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13 unusual facts about prohibition in the United States


Abner Lewis

Active in the Methodist church as a lay preacher, and a prominent member of the prohibition movement, in 1870 he was the Prohibition Party's nominee for Governor.

Anson, Texas

The event happened sporadically until it faded away during Prohibition.

Billy Sianis

In early 1934, two months after the repeal of Prohibition, Sianis purchased the Lincoln Tavern, a bar across the street from Chicago Stadium.

Cleveland Division of Police

When legendary Prohibition-era crimefighter Eliot Ness became director of public safety in 1935, he abolished the existing system of precincts and reorganized the city into police districts, with each commanded by a captain.

Culver Crest, Culver City, California

Culver Crest immortalized a part of developer Lewis Crank's life, with streets named for his boat the Esterina, which had been named for his first wife Esther (Anthony Cornero's sister); Linda Way for his eldest daughter; Cranks Road, and Ranch Road as the property had been an avocado ranch among other things during Prohibition.

Danny Walsh

Daniel L. "Danny" Walsh (c. 1893-February 2, 1933?) was an organized crime figure in Providence, Rhode Island involved in bootlegging during Prohibition.

Emory Buckner

In the midst of Prohibition, he directed highly publicized trials of the operators of speakeasies.

Frank Novak

Novak has appeared in numerous theatrical productions including A Cat Among Pigeons, as Lenny in Of Mice and Men for the Santa Susanna Repertory Company, the title role in King Lear at the Basement Theater, and as the mob boss Salvadore Lombardi in Jon Mullich's adaptation of A Servant of Two Masters, set in Prohibition-era Chicago.

George Went Hensley

(This occurred during the Prohibition Era, when alcohol production and consumption were illegal in the U.S.)

Hensley was arrested in Tennessee on moonshine-related charges during the Prohibition era and sentenced to a term in a workhouse, from which he escaped and fled the state.

Louis Ginzberg

One of his responsa concerns the use of wine in the Jewish community during the Prohibition era.

Stringtown, Oklahoma

On August 5, 1932, while Bonnie Parker was visiting her mother, Clyde Barrow and two associates were drinking alcohol at a dance in Stringtown (illegal under Prohibition).

The Absolute at Large

The later happened because the United States were exhausted by a bloody civil war between the supporters and opponents of the Prohibition.


A Home on the Mississippi

After the end of Prohibition in 1933, Currier and Ives licensed the image to the makers of Southern Comfort, who continue to use the lithograph on their liqueur labels today.

Berkeley Township, New Jersey

Al Capone may have frequented its halls, perhaps even venturing beneath the lake in tunnels especially designed for smuggling alcohol during Prohibition.

Champagne stemware

It was popularized in post-prohibition America at the Stork Club, where champagne flowed freely and celebrities had bottles of champagne sent to their tables, compliments of the house.

Flamingo, Florida

During prohibition moonshining became a major occupation in Flamingo but was eventually suppressed by government agents.

Harry Donenfeld

It is speculated that Harry, through links with gangster Frank Costello, moved alcohol, now illegal during the prohibition, along with legitimate Canadian pulp paper across the border.

Jameson Irish Whiskey

The temperance movement in Ireland had an enormous impact domestically but the two key events that affected Jameson were the Irish War of Independence and subsequent trade war with the British which denied Jameson the export markets of the Commonwealth, and shortly thereafter, the introduction of prohibition in the United States.

Pardon My Scotch

Pardon My Scotch was filmed four months after the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, which ended the American experiment with Prohibition.

The Gay Bride

Gold-digging chorus girl Mary (Carole Lombard) marries the head of a bootlegging syndicate, gangster "Shoots" Magiz (Nat Pendleton), but the illegal liquor business goes down the drain when Prohibition is repealed, and Shoots is knocked off by rival Daniel Dingle (Sam Hardy).