AZ Trip #25- A Walk Down Tombstone's Allen Street- and "Horsing Around"

Horse drawn wagon rides for tourists!

Today's blog about Tombstone is just about the sights you'll see walking down the main street (Allen Street), including the famous Oriental Saloon, the place where Virgil Earp was ambushed, the site of the former Grand Hotel and some fun that Dan and I had at the O.K. Corral riding some fake "horses." 

WAGON RIDES- One of the cool things you can do is take a horse-drawn carriage ride down the streets of Tombstone!


HORSING AROUND - the O.K. Corral had a could of wooden horses for people to ride for pictures, so of course Dan and I had to partake! 


THE ORIENTAL SALOON- Back in the early 1880s Wyatt Earp ran the Oriental saloon. When Tombstone suffered a couple of fires, the Oriental was one of the casualties. It was recently rebuilt in 2018 (I believe) to look as it did when Wyatt Earp had a Faro gambling table there. It's located
500 E Allen St, Tombstone, AZ 85638.

The Oriental Saloon opened on July 22, 1880, issuing in the advent of one of Tombstone's two fanciest bars.  The bar, carpeting, furnishings, periodicals, and live piano and violin music were impressive and quite an attraction in this tiny frontier town.

 VIRGIL EARP AMBUSHED -
In December 1881 City Marshal Virgil Earp was ambushed and shot just outside of the Oriental Saloon by the criminal cowboys. He lost the use of one of his arms as a result of the shooting.

A Canine visitor!

Virgil Ambushed

The Crystal Palace Saloon

ABOUT THE CRYSTAL PALACE - Located at
20 E Allen St, Tombstone, AZ 85638, the Crystal Palace was originally known as the Golden Eagle Brewing Company, one of early Tombstone's first saloons. It occupied just a small lot of about 50 by 30 feet while the brewery was in another structure to the rear. Named after its builder, Benjamin Wehrfritz, the Wehrfritz Building was expanded by adding a second story to house the offices for such notables as U.S. Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp, attorney George W. Berry, and Dr. George E. Goodfellow. It is even known that "Buckskin" Frank Leslie was a night watchman here for a short time

THE GRAND HOTEL NO MORE - The Grand Hotel opened in Sept 1880. It was a luxury hotel with walnut finishings and Brussels carpets and rare oil paintings. Unfortunately it became a hangout for the notorious Cowboy gang, likely because fellow cowboy (despite being a Sheriff) Johnny Behan bartended there. It burned down in the great fire of 1882. It was rebuilt as 3 other businesses and fire destroyed it again in 1924.

NEXT: TOMBSTONE'S NEWSPAPER OFFICE.. STILL GOING SINCE 1880