Cincinnati, Ohio · Founded 1861 · Building: circa 1838
Arnold's is a family-run Cincinnati bar with a claimed 1861 tavern origin, an 1830s building, and a famous but unproven bathtub-gin story.
Arnold's Bar and Grill occupies two connected buildings at 208 and 210 East Eighth Street in downtown Cincinnati, both dating to the late 1830s. The tavern traces its history to Simon Arnold's claimed 1861 saloon, followed by three generations of Arnold-family involvement. Its oldest-bar story is more complicated than the marketing suggests: an archival review found no business named Arnold's operating there from 1922 to 1933.
The two connected buildings now occupied by Arnold's were constructed around the late 1830s. One later housed a barbershop and the other a feed store before their tavern use.
Source: Arnold's Bar and Grill, 'Our History'; Cincinnati CityBeat, 'The Story Behind the (Mostly) Friendly Spirits Who Roam Arnold's,' August 6, 2025
Arnold's traces its tavern history to Simon Arnold's 1861 opening on East Eighth Street. The original street number cannot be equated simply with today's 210 East Eighth because Cincinnati renumbered addresses in 1895 and the present business occupies two buildings.
Source: Arnold's Bar and Grill, 'Our History'; Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Cincinnati city-directory research identifies George and Wilhelmina Weber operating a saloon in the building later associated with Arnold's from at least 1866 to 1877, complicating a simple uninterrupted Simon Arnold business lineage.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Cincinnati renumbers street addresses, changing the former 8 and 10 East Eighth Street addresses to the current 208 and 210 East Eighth Street numbering.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Hugo Arnold acquires ownership of a portion of the relevant East Eighth Street property, according to Cincinnati real-estate reporting cited by Cincinnati Magazine.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
As Prohibition approached, the saloon shifted toward café and soft-drink service. The exact continuity of alcohol and food operations remains unclear.
Source: Arnold's Bar and Grill, 'Our History'; Cincinnati CityBeat, August 6, 2025
Hugo Arnold is reported in Cincinnati newspaper research as arrested for possession of bonded whiskey. He soon left the business, and archival research indicates no business named Arnold's operated at either relevant address from 1922 to 1933.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Elmer Arnold reopens the business under the Arnold's name after Prohibition-era changes and a gap in the Arnold's identity.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Elmer Arnold sells Arnold's Grill to Ernst Wiedemann. Cincinnati Magazine reports that Wiedemann sold it within months to Jim Christakos and George Christos.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Public histories identify longtime employee Ronda Breeden, now known as Ronda Androski, as acquiring Arnold's. The exact ownership structure and date should be verified with business records.
Source: Arnold's Bar and Grill, 'Our History'; Clio, 'Arnold's Bar and Grill'
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Arnold's has a significant 19th-century tavern lineage and is widely marketed as Cincinnati's oldest tavern. But Cincinnati Magazine's review of city directories and Cincinnati Post records found that no business called Arnold's operated at either 208 or 210 East Eighth Street from 1922 to 1933. That documented gap prevents the present Arnold's business from being described as continuously operating under its claimed identity since 1861.
The old bathtub and its connection to illicit gin are central to Arnold's local lore, and the venue says the tub remains. Cincinnati Magazine reported that even then-owner Ronda Breeden did not know whether gin was actually made there. The object and story survive, but direct evidence of production has not been established.
A local haunting reputation is documented in modern CityBeat and ghost-tour accounts, which describe alleged activity and paranormal-investigator interpretations. Those reports do not establish paranormal activity or reliably identify any alleged spirit as Hugo Arnold. The exact historical source and identity behind individual ghost stories remain unverified.
Arnold's official history identifies Ronda Androski as owner and says she runs the tavern with her son Chris and daughter-in-law Bethany. A separate Ohio Magazine profile identifies Chris Breeden as owner, so the exact legal ownership split is unclear, but the evidence supports a family-operated business.
Everything below has been reported by two or more independent sources — this is an informational record of what's said about this place, not a verified account of paranormal activity. Still Open America doesn't certify hauntings as real.
Employees and visitors have reported seeing a woman with long black hair in a dark blue 19th-century-style dress walking on the second and third floors. The figure is sometimes linked in local lore to an early female owner or alleged brothel era, though that attribution remains speculative.
Staff and paranormal accounts describe two children heard or sensed playing and scampering on the second floor. Reports commonly place this activity in the upstairs areas that were historically used as apartments.
An intense smell of roses is reported at times on the second floor, particularly around the upstairs rooms. Accounts connect the scent to an alleged female presence but do not establish the identity or historical basis of that figure.
The second-floor Bathtub Room is repeatedly described as the building's most active area. Staff, patrons, and paranormal investigators have reported unexplained movement, a sink turning on, visual forms around the bathtub, and sounds or activity in the room after closing.
Bartenders, customers, former owners, and paranormal investigators have described hanging stemware sliding or falling from its rack, wine bottles appearing on the floor, and glassware rattling behind the bar without an identified cause.
Workers and guests report doors closing, lights switching on or off, faucets turning on, pounding at the women's restroom wall, shadows, and movement on the stairs when no one is visible. Sources commonly describe these as a cluster of general unexplained activity rather than separate named legends.
Employees and a cab driver have described seeing a tall, thin, sharply dressed Black man outside the bar, near the staircase, or moving between the kitchen and bar. The figure is identified in the story as longtime cook Steve Black, who died in 2012.
Available reporting identifies a former Arnold's chef named Steve Black who died in 2012, but the reported post-death appearances and their attribution to him cannot be independently verified.
Paranormal investigators and staff accounts associate one presence with former owner Jim Christakos, said to move along the route between the kitchen and bar and to be connected with recordings of the name Chris. The figure is described as generally friendly in later retellings.
Jim Christakos is documented in local business-history accounts as an Arnold's owner after 1959, but the claimed paranormal identification rests on later investigator interpretation rather than historical evidence.
Arnold's Bar and Grill has operated continuously as Arnold's since 1861.
Arnold's traces a tavern origin to 1861, but Cincinnati Magazine's review of city directories and newspaper records found no business called Arnold's at either 208 or 210 East Eighth Street from 1922 until 1933.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Simon Arnold opened Arnold's at today's 210 East Eighth Street in 1861.
The current business occupies 208 and 210 East Eighth Street, and Cincinnati renumbered the street in 1895. The present address should not be treated as the literal original 1861 street number without historical address conversion.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Jim Steiner bought Arnold's from the Arnold family in 1959.
Cincinnati Magazine reports that Elmer Arnold sold Arnold's Grill to Ernst Wiedemann in 1959, and Wiedemann sold it within months to Jim Christakos and George Christos.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Bar & Grill Is Older Than You Think,' June 4, 2018
Bathtub gin was definitely distilled in Arnold's upstairs bathtub during Prohibition.
The bathtub survives and the story is central to Arnold's lore, but no direct evidence establishes actual gin production there. A 2019 Cincinnati Magazine report said even the then-owner could not confirm it.
Source: Cincinnati Magazine, 'Arnold's Mythical Bathtub Gin Comes to Life,' May 24, 2019
Chris Rhonda bought Arnold's from the Steiner family in 2019.
No reliable source found in this review supports that transaction or identifies a buyer named Chris Rhonda. Arnold's official history identifies Ronda Androski as owner and says she runs it with Chris and Bethany Breeden.
Source: Arnold's Bar and Grill, 'Our History'; Ohio Magazine, 'Step Into Cincinnati History at Arnold's Bar & Grill'
Arnold's has endured because it has repeatedly adapted its use and ownership while retaining a memorable historic setting. The bar became a café during Prohibition, returned under the Arnold's name after repeal, passed through several post-Arnold owners, and is now operated as a family business by Ronda Androski and the Breeden family. The old buildings, live music, courtyard, and bathtub-gin lore continue to give the venue a distinct downtown Cincinnati identity, even though its uninterrupted-continuity claim does not hold up.
Arnold's Bar and Grill in Cincinnati traces its tavern story to Simon Arnold's claimed 1861 opening on East Eighth Street. The bar occupies two connected buildings dating to the late 1830s and was associated with three generations of the Arnold family before changing hands in 1959. Its early history is more complicated than a simple continuous timeline: archival research found that no business called Arnold's operated at the current Eighth Street addresses from 1922 until 1933.
No. Arnold's Bar and Grill is not verified as Ohio's oldest operating bar. It has a claimed 1861 Simon Arnold origin, but the record includes a 1922-to-1933 gap when no business named Arnold's operated at its current addresses. Other Ohio hospitality businesses, including the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, have earlier claimed origins, but a statewide title requires a separate comparative review of business continuity and category.
Arnold's is widely marketed as Cincinnati's oldest continuously operating bar, but that claim does not survive a strict historical review. Cincinnati Magazine's city-directory and newspaper research found no business called Arnold's at 208 or 210 East Eighth Street from 1922 to 1933. Arnold's has a historic 19th-century lineage, but uninterrupted operation under the Arnold's identity is not supported.
The bathtub-gin story is a famous Arnold's legend, not an established fact. The venue preserves an old upstairs bathtub and says it may have been used for gin during Prohibition, but a Cincinnati Magazine review found that even the owner could not confirm the story. The bathtub is real; illicit distilling there remains unverified.
The earliest published haunted-source located in this review is a Cincinnati CityBeat article published August 6, 2025. It describes current local lore and reports claims from Cornerstone Paranormal about several alleged spirits. That source establishes modern public circulation of the haunting stories, not that a haunting was documented in the 19th century or that renovations in the 1970s and 1980s caused reports to begin.
210 E 8th St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
(513) 421-6234
Downtown Cincinnati at East Eighth Street; check Arnold's official site for current dining, live-music, and courtyard hours before visiting.