new home at Molly Malone’s. The new Salon has the entire third floor with its own bar, a stage, a projection screen, a DJ booth, and the capacity to hold up to 200 people. Unlike previous monthly meetings where we just ate, drank, and socialized, this new Salon will also offer silent movies, occasional bands and performers, and a monthly DJ to turn the place into a dance club from 11PM to 2AM, AND still for NO COVER (however, we will be asking for a generous pass of the hat for those who do perform).

So to the staff and management of Arnold’s we thank you dearly for taking such good care of us all these years; we will miss you . . . and to Molly’s, we look forward to many years to come as the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Steampunk Scene continues to grow and grow.