When alcohol was banned in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933, people didn’t exactly stop drinking, they just got sneakier. Speakeasies popped up behind soda shops, gangsters made fortunes, and homemade booze flowed like water. These vintage photos capture the grit, glamour, and chaos of the Prohibition era in all its rebellious glory. From flappers to feds, this was one wild, whiskey-soaked chapter of American history.
Bar during Prohibition on Waterloo Avenue in 1920.
Cleveland, Ohio.
Group of women defiantly breaking Prohibition laws.
1925.
A woman is arrested for serving alcohol illegally from her “bootlegger’s life preserver”.
1924.
Kids catching runoff from poured out booze.
They would sell it back to the adults.
Cops pouring alcohol into the sewers at Van Brunt St. and Sackett St.
Brooklyn, New York.
California prohibition agents confiscating a fuel tank with 250 bottles of tequila hidden in it.
1930.
Having one last drink on the last day before prohibition started.
January 14, 1920.
Some rebellious folks during prohibition.
Early 1920s. Can you see they’re setting it on fire?
Buying Kosher wine for ‘Sacramental Purposes’.
1930s.
Women marching calling for the end of Prohibition.
1933.
Contraband beer being poured into the streets from barrels during Prohibition.
New York.
Two men pouring alcohol down the drain during prohibition.
1920s.
Later that night, when prohibition ended.
1933.
“Beer, we have it.”
1933.
Huge crowds welcoming the return of beer.
Los Angeles, April 7, 1933.
Dry Agents taking alcohol in barrels, stored in perfume establishment.
Hudson and 11th Street, 1922.
Liquor Raid at Luigi’s in Greenwich Village.
January 24, 1923.
Popular radio performer Jack Pearl Toasting the End of Prohibition.
1933.
The night prohibition ended.
December 5th, 1933.
The woman at a soda fountain pouring alcohol from her hollow cane.
1922.
U.S. Federal Agents pouring out wine.
Los Angeles, October 26, 1920.
A haul of prohibited alcohol after a raid on speakeasy bars.
New York, 1923.
A crowd gathering around confiscated and smashed still equipment.
Chicago, early 1920s.
Anheuser-Busch company car selling ice cream to stay afloat.
They probably had their side hustles too…
Cow shoes that moonshiners used during Prohibition to disguise their footprints.
Clever and creative.
Prohibition-era bootleggers.
St. Paul, Minnesota.
Anti-Prohibition protesters.
Newark, New Jersey.
A federal agent inspecting a ‘lumber’ truck after smelling alcohol during Prohibition.
Los Angeles, 1926.
Patrons make one last run to a liquor store before Prohibition starts.
Chicago.
Two American soldiers at a bar just 45 days before Prohibition started.
December 3rd, 1919. Seattle.
