Tour Locations | Unholy Toledo Tour: Gambling and Gangsters in the Glass City
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LOCATION 1
Tour Start
Welcome to the Unholy Toledo Tour. You should be parked in front of the Art Tatum Celebration Column at the corner of Madison and Superior for the start of this 2-hour tour.
My name is Tedd Long...
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LOCATION 2
Valentine Theatre and Show Boat Lounge | 418 Superior Street
Pull over on the other side of Adams in front of the Valentine Theatre on your right.
The historic Valentine Theatre was built in 1895. During the roaring twenties, this building was home to se...
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LOCATION 3
Toledo Bowling and Pastime Club (Georgio's) | 426 Superior Street
Stop here in front of Georgio's Cafe International
In 1915, this building's owners incorporated as the Toledo Bowling and Pastime Club. According to Terry Shaffer, the club had 5 poker tables an...
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LOCATION 4
Bell Murder | Corner of Superior and Jackson
Remember to please slide over to the right so you don't block the intersection.
The Licavoli gang demonstrated just how far they would go to control Toledo's illicit gambling and booze business ...
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LOCATION 5
The Studio Club | 513 St. Clair
Pull over next to the boulevard at St. Clair.
As you look out to your left at the green space east of the United Way Building, keep in mind that St. Clair used to continue past Jackson through t...
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LOCATION 6
Who Was Jimmy Hayes? | St. Clair and Madison
Let's pull over to the right -- just before Madison.
Gerald James "Jimmy" Hayes came to Toledo from the Irish ghettos of Cleveland as a teenager in the early 1900's. He learned about the Toledo ...
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LOCATION 7
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LOCATION 8
Jefferson Avenue | From St. Clair to 13th Street
Pull over in front of the red facade of 513 Jefferson on your left, the home of Downtown Johnny's. It's right next to the Commadore Perry.
Remember how we mentioned St. Clair used to continue on...
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LOCATION 9
Directions to Central Post Office
Slow down here, we're going to make a right onto 13th street and pull over to check the old Central Post Office.
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LOCATION 10
Central Post Office | Jefferson and 13th Street
Pull over where you can.
In February 1921, Toledo became national news when a local hoodlum named Joe Urbaytis, and his gang of more than a dozen bandits pulled off the biggest robbery in Toledo...
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LOCATION 11
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LOCATION 12
Turn left on 12th
Turn left here onto 12th. Remember, pull over to your right about half-way into the block in front of the parking lot.
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LOCATION 13
Argonne Hotel | 312 12th Street
To our left is a surface lot that was once home to a seedy hotel.
When the Licavoli gang arrived in Toledo in 1931 they chose the Argonne Hotel as their headquarters. There's nothing to see tod...
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LOCATION 14
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LOCATION 15
Turn left on 14th Street
Turn left on 14th Street. You'll be pulling over a little further ahead.
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LOCATION 16
Trianon Ballroom and the Toledo Club
Pull over here where you can.
This area was a happening spot in the '20s and 30's. The Trianon Ballroom sat to our right where the Toledo School for the Arts sits today. With its 60 by the 180-f...
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LOCATION 17
Right on Jefferson Ave
Turn right here onto Jefferson and head to 17th Street, where you'll pull over to the right just in front of the intersection.
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LOCATION 18
Cleveland Comes Calling | Jefferson and 17th Street
Let's pull over here.
We mentioned earlier that Jimmy Hayes had opened a couple of operations in the Cleveland area. It seems Jimmy politely turned down the Cleveland boys when they asked for t...
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LOCATION 19
Murder at the Park Lane | Jefferson and 23rd Street
Pull over to the right so we can check out the Park Lane Hotel on our left.
Built in 1925 of red brick and limestone, the Park Lane once catered to such celebrities as Eleanor Roosevelt, Cary G...
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LOCATION 20
Park Lane Guests
Let's turn left here on Collingwood and make another left at the light onto Monroe.
I mentioned that Gary Grant was a guest at the Park Lane. Are you wondering what his connection to Toledo cou...
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LOCATION 21
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LOCATION 22
The FBI Sneaks into Town | 2132 Monroe Street
Slide over to your right to get out of the traffic and check out this story.
Now the home of the Lucas County 911 building, a second-floor apartment that once sat here on Monroe Street between 2...
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LOCATION 23
Acme Sales Company | Monroe and Michigan
Let's pull over here to the right just before Michigan Avenue.
The vacant lot at the northwest corner of Monroe and Jackson was home to the Acme Sales Company. We don't make these names up, we...
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LOCATION 24
The Tenderloin | Monroe and Huron
Turn right here onto Huron Street.
We're now cruising into the heart of Toledo's old Tenderloin District. The Tenderloin covered a number of city blocks in the vicinity of Lafayette and Washing...
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LOCATION 25
Left on Lafayette Street
Turn left here onto Lafayette and then pull over to the right.
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LOCATION 26
The Tenderloin | Huron and Lafayette Street
Let's pull over to the left, across from Spaghetti Warehouse.
Toledo's Tenderloin was cleaned up in 1918 by the Federal government to protect draft-age young men from social diseases before they...
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LOCATION 27
Summit Street
Turn left here onto Summit.
We're going to head up to Point Place to explore a few more chapters of the Unholy Toledo story. You’ll stay on Summit all the way so just follow the road. It’s a bit...
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LOCATION 28
Toledo's Biggest Event That Never Happened
Up ahead is Jamie Farr Park, follow Summit Steet as is it zig-zags here from left to right and keep heading north toward Point Place.
When you consider the major events that have been hosted in ...
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LOCATION 29
Dempsey Willard Fight | Bay View Park
Coming up on our right is Bay View Park, the site of the Jess Willard-Jack Dempsey world championship bout held on July 4, 1919. This was the biggest sporting event, or perhaps, the biggest histori...
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LOCATION 30
Right into Cullen Park
Turn right into Cullen Park up ahead and stop at the far end of the parking lot.
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LOCATION 31
Point Place
Welcome to Point Place, a peninsula located between where the Maumee River and the Ottawa River flow into Maumee Bay. In the early 1930s, Point Place was less a Toledo suburb and more of a summer ...
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LOCATION 32
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LOCATION 33
Left on 304th St
Turn left here on 304th and pull over at the intersection of 121st Street for our next stop.
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LOCATION 34
Golden Rose Supper Club | 121st Street and 304th Street
Let's let any traffic go by and pause in the middle of the intersection up ahead for just a minute to get a view down the street toward the bay.
Looking out to your right, at the end of 121st S...
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LOCATION 35
Right on 124th St
Turn right here onto 124th St and follow the street as it curves to the left.
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LOCATION 36
Right on 131st St
We're going to turn right on 131st and continue on to Edgewater Drive.
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LOCATION 37
Left on Edgewater Drive
Turn left here onto Edgewater Drive.
You'll pull into the parking lot of the Ottawa River Yacht Club at the corner of Edgewater and 140th Street.
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LOCATION 38
Kennedy's Cottage
Coming up on our right is 136th Street. It was down this street that Jack Kennedy found a summer cottage for rent so he could stay low and avoid the Licovoli gang after his beat down of Mirabella a...
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LOCATION 39
Kennedy Hit | 5902 Edgewater Drive
Pull into the parking lot here on your right.
Roughly seven months after the murder of Louise Bell at Superior and Jackson and just a month after the fight at Acme Sales on Monroe and Michigan, ...
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LOCATION 40
The Law Steps Up
We're going to follow Edgewater as it curves to the right and becomes 131st Street and stay on it to Summit Street. I'll fill you in on what happened after the Kennedy hit as we roll along.
As a...
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LOCATION 41
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LOCATION 42
Turn right on 119th Street
Slow down, we're going to make a right up ahead on 119th Street.
Follow 119th west to the Ottawa River.
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LOCATION 43
Murder Weapons Found
Le'ts make a left and follow Ottawa River Road to Suder Avenue.
Just two days after the Kennedy hit outside Neumeyer’s Grocery Story, three boys found a Colt .38 here at the foot of 119th Stree...
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LOCATION 44
Suder Avenue
Okay, Let's turn right onto Suder Avenue, and then we'll be turning left onto Benore Road.
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LOCATION 45
The Death of Jimmy Hayes
Let's turn left here on Benore Road.
While Frazier Reams and the prosecutor's office did their best to clean up Toledo, the violence wasn't over. On the morning of Thursday, October 4, 1934, loc...
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LOCATION 46
Left on Alexis
We're going to turn left on Alexis, then get ready to take the next right onto Benore.
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LOCATION 47
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LOCATION 48
Club Devon | 6225 Benore Road
Slide over to the right here out of the traffic lane in front of the Mudjaw Bowmen Archery Club and stop where you can.
This is the former site of Club Devon. Built in 1941, Club Devon was descr...
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LOCATION 49
Right on S Dixie Hwy
Take a right here and keep going.
You'll be pulling into the parking lot of Angelo's Northwood Villa. I'll let you know when.
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LOCATION 50
The Villa | 6630 S Dixie Hwy, Erie, MI
Take a right just ahead and pull into the parking lot of Angelo's Northwood Villa.
[5 SECONDS PAUSE]
Opened by Jimmy Hayes, the Villa was considered an exclusive gambling house for the wealth...
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LOCATION 51
The Avenue of Booze
When Michigan went dry in 1918, one year before the rest of the country, many Michiganders headed south to the Buckeye State to get their booze. This road, the Dixie Highway, was the main artery ba...
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LOCATION 52
The New Dixie Inn | 5210 North Detroit
To your left is the former site of the New Dixie Inn at 5210 North Detroit (Now OmniSource). This joint operated from 1954 to 1957 – 24 hours a day.
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LOCATION 53
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LOCATION 54
The Dixie Inn | 4800 North Detroit
On our left was the Dixie Inn, 4800 North Detroit, opposite E. Poinsetta. This club was owned by Benny Aronoff, Joe and Pat Morrissy (former assistants to Jimmy Hayes), Ed Warnke, and Harry Levine....
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LOCATION 55
Mecca Club | 4700 Detroit Avenue
On the left at California was the Mecca Club. Opened in 1943 and closed in 1957.
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LOCATION 56
The End of the Unholy Toledo Era
Turn left up ahead onto La Grange Street. We're going to head back toward downtown Toledo.
Continue down LaGrange and turn right on the Greenbelt Parkway to head back downtown.
As we drive, ...