Speakeasies Make Secret Comeback

But they're not very similar to true Prohibition-era bars

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 3, 2009 12:32 PM CDT

(Newser) – Across the US, trendy bars are cropping up—but good luck finding them. These homages to the 1920s speakeasy are obscured by wooden slats, hidden behind other stores, accessible only by password. “People have an affection for this period of American history, and they want the mystery,” one owner tells the New York Times—though none of the new speakeasies truly represent the era they’re romanticizing.

True Prohibition-era cocktails, usually made with homemade liquor, were bad or, worse, poisonous. The high-end drinks served at today’s speakeasies hearken back to cocktails’ pre-Prohibition golden age. The same can be said of their ritzy décor—as one author points out, real speakeasies “were dives where you drank bad liquor from a bottle with a counterfeit label and woke up with a headache in the morning.”

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (1)]

A man kneeling on the pavement, next to a sign showing the way to a speakeasy, during Prohibition. (Getty Images)

The Varnish in Los Angeles (©tannazie)

Please Don't Tell in New York (©Meg Zimbeck)

Speakeasies are making a comeback, but they're not your great-grandfather's liquor joints. (Flickr)

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Speakeasy is a funny term, since the business is legal. What people are referring to is the allure, almost like an opium den. - Eric Alperin, partner and head bartender at the Varnish

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COMMENTS

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Showing 2 of 2 comments

wwwonderer

Jun 3, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

I'm not sure but I imagine smuggling alcohol from Canada to say Texas would be a problem at that time. Illinois, NY, northern states, probably not a problem. And who says that homemade alcohol can't be made in Canada? They do have homes, right? With that being said. Yeah, I thought a lot of what went on during prohibition with Canada is similar to what we see going on with prescription drugs now.

Rob

Jun 3, 2009 8:26 AM CDT

Ever heard of bathtub gin?

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alcohol • Prohibition • trend • Jay-ZTV • bar • speakeasy

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Speakeasies Make Secret Comeback