The ingenuity of college students should never be underestimated. Especially college students desperate for booze, attention, and cash. It’s doubtful that the Chicago PD was overly enthusiastic about searching for the College Kidnapers in the early 1930’s, but by 1934, they would be some of...
How did your New Year’s Eve match up to the 1920’s? Whether by intention or purely coincidental, your celebration may not have been much different than the last time Chicago rang in the ‘20s. Other traditions, mercifully, have been left in the past. The cost of...
Happy New Year’s—Cheers to the New ‘20’s Prohibition didn’t officially begin until January 16, 1920, but everyone celebrating New Year’s Eve in Chicago on December 31, 1919 was celebrating as though it were the last toasted New Year they’d ever live to see. Although it could...
Christmas was never intended to be a sober holiday. It’s a holiday meant for peppermint schnapps, gin that tastes like Christmas trees smell, and a shot of cinnamon something in the coffee while kids open Christmas presents. So Christmas during Prohibition must have felt very...
Many of President Franklin Roosevelt’s quotes seem just as appropriate in the 21st century as they did during his Presidency. Surely, though, the one we can all agree on that has aged the best was his quip after overseeing the end of Prohibition. “What America...
Sadly, Chicago wasn’t the sole source of strange Prohibition stories during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Other cities also had oddballs and fascinating stories, including Los Angeles. Picture it, 1928 Los Angeles, California. You receive the dreaded government-issued jury summons in the mail. Maybe you’re not...
Evidently, Chicago had a slew of missing persons reported during Prohibition. It seems that it was commonplace for critical witnesses for the prosecution to go missing just before they delivered much anticipated testimony. Coincidence? Where was William Green? Critical to the prosecution of Harry Rubenstein in...
If you were a bootlegger in Chicago during November of 1925, your Thanksgiving may have been filled with dread instead of gratitude. Imagine waking up with plans to spend a lazy day feasting with your closest family and friends. You retrieve the Chicago Daily Tribune...
The Volstead Act upended America and created a sexual, cultural, and economic shift that would last well past the demise of Prohibition. But who was Volstead and why is he to blame for the dry years of Prohibition? Representative Andrew Volstead was, perhaps, the author of...
Everything old is new again, and as we head toward a 2020 political season, there’s a lot that we can learn from the strange party politics of the Prohibition Era 1920’s. If we don’t learn from that history, we’re doomed to repeat it, right? Take Virginia’s...