We had a 365Cincinnati Tour in December that featured some of our city’s finest hotels, Christmas decor and some might fine eats! Our stops included a long tour of The Hilton Netherland Hotel, a tour of The Cincinnatian Hotel, as well as stops at Tazza Mia and Abby Girl Cupcakery.
We started off at Tazza Mia (their 600 Vine location) for a coffee tutorial from their Master Roaster, Rob. Let me tell you – if you need to know anything about coffee, Rob is your guy. Tazza Mia has a mighty impressive coffee roasting area, full of computers and steel equipment. Quite impressive. Rob held our demo session right there, showing us picutes on his iPad and passing around coffee beans. Rob proceeded to roast beans as we watched. After the beans were roasted, Rob presented us all with cups of the coffee – fragrant and hot and that cold morning!
photo courtesy of Tim Jeffries
Tazza Mia is a large coffee shop located on the corner of Vine and 6th Streets in the 600 building. It’s an open and airy spot with a wall of windows facing the street and lots of seating. They have all kinds of hot and cold drinks and they serve up some fine food selections as well.
After leaving Tazza Mia, we headed across the street for a brief tour of The Cincinnati Hotel. The Cincinnatian is Cincinnati’s oldest hotel, built in 1882 and is another one of Samuel Hannaford’s beautiful buildings. At the time, it was Cincinnati’s tallest building with eight stories.
The Cincinnatian’s Christmas decorations are, by far, the best ones downtown (in my opinion anyway!). Below you’ll see just a snippet of the original marble and walnut stairwell, all decked out for Christmas.
Much to my surprise, we even got to go upstairs to see one of their guest suites. This room was AMAZING! And I know it’s weird to post a bathroom picture but when was the last time your hotel bath looked like this?!
And in the corner of The Cricket (one of my favorite spots to grab dinner downtown), they have the hotel’s original safe on display.
photo courtesy of Tim Jeffries
After that we proceeded on to The Hilton Netherland Plaza for our tour of their amazing building. We had a private tour that day BUT if you’d like to see these elements for yourself, they do offer a self-guided tour packet which is available at their concierge’s desk.
This hotel has such a remarkable history, from start to finish. The hotel (financed by the Emery family) was to be a “city within a city” and plans began in the late 1920′s. Here’s a bit of history on its beginning…
Emery’s vision of the Carew Tower led him to make some bold financial moves – which worked in his favor. Emery had approached the bank to underwrite financing for the “city within a city” project. The bank did not share the vision of the multi-purpose facility and declined the loan. Emery sold all of his stocks and securities, despite advice from his financial advisors. The plans and financing for the Carew Tower were in place, and then the stock market crashed. Had Emery left his stocks and securities tied up in the stock market, he would have lost everything. But instead, with his money going toward the building of Carew Tower, the project could continue as planned. In fact, the construction project became one of the city’s largest employers. (text from HistoricalHotels.org)
This hotel is truly full of stunning opulence. The attention to detail is simply amazing. This hotel is truly a work of art.
We got to go into many of the banquet rooms including the Hall of Mirrors, modeled after the Palace of Versailles in Paris. The workmanship that went into this place is truly stunning.
This hotel is a showcase of the art deco movement. You’ll find incredible pieces of Rookwood Pottery, fabulous light fixtures, Brazilian Rosewood, elaborate elevators and doors, and so much more.
And if that wasn’t enough, after our tour of The Hilton Netherland Plaza we made one final stop at Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery (another one of my favorite places downtown). Abby Girl sits right next to the Hilton Netherland so we walked right in from their lobby (you can also enter from their 5th Street door). We each got to take one of their delectable cupcakes home with us. It was the perfect ending to a perfect morning of touring!
photo courtesy of Tim Jeffries
I hope you’ll consider joining us on our other tours. We have one per month and we do get to go behind the scenes of some amazing places!
Tazza Mia is lcoated at 600 Vine Street downtown (they other locations too – Carew Tower and Chiquita Building); Connect with Tazza Mia on Facebook
The Cincinnatian Hotel is located at 601 Vine Street; Connect with The Cincinnatian Hotel on Facebook
The Hilton Netherland Hotel is located at 35 West 5th Street ; Connect with The Hilton Netherland Plaza on Facebook
Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery is located at 41 West 5th Street ; Follow their offerings of the day on Facebook.
