Speakeasy
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- This article is about Prohibition-era liquor establishments. For other uses, see Speakeasy (disambiguation).
A speakeasy was an establishment that was used for selling and drinking alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition, when selling or buying alcohol was illegal. The term comes from a patron's manner of ordering alcohol without raising suspicion — a bartender would tell a patron to be quiet and "speak easy".
The origin of the word predates Prohibition by at least 30 years. Samuel Hudson, a newspaperman in the late 19th century, said he heard the term used in Pittsburgh in the 1880s by an old Irish woman who sold liquor without a license. She told her clients to "speak easy" if they wanted to buy some. The Cassell Dictionary of Slang lists the word as coming into usage around 1890. The term spake-aisy was used even a century before this, where it referred to smugglers' hideouts.
Speakeasies were formed in the 1920s as a means to get around the everyday hassle of law enforcement watching for people to violate the Eighteenth Amendment. As a result of Prohibition, the speakeasy was an established institution. When legitimate saloons closed as a result of the new law, underground palaces would spring up to meet the demand for alcohol. These speakeasies were one of the many ways that people during the 1920s and early 1930s obtained illegal alcohol. By the middle of the decade there were thought to be 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone; it was said that a glass of liquor could be obtained from any building on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, provided the correct locations and passwords. Federal agents also reported that this area was one of the "wettest" in the country.
One former speakeasy still exists in New York city, Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street. It remains authentically decorated and there are no signs on the door to indicate that inside lies a bar and restaurant. There is even a secret back door leading out to a passageway on to Barrow Street so that customers could make a quick exit when the police called!
Speakeasies became more popular and numerous as the Prohibition years progressed, as well as more commonly operated by those with connections to organized crime. While police and United States Federal Government agents would raid such establishments and arrest the owners and patrons, the business of running speakeasies was so lucrative that such establishments continued to flourish throughout the nation. In major cities, speakeasies could often be elaborate, offering food, live bands, and floor shows. Police corruption at this time was notoriously rampant; police were commonly bribed by speakeasy operators to either leave them alone or at least give them advance notice of any planned raid.
Another slang term similar to a speakeasy is "blind pig".
Some discreet venues called smoke-easies have popped up in states such as New York, California, and Massachusetts where smoking tobacco in bars and clubs is prohibited.