Speakcheesies

When Are All the Prohibition-Era Bar Names Going to Get Used Up, Already?

Photo: Robert K. Chin

Marcus Samuelsson chose to name his forthcoming restaurant, Red Rooster, after a Harlem speakeasy, and now Zagat Buzz brings news that the management team behind Crash Mansion are revamping the former Annex space (briefly the Doghouse) as “a Prohibition-style basement lounge” called Tammany Hall (just steps away from Boss Tweed’s!). The wonder of this is that there wasn’t already a New York bar with the name Tammany Hall. Check out these other bar names that refer to Prohibition, from the least imaginative to the most creative.

Prohibition — no definition needed.
The Speakeasy — again, pretty straightforward.
Moonshine — yup.
Blind Pig — a cut-rate speakeasy; see Blind Tiger.
Blind Tiger — see Blind Pig.
The Volstead — refers to the National Prohibition Act, also called the Volstead Act after teetotaling Congressman Andrew Volstead.
Raines Law Room — named after the pre-Prohibition law that curbed drinking on Sundays.
Black Rabbit — the Minetta Tavern was known as the Black Rabbit during Prohibition.
Death & Co. — takes its name from a Prohibition-era anti-drinking campaign.
Blue Ruin — a Prohibition-era term for bathtub gin.
The Jake Walk — paralysis that fell on many southerners as a result of drinking “jake” (highly alcoholic Jamaican ginger extract) as a way to skirt Prohibition laws.

When Are All the Prohibition-Era Bar Names Going to Get Used Up, Already?