Thursday, November 10, 2011

Where Can I Find the Prosit?

A photo I took on a recent trip back home.  The space between Murphey's Pub
and the red brick building is where I thought Grandma's apartment was.  It had a
decent side yard, and the other buildings are close together.  Also
in the photo of Grandma and Aunt Dot in the side yard, the "Warner Street" sign
is visible, meaning the house had to be in that spot.  This photo is taken on the
corner of Warner and Clifton.

I've looked and looked all over the web for the old Clifton Avenue saloon where my father and his friends hung out in the late '40s and early '50s.  I believe it was in the building now owned by Murphey's Pub.  Everytime we go home for a visit, I tell myself to go in the pub and see if the owners can give me any information on the Prosit Saloon.  I got on their website today and read the history they've posted.  Interesting.

They state that a Virgil Hahn established his bar and grill at that location in 1938, and the first beer was served. Then, in 1958, the business was sold to a Charles Mahoney who maintained the business until 1969, when the establishment became the present-day Murphey's.

The site also states that there have been many proprietors over the years.  Is it possible that between Hahn's and Mahoney's, the Prosit existed?

I remember, when we lived on Klotter Avenue, just a block or so down Clifton hill, in the sixties, the Prosit was there. On Clifton Avenue, not far from the corner of our street.  Honestly, it was there.

Perhaps in the empty lot next to Murphey's Pub there stood another commercial building that was demolished, and that was where the Prosit sat. Up until now, I've thought the empty lot was where the apartment building stood that Grandma lived in when I was a child, where Aunt Dot, Aunt Clara and Uncle Frank lived up until they married.

'll have to take another look when we're up there next, actually get out of the car and walk...maybe the physical closeness to the street and buildings will jolt my memory.  I'm also thinking I need to look up old property records to see what happened to the Prosit.

In the meantime, if a kindred Cincinnatian reading this remembers the old Prosit, give me a holler.  I'd be much obliged.  Back to my storywriting.