Dr. Tumblety’s Conjures a World Inspired by Spirits

Allentown is just one of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods, but unlike many others north and south of our three rivers, it’s easy to find. A direct shot up Arlington Avenue from East Carson Street (near the Smithfield Street Bridge) gets you to an elevation from which you can see much of Oakland across the Monongahela. Arlington Avenue still retains the trolley tracks of old Pittsburgh, used today by PRT Light Rail Transit cars, but originally embedded in cobblestone for horse-drawn buses. It’s somewhat fitting that this winding old road should take visitors into a popular neighborhood that retains so much of its architectural integrity and charm. Appropriately, too, Arlington Avenue has transported generations of Allentown residents, many of whom can assert their family names as bedrocks of this historic community.

Jesse Mader, now 42, grew up in Allentown. His parents still live a few blocks off of E. Warrington Avenue. A Hazelwood cemetery where his father worked served as one of Jesse’s boyhood haunts. With real props from the cemetery, Jesse, his father and family friends designed and operated the Walter Street haunted house, a favorite Allentown attraction at Halloween time. A graphic designer and former ad agency partner, Jesse married his wife Amanda in New Orleans in 2016. The wedding destination fed the couple’s passion for all things post-Victorian; of gas-lit alleyways, of voodoo fetishes, and of French couture. In New Orleans, they studied the design aesthetic that established much of America’s early days of product branding, of apothecary sciences, and of Prohibition fashions. In that respect, they discovered, too, that the prosperous days of New Orleans wholly jibed with the early commercial success of Pittsburgh. Much of what Europe had to offer our northern industrial states first landed in New Orleans where steam boats built in Pittsburgh served our abundant manufacturers whose goods—like fine fancy glassware, steam-milled cotton and tempered iron tools—were, in turn, exported through the Crescent City back to Europe. Well before the turn of the last century, Pittsburgh and New Orleans enjoyed a symbiosis of culture few other “sister cities” shared. Want proof? Consider the origins of jazz.

The truth of Dr. Tumblety’s adventures are more easily supposed than fact-checked. But the story goes that this man, once suspected of being Jack the Ripper, escaped London to land in New Orleans where he was known to be incarcerated for a night or two before appearing sometime later in Pittsburgh. “Doctor” Tumblety operated an apothecary shop downtown. Let’s say the year may have been 1900. Or 1903. But it’s all mostly lore anyway. Yet, it’s Dr. Tumblety whose once mysterious presence in Pittsburgh inspired Jesse and Amanda Mader, as well as another partner, Mike Miles, to create Dr. Tumblety’s Time-Inspired Specialty Shop in Allentown. The doctor may have been a fleeting figment of a felon-turned-pharmacist, but this emporium of fashion, antiques, speakeasy cocktails, and burlesque entertainments is the real deal. There is nothing else like it in Pittsburgh. And it’s so worth the quick hike up Arlington Avenue to discover this rare experience. Even better, as Halloween approaches, now may be the best time of year to discover vestiges of the occult, to sip a soothing Sazerac, or to shop for a killer new hat.

One visit can seem confusing. Here, upfront, one enters an antique emporium of gilt-framed Daguerrotypes, specialty cosmetics, popular magazines of yesteryear, men’s grooming aids, china dolls, even paper dolls, and perfumes. But there’s also a tray of distilled spirits—rum, gin, brandy, and specialty eaux de vies—and an invitation for a free tasting.  Which might lead the bold and daring to ask what lies beyond a curtain at the rear of the store from whence can be heard muted conversation, the laugh-track dialogue of an old Space Ghost cartoon, or the sultry vibes of a modern day chanteuse. Walk past the curtain and unfolding before you is an ornate wooden bar, cove seating, and dimmed lighting. This is the Storyville Lounge, a name which arises from the once quarantined bawdy district of New Orleans. And oh, but there are many more antiques: bamboo lamps with carved wooden monkeys, large framed silver prints of ladies in French undergarments, hanging portraits of Satchmo and B.B. King, and plentiful busts of winged cherubs and angelic cupids. The color palette is decidedly dazzling with red velvet curtains, green Tiffany lamps, and warm, shiny copper pennies embedded in the long oak bar.  

Nearly unique to this Pittsburgh emporium of fine tastes is its own in-house distillery. Inspired By Spirits Distilling Co. operates out of an adjacent storefront, with several homemade pot stills and plenty of copper tubing all custom made by partner Mike Miles. Here he helps craft some truly rare spirits, many derived from fresh local produce. Visitors can watch the facility when things are cooking. And so, craft cocktails are, of course, the main offering. October brings a delicious Autumn Daiquiri front and center. A Storyville Sazerac beckons with absinthe, bitters and Pennsylvania rye. There are flights of flavored rums or brandies, homestyle martinis, and, of course, wines and beers. Food may be an afterthought; yet, you’ll find imported New Orleans style potato chips and baskets of pepperoni rolls and soft pretzels from the famous Carson Street Pretzel Shop. Dr. Tumblety’s spirits can also be purchased on the premises.

But that ain’t all, folks. A fourth room in Dr. Tumblety’s expansive emporium offers a second lounge, the Conjure Bar and Stage. Here’s where bands might play on any weekend night, open mic nights will attract aspiring comedians or slam poets, Burlesque nights might feature ladies in red silk or divas in corsets, and alternating weeknight evenings will host courageous Karaoke-ions or Moth-like storytellers. A schedule of Conjure Bar entertainments is online; be sure to check it because this is a “third Thursday” or “every other Wednesday” kind of stage.  Even still, you may never anticipate what the magician will pull from his hat next.

Dr. Tumblety’s Time-Inspired Specialty Shop, The Storyville Lounge at Dr. Tumblety’s, the Conjure Bar & Stage, as well as Inspired by Spirits Distilling Co. are each a sight to behold. But, altogether, better experienced and enjoyed. Sitting with Jesse Mader to chat about the origins of his multi-experiential establishment, I had to ask him how he and his partners originated the brand. Mader, after all, is an accomplished designer, and it shows particularly well in his storefront graphics, and on his website. Answered Jesse, “Dr. Tumblety was a patent medicine and snake oil salesman by trade, but he is our traveling advocate. We go out to travel the world to sell our spirits and collect goods from old cities like New Orleans and London, and bring them back home to his apothecary in Pittsburgh, where he also has a hidden distillery. It was Dr. Tumblety who uncovered the history, legend, and lore from some of our favorite places—and one of our favorite eras of history—and who allowed us to create this world we love to live in—a world inspired by spirits.”

Come some night in October, you’ll know where to find your world of spirits. In Allentown. 753 E. Warrington Avenue. 

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers live theater, film, and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

Share on Social Media