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What’s in a Name? Chicago thumbed its nose at Prohibition from the beginning.  Not only was Chicago born in earnest during the days of Prohibition, but right from the start it celebrated alcohol, political corruption, and thwarting the authorities that tried to snuff out the good...

Don’t Even Think About Alcohol! As if prohibiting the sale of alcohol wasn’t severe enough, legend has it that there were even attempts to rewrite the Bible to remove any references to alcohol.  And if you think that this is a radical idea in 2019, you...

Chicago’s Code of Silence in the Windy City By now we all know that the “wind” that gave Chicago its most famous nickname was really just the boastful ways of the city’s politicians.  So that the Windy City had one of the most notorious decades of...

There’s no doubt that from the first day of Prohibition until its inglorious end, the Chicago police department and federal Prohibition agents were outmatched.  Chicago was just not going to go dry without a fight, and that spirit opened up a space for the gangsters...

Happy Birthday, Prohibition! July 1, 1919 marks one hundred years since the birth of Prohibition nationwide and while we can all be glad it’s dead, Chicago would be far more boring if it had never lived.  Without the birth of Prohibition, Chicago wouldn’t have the rich,...

Visitors experiencing blasts of wind off the lake are often surprised to be told that the “windy city” moniker was originally given to Chicago around the 1870’s as a commentary on Chicago’s “windbag” persona. The big city with lake effect weather has always had larger than life personalities...

When out-of-towners descend upon Chicago for a night out on the town, they are generally surprised at the cost of a drink.  It helps, though, if you think about what it cost Chicago to be sober (allegedly) during Prohibition.  Sobriety took a far tougher toll...

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