Rides On Monmouth

            The city of Newport, KY has something of an infamous history. Because of how isolated the city was it tended to police itself, especially in matters of borderline illegal activity. At one point in its history, Newport was the original “Sin City” and became the model for the Las Vegas casinos. With allegations of corruption, mobsters, illegal gambling casinos running right out in the open, prostitution and anything else you could imagine filling a sordid pulp novel, Newport, and especially the main drag, Monmouth Street, was a vice seeker’s paradise.

            So prominent were these activities that they eventually caught the attention of politicians on the national level. In fact, Robert Kennedy actually came to town at one point to try to lead the charge to clean up the city. But the hearings he devised did little to quash these activities.

            Today, Newport is cleaned up with new businesses taking the place of the vice machine. But several books have been written on the subject and some local folks have even created the Newport Gangster Tour which recounts the city’s disreputable history. For more information, check out their website: http://www.americanlegacytours.com/?q=tours/newport-gangster-tour/.

Now, Monmouth Street is lined with quaint shops and restaurants and once a year, with a couple hundred great classic and collector cars. The annual City of Newport and KY Klassics Car Club “Rides On Monmouth” car show brings out a host of wonderful people who want to show off their autos.

Over the next few blogs I’ll be posting pictures from this show. But with so many it would take a solid month of blogs to cover them all. So from time to time I’ll be dropping in a blog with more pictures from this show. Hope you all enjoy these great cars as much as I did.