drmstream[writing]

For thir­teen years, an entire nation intro­duced a law that made the sale of liquor ille­gal, but did not out­law the con­sump­tionof liquor. This incon­sis­tency cre­ated an entire cul­ture of play, where an entire gen­er­a­tion con­nived to find ways to get a hold of booze, get drunk and have fun. This game funded the explo­sion of the mafia, a seaboard cul­ture of smug­gling and depleted the cof­fers of local gov­ern­ments. It was a mis­guided social exper­i­ment that attempted to appease the sen­si­bil­i­ties of a Puri­tan minority.

In an odd quirk, my family’s his­tory book­ended Pro­hi­bi­tion: my great grand­fa­ther had a saloon in Brook­lyn that was put out of busi­ness at the start of Pro­hi­bi­tion, and my grand­fa­ther opened a bar in Miami as soon as pro­hi­bi­tion was repealed. Both busi­nesses embod­ied rich dreams and failed hopes, and left a legacy that bur­dened both men, in life and after.

The map above cap­tures the sub­ter­ranean vital­ity of the speakeasy cul­ture. As the map says, the bars will come and go, but rest assured, you’ll find one wher­ever you turn.

That was the Jazz age and its decline: con­tra­dic­tion, energy, glee and an essen­tial dis­con­nect with the memes of the body politic.