Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome back to Sort of Sophisticated, Dear listeners, the podcast where Amanda. Amanda.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Hello. Hello.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Hi. And I somehow managed to turn, would you say our completely random thoughts into some sort of cohesive semi educational conversation? Yeah, maybe sort of.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Right?
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Sorta.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Sorta, yeah.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Full disclosure for anybody just joining in or. We're not professors. We're not even trying to be. We just basically do a bunch of research. Well, I do a bunch of.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: No, Peter does a bunch of research.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: I do all the research.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: And I'm the student in this scenario and I learn.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Yes. Or the deer in headlights. One or the other. Right, whatever. Yeah. And then we try to just sort of stay on track and not screw everything up so bad. We do, but that sums it up.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: But like, we're not gonna stay on track for a hot second.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Here we go.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Okay, ready?
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Perfect. Playing right in to sort of Sophisticated.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Something for you.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: What am I looking at?
I am looking at a Krampus Christmas card. Say that three times fast. Krampus Christmas card. Oh my God, this is excellent. Where'd you get this?
[00:01:00] Speaker B: A client sent it to us.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: It's Krampus season.
St. Nick has been banished and now Krampus rules. This is hysterical.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great. And the only reason why I knew who that was was because of how you educated me on Krampus.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: So there you go, people. You gotta go back and listen to our Krampus episode. Krampus. It's very seasonal. It's very. It is very apropos.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Right, and then what? Another fun fact or fun.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: I got a fun fact about Krampus.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Not even a fun fact. Okay, go ahead. What's your fun fact about Krampus?
[00:01:32] Speaker A: It was our least listened to episode.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Oh, that's sad so far. I mean, it's because he's bolster it up, people. Bolster it up, but not really fun fact. I actually went with the girls to this Christmas thing and they remember what? During the Krampus episode. Pretty sure it was then we talked about like how other countries celebrate Christmas.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Oh yeah, totally.
That was fun. I liked that episode.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: So for whatever reason, I obviously at some point told my children about this and they were like, mommy, isn't that.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Blah blah, blah, Japan?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: And I can't remember exactly what she said. Right. The 10 year old. And I was like, where'd you learn that? And she goes, from you. Uncle Pete. Told you.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Look at that twofer right there. It's working.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: That one episode that had not enough listings.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: It's working its way into the fabric. The fabric.
Oh my God. Okay, that's good.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Good job.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: That's.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Good job. Good job. Anyways, so what are we talking about today? What else? Are you gonna educate me? So that way I can bring up months later on how I'm cool and relevant?
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Today is gonna be excellent. We are diving into one of the most unbelievable times in American history. Are you ready for this?
[00:02:40] Speaker B: That was the 80s.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: This is even bigger.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: This is the 20s. Oh, prohibition. We're talking about prohibition.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: I love it. We did talk about that. We talked about last week a little.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Okay. But then now we're going back. Maybe that's where it came from. Because I was trying to figure out why I was so interested in prohibition this week. That's it. Yes.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Do you want to know why I love it?
[00:02:57] Speaker A: No, why do you love it?
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Okay, so when I was in Portland, there's this whole row, and so underneath is, like, basements. It's like, a lot of them have, like, kind of, like, closed off the walls or whatever. Yes. One of the original speakeasies is down below.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Look at that.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: But also, they had tunnels where they did smuggle people, mind you. So that's also, like, not okay. But it was also how you would get to different, like, speakeasies or how they would smuggle alcohol all the way up and down.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: This is what I want to do with our venue. Can we do something like this with our venue? It would be fun.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Oh, have a speakeasy. Let's go.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: I don't know. Okay, so everybody who doesn't know. Prohibition basically is when the government banned alcohol. That was what happened. It was an amendment, people. It was during the 1920s, basically. A little bit started. 1919. 1933. We'll figure this whole thing out. But that's what we're talking about. It's sort of a big deal.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: People drank a lot.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: They drank a lot. And you needed passwords to drink.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Because you couldn't get in to any of these places without know. Because you didn't want to get in trouble for anything. Right? I know. Totally.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: If you haven't watched Peaky Blinders.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: Come on. Oh, God.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: So good.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: I loved Peaky. I'm so proud of you. Like, we finally found something. Okay.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: All right.
I told you I love prohibition.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: What's his name? Cillian Murphy. Oh, God.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: I must be an Elkie.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Easy on the eyes.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Easy on the eyes. What's the official title?
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Official title? History's Greatest Hangover. When America Tried to Stop Drinking.
Spoiler alert. People didn't work didn't work.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Didn't work. So how's this gonna make us more cultured and curious? Besides being alkies?
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Right? Because drinking makes us cultured. Because drinking makes it easier to talk to people.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: And that makes us more curious, probably. Maybe that's all. But really. Ok, I'm gonna say learning about prohibition is like learning America's personality. It's like the secret to America's personality.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Cause we're all drunk.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. Because, like, America is like, what? We're like rebels. We're rebel culture. Right.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: I'm sorry. I have to get rid of this Krampus card.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: It's like, get rid of it. That's fine. Think of, like, Hamilton. Remember back to Hamilton and like all our founding fathers, I mean, we were defiant, right? We were resilient. This is the whole thing. So, like, when we're told we can't do something, what are we gonna do?
[00:04:55] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: We'll do it anyway. Right? So this is why I would say, like, this is the American spirit. We'll call it the American spirit. That is why prohibition is gonna.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Yes.
What's our word of the day? Is it something about rebellious?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: I think you should give me more credit for just tying shit together out of nowhere. Completely out of my asshole. Okay, here we go.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: You did do that.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Word of the day, word of the day. Word of the day. I'll tell you what it's not gonna be. It's not gonna be douche. Like how you screwed me last week with gauche and douchebag, which don't even rhyme. Okay, Our word of the day today is frowzy.
Frowzy. F R O W S Y Frowzy.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Is this like browsy? Drowsy? Like drowsy. Like drowsy, drowsy. So, like, I make it a little tired. Tired. Or browsy, where I do the weird things in my eyebrows? Or frowsy. I frown too much?
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Browsy.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Are you frowzies?
[00:05:43] Speaker A: From now on, whenever we see old grandpas, we should say like, oh, my God, he's really browsy. Okay. No, frowzy is actually really old English word that means messy, unkempt, or just like.
Like, what would Ruth call today? Musty. I feel musty, dad. Like, clothes are wrinkly, not ironed. Like your hair isn't combed. Yeah.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: So browsy.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: You got out of bed.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Yeah, like browsy.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Okay. I don't know what that.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: I think of, like, big old bushy eyebrows that are browsy and kind of like unkept or frowzy and messy.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Showed up in the 17th century was used to describe people who looked rumpled or places that felt stale or stuffy. So it sounds fancy, but it's not fancy at all.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:06:17] Speaker A: It's the opposite. Fr.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Okay, so you're very frowzy.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: What are you talking about? I look like well put together.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Well, you have a personal shopper right now, okay?
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: You can't be frowzy.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: I guess I'm not frowsy today, baby. Now, now, now.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Okay. All right. So then what's the history? Let's go. Let's roll into it.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: It's all history. This is all we're gonna talk about.
We're not gonna get up to today.
Literally. This is what we're talking about.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Fair.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: All right, fine.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: What do I gotta know? Besides the fact that alcohol was banished?
[00:06:41] Speaker A: It was. It was terrible. I can't imagine living during that time. Kill me now.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: You would have loved the 20s.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: I know. I probably would have.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: You would have been like, the kingpin.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Al Capone.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I know, right? Okay, we got to do a vibe check on America in the late 1800s. That's how we got to start. Okay. Because, like, we're 10 or 20 years removed from the Civil War. That was 1863. 1865. Somewhere around there. Whatever. Yeah, okay. And everybody was drinking. Like, everybody was drinking in the late 1800s. Men, women, kids, preachers. Like, everybody. I'm not making it up.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Normalized.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I looked totally. I looked it up because I was surprised at the kid thing, but totally normal.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: I mean, they had to have been, because my grandpa was always like, when the baby's teeth start cutting in, just give her a little shot of whiskey. I'm like, I'm not giving her a little shot of whiskey.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: What is that all about?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Anyway, so. Yes, clearly.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: So I thought it was gonna be. Oh. Because the Civil War ended, people were all stressed out, yada, yada. 30 years later. It was a culture of drinking. It wasn't. It actually had to do with the fact that back then, booze. We're gonna call it booze.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Okay. Booze was cheaper than water and way safer to drink than water, believe it or not. Like, contamination wise.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: They had ultra filtrated for their booth.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: I guess, like, that went through the process and the water didn't. Right.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Interesting. Okay.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Besides the fact that it probably made lot better to drink booze than water, but, I mean, that's.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: I mean, how would you know? What if it was the water or the booze. I'm just saying.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: I don't know. Anyway, I didn't live back then. What do I know?
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Okay, so like our baseline here is that everybody was walking around drunk.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they had like bars on every corner. Like Starbucks today, right? They were everywhere. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So then basically some women especially, like wives at the time, get this giant bug up their butt and text each other to meet on Main street or like the town square or whatever they had back then.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Because the wives weren't allowed to do anything.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:08:15] Speaker B: The wives weren't allowed to do anything.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: It was the wives that started this damn prohibition movement to begin with. Right.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Because their husbands were getting drunk and getting all sleazy.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Yes, you are absolutely correct.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: That's how it started. Because they hated that their husband was.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Not the wives fault. It was the men's fault.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Because the men's were getting a little trashy.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: I stand corrected. Thank you very much, Amanda. You are right. I am wrong. This is the men's fault. Well, no, you are right. Because listen, the men would come home and what would they want? First of all, they were loud and obnoxious and smelly. And then they probably wanted to, you.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Know, or they were getting that somewhere else at all the brothels. Because during this time there was a brothel on every corner.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: My whole point of all this is the wives start something called the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The wctu.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: This is what starts. Right, you could argue. Basically became the first ever nationwide women's movement. That's kind of cool.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: That is kind of cool.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: The wctu. Let's go. And it would go around basically from bar to bar and try to get the. What are the bartenders, the owners of the saloons, to stop selling alcohol. So they were like. I guess they were also the original bar hoppers. Right. If you think about it.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: But also, why would anyone like, agree to not sell the booze?
[00:09:23] Speaker A: But they did because they got so fed up with these women. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They got so fed up.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: How did these women, like, come together to form a movement?
[00:09:30] Speaker A: That's my point. They didn't have, like, they texted each other.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: They couldn't have. Yeah, they did just put a note on their pony and slap the pony's butt. And like, this is what, like how big was this movement? Was it just in one town?
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Just wait a second.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Was it multiple towns? I have so many questions.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: You're completely out of control. So this is the best I could gather. Okay, so it's around 1873, 1874. Cause I did this. I did this homework.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Okay, fine.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: All these spontaneous women's crusades, let's call them, start breaking out all over, like, Ohio, Kansas and everything.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Cause, like, so independently of each other.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Independently, everybody's drinking in all these little small towns. A lot of wives are getting fed up with a lot of husbands. So in these little groups, 10 women, 12 women, 15 women, I don't know. Got it? They start going bar to bar in these little towns and, like, start praying and doing all sorts of shit to, like, bug these saloon owners to close their bars. Does this. Does this make sense? Okay, so then a bunch of newspapers get ahold of this concept, okay? And they're like, oh, shit, what's going on? So they start publishing this crap in the newspapers, okay? And once it starts publishing in the newspaper, now they can start connecting the dots, because then they can start writing letters to each other from town to town and so on and so forth. So it was a slow burn and took a while. But that's ultimately how, like, whatever, this WCTU got, like, put together. So what started as a whole bunch of independent women Crusades, thanks to the newspaper and thanks to letter writing, pony express, shit like that. It took a long time, but end up with the whole WCTU and they start a campaign to meet in 1874, November of 1874. So they do this all through the newspapers and said, like, we're all gonna meet in Cleveland, Ohio, to talk about all this shit and try to make one cohesive voice.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Okay. So they do that and they elected Annie Wittenmayer as their first president. So now we're totally official. Okay? So goes from small shit to big, okay? But the whole problem with the WCTU was all based on appealing to emotion. And that only got them so far. So, like, they inspired people, but they weren't changing anything because, like, the politicians weren't involved. No one was helping them. You got to remember, women didn't even have the right to vote back then.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Right?
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Right. I mean, this is like. That didn't even happen for.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: They were just being women.
Sure. So then what happened next?
[00:11:27] Speaker A: They needed men. That's what happened next. And I'm not like, I know, I know. Don't roll your eyes at me like, I'm not for the patriarchy, but I have to say what's real. Like, that's what they needed back then. Okay, so some clergymen who weren't drunk all the time. Right?
And then just other dudes in the congregation. Right? They went to churches to figure out who they could sort of get to rally behind. And they saw. Look around one day, and they're like, all right, this is not working anymore. This is not a spiritual issue anymore. This is now a political issue. Like, we gotta do some serious shit.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: So then who do they get on the politics side to back them?
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Here we go. So it's 1893.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: We jumped far ahead.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: We did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now they're doing this for, like, 20 years or something like that. The Anti Saloon League is officially born. Anti Saloon League? Yes. And it was essentially 2.0 version of the WCTU.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Were they called the ASL?
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yes, they were.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Were they deaf?
[00:12:11] Speaker A: No, but that would be really funny. Oh, my God. That was good.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: Oh, that was a bad joke.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: But now they had a bunch of, like, political strategy. Now we're ready to go here. This got serious. Okay. So while the WCTU kept the moral pressure on everyone, the Anti Saloon League.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: The asl, thank you very much.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Started threatening lawmakers, like, drafting legislation, endorsing candidates. Like, shit got serious. Which basically turned the temperature way up. Y. Yes. The government now had a national problem on their hands.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: That's crazy how that all starts.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: I know.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Did they make any headway?
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Oh, they made headway.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: I mean, clearly, because Prohibition came about. But, like, how did they make headway? Who did they shake down?
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Oh, there was a lot of shaking down. There was a lot of shaking down. Are we ready?
[00:12:50] Speaker B: I guess, but I have so many questions.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Okay, what's your question?
[00:12:53] Speaker B: But, like, politically, because, like, during that time during Prohibition, there was a ton of lawmakers who were getting, like, kickbacks.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: I know, right? Yeah, they were.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: So then, you know, the conspiracy theorist of me is like, well, do they, like, vote for the law to shut everything down so that way they could get their kickbacks?
[00:13:10] Speaker A: No, they got kickbacks after the fact.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: But why would you then shut down alcohol?
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Why would you shut down alcohol?
[00:13:16] Speaker B: You're not gonna get your position back. You're not gonna get voted for again. Everyone's gonna blame you.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Let's start with this was America's worst decision. If you remember, this is how we started. I don't know why you shut down alcohol. I'm only reporting on the facts because.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: I know it wasn't morally correct. I understand it wasn't. Right, sure. Okay, fine. So they shut it down.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: No. So it took about 20 more years from, like, 1893 to, like, 1919. And then we finally get the 18th amendment of the United States Constitution. Prohibition, the Banning of making, selling, or transporting alcohol anywhere in the United States of America.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: But it's crazy how they were able to ratify that.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: It got pressure.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Insane.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: First lobbying group, like you just said, here's the crazy. You want to know the problem?
They only said they were banning it. But, like, the amendment didn't say, like, how they were going to ban it. It was just like, it's banned. There was no, like, follow up, how.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Do you enforce it? But then they left it to the states to enforce, didn't they?
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Loopholes. Here we go. So as soon as they pass the amendment, they realize they're basically fucked because now they got to figure out who's going to enforce all this. And they didn't, like, have any plans at all. So enter something called the Volstead act, which they enact nine months to be exact, after the 18th amendment was ratified, which basically decided what was counted as intoxicating liquor.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Isn't all liquor intoxicating?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Theoretically, yes. But they thought they were super smart and they had this big plan. The Vulset act said that any liquor that was over 0.5% alcohol was considered intoxicating. But really, that's everything.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: I was like, isn't that like kombucha?
[00:14:42] Speaker A: That is kombucha. Kombucha has to be less than 0.5. That is. I looked that up. Yes.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: I can't absolutely. So kombucha, technically would be okay. Theoretically, a set of Scoobies.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: A low dose of kombucha.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: Low ABV of kombucha.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: And so check this out. On top of them not really having any plan there, because that wasn't genius to begin with. They decided that the U.S. treasury Prohibition Bureau. The IRS. The IRS was gonna figure out how to enforce it. That's who they put in charge of this. Yes.
They had no idea what they were doing.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: I love that our money people are gonna, like, you know, control our drinking habits, but. Okay. Sure, sure, sure.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: So total chaos from day one.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: This makes absolutely no sense. Who thought this was a good idea? Which president was this?
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Oh, my God. 1919.
I don't know.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Yes, you do know. You know all the presidents.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: I think it was Edgar Allan Poe. Was he a president?
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Well, actually, no, he was not a president.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: 1919 was.
Oh, my God. Was. What is it, Madame Marble? Turn it upside down. Wicked witch, right?
No Woodrow Wilson.
Are you not into wicked right now?
[00:15:48] Speaker B: I am, but the double W's.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: You don't know that, right? The double W's. You haven't seen that Wicked witch Oh.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: No, I saw the wicked witch part. Yeah, but I didn't know equivalent the way in which to Woodrow Wilson. Ww this is how your brain works. Okay, fine.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: My bad.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: So we basically have Wilson to blame for this all getting ratified.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Sure, if you say so.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: And how it all started was that women basically got fed up with all of their drunk husbands sleeping around, probably in all the brothels. So then they decide to get there.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: You know what their drunk husbands were? Frozen.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: Frozy.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: They were totally.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: They were a little disheveled, a little frowzy.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Mo fos.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: A little sloppy.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: They were. We just nailed that. Okay, sorry, go ahead. Sorry. You were summing. And I like when you sum. And I just. I just upset the apple cart. Go.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Okay. So the men were being frowzy.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: They were.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: The women all got together. They started to pray outside of the saloon.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: They did.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: They started to nag at all the bartenders to get them to go ahead and like, stop for the day. And then they all came back around. Then they kind of accidentally started a national movement.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Wctu. Yeah.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: They all came together to create that.
But then they realized that they couldn't actually pass any laws because there's just a bunch of people. So then they started turning to politics.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: To get political leaders.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Yes. And American sign language comes in.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Asl.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Because they got the church dudes to come in.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Really? The Anti Saloon League people. Right.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: And then for 40 years, they are at Congress trying to lobby to prohibit alcohol and alcohol sales. Then boom, finally, here we are, we're in prohibition. It is now outlawed. And the only people who are going to enforce this is the IRS.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: This is perfect.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: This is 10 out of 10. You nailed this. Yes.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: It sounds, you know, this Volstite and not being able to have anything over kombucha. And then the irs like, having to.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: This makes it fun. You realize how it was? It was a fluster clock from the start.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. Right.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: It just seems like a bad idea.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: So back to the beginning.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: So then did anybody run it through their brain at the time?
[00:17:41] Speaker A: This is my whole point. This is why it was such a.
So guess what happens then when you tell people they can't drink.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Obviously, they drink more. We already established this. Americans are rebellious. We don't listen to anything. Okay, sure.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Which now takes us to our next segment. Banana.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Next part. Yes.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: The chaos of why America Drinks More. Right. Cause we're. Oh.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Because we drink more from wherever we were at.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: From where? Absolutely. When we're told we can't do Something. We're going to do it. So we just go from above ground.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: To below to underground. It's all of our speakers.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Yep. This is what's going to happen next. Here we go. Are you ready?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: I mean, yes. This is the best part. Flapper dress. Flappers in the 20s.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: That's what we should have done. We should have dressed up like. I could have been like a gangster. You could have been wearing flapper dress. Let's do that next time. Okay, fine.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Theme costumes. Right?
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Okay. So I totally wasn't kidding, by the way, about like the whole password things and the speakers.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: I know.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. So you needed passwords to get in. You had to whisper a password. Like, that's.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: You need to make sure.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Speakeasy. That's in Paso. Super fun place.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Okay. Now we gotta go.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: They all dress up.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Like kind of of the time I'm in and you have to like knock and you have to say the passo.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Do we have any in Orange County?
[00:18:40] Speaker B: There's like some like the Blind Rabbit in Anaheim.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: There's competition.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Should we try to do downtown Orange? We should. We should go to speakeasy.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: No, not go to one. Should we open one?
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: All right. We gotta talk more about that. Ok. So they were everywhere, right? They're behind barber shops, they're in basements like you said. Secret rooms.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Laundromats.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: They had them in laundry. Yeah. Crazy. Everywhere.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: You had like a. I looked this upstairs. You're good.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: New York alone. You want to guess how many there was in New York alone?
50,000, 30,000. I'm surprised.
Wow. I would have said like a thousand.
When I saw 30,000, I was like, what the hell?
[00:19:12] Speaker B: You got to make money. People are capitalists. Come on.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: No, it was crazy. So it took basically about five minutes because now everything's underground. Right?
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: I mean, literally. Right. That's where it starts. Yes. So who do you get? Al Capone. I wasn't.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Oh, actually, yes.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Al Capone. Absolutely. The most badass gangster in all of history. Well, I mean, I don't know if he was the most famous, but top five. Okay.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: Fun. You ready for this?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Al Capone made $60 million back then in 1992. That's a lot of money back then, right? A year.
Smuggling alcohol during prohibition. A year.
Right. So now think of Peaky Blinders. Now you know how crazy that shit is. Right? Turned Chicago completely upside down into his own friggin bootlegging empire.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: So basically, crime went up, drinking went up, and there's a moral Improvement where?
[00:20:03] Speaker A: No, it's not even close. Moral improvement as hell. Yeah, the government.
We were pretending, right? We were pretending. It's okay. We can pretend it gets better.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Oh, dear.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Right, I know. So you know how we have, like, regular drinking alcohol and then we have, like, industrial alcohol?
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Damn right.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: Like, so denatured alcohol, like they use.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: In factories, like at your place.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Yes, I use that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. All the time. So I guess they were like, they had, like, regular alcohol and denatured alcohol before prohibition because the government wanted to tax some alcohol and not other alcohol and so on and so forth. So that's why they had to start that whole thing Anyway. So I guess during Prohibition, bootleggers were stealing the denatured alcohol, like industrial alcohol.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: They had no idea this. Yeah.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: And then they were distilling it and then add sugar, flavorings, all sorts of shit to make it.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: And then people would die.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: You're stealing my thunder. Oh, yes. Look at you. Who said I knew nothing about prohibition? Now you know, right? Just enough to sophisticated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the government stepped in and poisoned it.
They poisoned it on purpose.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Okay. I didn't know that.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Added way more toxins to stop the bootleggers. So the idea was if people knew that it was deadly, they would stop it.
They didn't stop it.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: No.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. How many people died? You want to guess? Because here's my fun fact.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: 100,000.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: No, no, no. Way. Way less. Way less. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 10 to 20,000 people, they're estimating, died because of this shit.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yes. And shout out to Jeanette, our super fan.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Oh, why? What happened?
[00:21:23] Speaker A: We just threw death in here.
We just threw. We did it.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: We did, Jeanette.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: 10 to 20,000 people died because our government was poisoning alcohol. What do you think of that?
That's some crazy shit. I know. Okay, that's insane.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Wait, does the government do anything, like.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Because they killed all those people?
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
Cause that's bad.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah, but it wasn't the government's fault. But also, no, they didn't do shit. No, wasn't there. They told everybody what they were doing.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Was it the government or was it, like, the people who created the alcohol? It was a mandate from the government.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Whatever. I don't know. ChatGPT said it was the government. What the hell? I don't know. Two. Shit. We're only source fiscal year. My point is, why are they gonna help? They're not gonna help those families because they said, don't drink this shit. It's poison. And then people Went and tried to fix it and drink it. You remember Jurassic park, right?
[00:22:05] Speaker B: It's fafo.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: What's fafo?
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Fuck around and find out.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Oh, I was just gonna say life finds a way. I like fafo. I like fafo so much better than what I was gonna do. That is so good. I love fafo. That's perfect because that fits exactly what they were doing. Like they. I looked this up. They made shit in their bathtubs. Yeah, all the time. Have you heard of bathtub gin? Bathtub gin?
[00:22:27] Speaker B: No, not specifically, but I knew they did in a bathtub.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Moonshine, Right? Same thing, right? That's where it comes from. Right. So moonshine, fun fact. Comes from the fact that they made it at night so the cops couldn't see the smoke coming from the stills.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Do you know how strong they made moonshine? Strong enough to dissolve metal, like dissolved metal. I don't understand what people were doing.
I remember for Covid, like crazy, people were using like weird ass alcohol to try to make hand sanitizer and screwing everything up. But they weren't ingesting it back then. They were ingesting this shit. It was absolutely crazy.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: But then also, isn't that like when they started like cutting it with other stuff to make cocktails because, like it was so strong. And so then like they would mask it by like mixing it with orange juice.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: I have an idea. Why don't you do this episode and I'll be the one. Because I apparently didn't know any of this shit. You knew all of this shit?
[00:23:11] Speaker B: I mean, loosely. I mean, I don't know how to tie it together.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Leave it. Leave it to the episode on prohibition for Amanda to come through and know everything.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Here we go.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Does anyone else find that interesting?
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Oh, all the shade that you're throwing. It's a little chilly over there.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Wow. Yes. That's exactly how they invented cocktails. You are right before that.
[00:23:29] Speaker B: But it was just a mask it.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: But I didn't know that. So I found that fascinating that like in the 1800s they didn't have such thing as cocktails.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: That was all straight.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: And now, right, they have top of the bottle. Right? Now they have cocktails. So they did bitters. What is it? Sugars, whatever. They.
I think that's the coolest thing ever. They had bee's knees.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: You've had a bee's knees knees.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: The sidecar, Right. These were literally created to hide the gasoline smell.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Yes. To hide the fact that you might be dying because you're being poisoned by.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: Okay, can I Bring this back to our 80s episode. I remember how we were talking about how the 20s were so iconic.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: This is why this was. This was one of the main reasons.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: This is a whole cultural shift, Right. Where it's no longer just about, like, drinking straight, whatever. It's now a social aspect.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Yes, we talked about it. We said nightlife was born because of this. So prohibition, the whole thing, underground jazz, speakeasies, flappers, that started a nightlife culture that did not exist previously. So thanks to prohibition, this is why the 20s were rocking and rolling, baby.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: It is how we.
[00:24:27] Speaker A: It is excellent.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Like, you just see how it permeates, like, into, like, our daily lives today that we don't even realize. Like, like, hey, you want to go grab a drink at happy hour? Like, that came from this moment in time.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Yes. I have a fun fact later on about a cocktail party.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Very, very similar to, like, how you just use it in your language.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Well, yes, I did with the 80s, though, because I was just talking to somebody. She goes, oh, my God, have you seen the episode of Bluey? And I was like, what are you talking about? I mean, yes, I've seen Bluey. She's like, no. Like, the 80s, like, are proclaimed to be the best decade of, like. So even Bluey's in it.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: But if you think about it, the whole Bluey show is based off of these two parent dogs who are raising their children.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: I love this.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: And reminiscing about the 80s. Cause it was the best decade.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Is there a reason you didn't bring this up while we were talking about it?
[00:25:16] Speaker B: Because it happened this past week.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Okay.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And so, like, it's just one of those things where we don't realize, again, how much of our lives today are the way they are because of something of the past.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: I know. Like, we are so ahead of our time. Look at us. We're just. We're like spider webbing all this shit together. This is incredible.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: It's like that butterfly effect, but, like, different.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: But yes. It's like the 6 degree of separation, but different. Right.
Let's go another one. All right.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Okay. So getting us back on track. So we have prohibition. We have this new social life.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: We are all trying not to die from drinking poisoned alcohol.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: But then at some point in time, this all gets struck down.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: It does.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: And we go back to normal.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: We do, somehow. Thank God we did.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: And whatever normal is.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Because normal is drink heavily and make.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: It legal because everyone gets paid. Not Just the mom.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: Government wants to tax everything. Okay, yeah. So here we are, 1933, 14 years later, repeal day. Here we are.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Yay.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: So Prohibition, total shit show. By this time, like, late 1920s, early.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: 1920S, everyone's doing it.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: It's collapsing under its own basic absurdity. Like the fact that we're making fun of it this whole time. Right. Enforcement's a mess. The IRS didn't do shit about it. Remember, you're talking about bribing cops. Wanted to be bribed. So in most cases, like.
Like the federal government was literally trying to police every single bar they could find. Every basement, every bathtub, everywhere. It was impossible to do. And the organized crime, right? Corruption, turf wars, shootouts, People are dying everywhere. And so the regular people were just getting pissed that they couldn't even just go get a beer somewhere without getting shot at. Now, like, that's how bad this was. Like, they weren't involved in anything. It was just stucky. You couldn't even walk across the fucking street. Like, it was getting really, really bad.
So, 1932, Great Depression, government realizes, holy shit, we screwed up. What if we just repeal this whole thing and just tax alcohol instead of making it illegal? We could actually make money and help us with the Great Depression. Okay, so they were like, here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna get back in a room. December 5, 1933, they passed the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment, which fun fact was the first and only time in United States history we unamended an amendment. You unamended an amendment. We unamended first time, only time. 18th, 21st. Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: Probably because they learned from their mistake and was like, that was stupid.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: They pretended whatever they were like, okay, here's what's happening. All right? But really, all they wanted to do.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Give us all money.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: Right? They just want money. That was it.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: But, I mean, that's what they did with marijuana, except they didn't make it into an amendment.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: But theoretically, you're right. Like, so. Yes. No, no, no. But this is a very good point, because this is what I wanted to talk about next. So you're right on track with this whole thing. Like, we just repeat the pattern. We're just. Just like, alcohol is one thing. So it's like panic ban.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:27:52] Speaker A: Americans figure out workarounds because we're industrious and rebels and all those cool things. Government finally has to give in. In cave. Government taxes, shit and profits. Okay, so marijuana, great example. I mean, I guess it's with the state, the States are making money off of it. The feds, the federal government. Stop. But the states are totally making it. Right. In the 50s, I went and looked. They tried to do with comic books. It didn't work. It didn't work, but they tried to do it. Yes, there was actually. They were actually, like, legislation driven for video games in the early 90s, late 80s, early 90s, they tried to do with video games.
Like, kind of gambling, Right. Online sports betting, DraftKings, the whole thing. It's insane. How do we legalize it? What do we do? Gambling.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: The thing is, is, like, people are gonna do it anyways.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: They totally are. I don't know, but that's my point. It's like at some point, the government just gotta catch, like I said, panic, ban. America figures out the workaround. Government accepts it, the government taxes it. It's going to keep happening. Vaping. It's going to happen. Pick it. 500 years from now, it's going to be doing the same damn thing. We just were stupid enough to, like, make it an amendment and then unamend it.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Yeah, but see, that's.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: Now we're smart enough to wait it out and try to figure it out what we're getting better at.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Freak out. We're getting jerk reaction, blah, blah, blah. But I also think a lot of it is that as a government trying to.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: I'm sorry, a frowzy government, a frowsy.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Government trying to have, like, some moral high road.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Tell me about it. Preach it. Amanda.
I don't know.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Anyways, okay, I'm done with this.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: We said we wouldn't make it political.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm done with this.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Okay, here we go.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Fun facts.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: The good news, Right? Okay, let's get to fun facts. The good news is we're back. Since 1933, it's been glorious. And here we are almost 100 years later. We could do whatever and we could say we have craft cocktails.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Speaking of. Yes. Okay. So speaking of craft cocktails. So for Thanksgiving, they made a raspberry cheesecake martini.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Okay, sure.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: I'm gonna tell you, it was so delicious.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Anyway, I want one of those.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: But it's. It's so fun. So I guess I have to thank Prohibition.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: You do.
Here's what I wanna do for your Christmas toast this year, we're gonna hold up. We're gonna.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Prohibition.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Cheers.
Props to Prohibition. Okay, okay. Fun facts. You said fun fact. Can I do fun facts?
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. I'm gonna go right to the cocktail party one. Okay. The term cocktail party was invented because of prohibition. Basically, it forced all the wealthy people, like, to host hidden drink nights in their homes instead of bars.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Right, so the name cocktail party was born because people were throwing parties with these cocktails. So cocktail party in their house.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Yeah, but where did the cock part came from and then the tail part?
[00:30:15] Speaker A: I don't know, but I liked the way you said cack.
Where'd the cac part come from?
That's a hell of a question. Look that up, please, while I'm on Fun fact number two. Okay. New York City basically ignored prohibition. We said there was, like 30,000 speakeasies. Okay, check this out. Only 7% of New York's police force said they had any interest in even trying to enforce this at all, even from the get go. That means 93% of New York City's police force took bribes right from the beginning. Like, just pretended not to notice anything. Total corruption.
[00:30:47] Speaker B: I mean, or they knew they were realists.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: They were in on it. Okay, number three, the federal government hired undercover agents to pose as, quote, flirty flapper girls to trick bartenders into serving them booze in these speakeasies. So because, like, obviously speakeasies trusted women way more than men. The flapper girls went in there, got their drink, and then the government agents would come in and arrest everyone.
You gotta be aware of the hot girl trap even back in the 1920s. Dude, totally.
What do you got? What do we know? Where did cocktail party come from? Did you look it up?
[00:31:17] Speaker B: There's a lot of theories here.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Shit, they don't know.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: It doesn't seem like it. I mean, it's unknown where, like, the true cocktail came from. But some theories are. It was New Orleans apothecary serving brandy in French French egg cups, which are coca tears. Okay, so the French. Or it could have been from the French word for a mixed drink, which is coccatelle.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: I'm gonna go with that.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Huh?
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Or even a practice, the French. Gingering old horses with a tail feather, like, suppository.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: That sounds interesting. Yeah, a lot of theories here. Yeah. Okay.
[00:31:50] Speaker B: But the first printed definition was in 1806, and it was defined as a spirit, sugar water and bitters.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: There you go. The more you know. Okay, I guess so. Next one. Walgreens. You remember Walgreens?
[00:31:59] Speaker B: I mean. Yeah, it's still around.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: Got rich because of prohibition. Really?
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Why?
[00:32:03] Speaker A: Yes, it did. Okay, check this.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Because they were giving out pills with their booze. What?
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Back in the 20s, doctors wrote literally millions of medicinal whiskey prescriptions.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Told you. It's just like marijuana.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: Okay. If you had anxiety, if you had insomnia, back pain, I don't give a shit. The doctor could write you a prescription for whiskey. I did not know that Walgreens, of course, sold medicine. So naturally, it exploded from 20 stores, like, in and around the Chicago area. That's where walgreens started.
To 500 stores nationwide during Prohibition. Went bonkers.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: That's crazy.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: Dealing whiskey.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: Here we are.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: Go, Walgreens. I don't know. You want to work for Walgreens, then? Like, I mean, is that, like.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: No, not really. Actually, no.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Okay. Number six, Both Canada and the Caribbean thrived. Amanda thrived.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: Yeah, because that's where we got the rum.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Right? The rum.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: What did Canada do?
[00:32:49] Speaker A: Yeah, Canada. Canada did whiskey. Canada whiskey. Caribbean did rum. Yeah. Yeah. Check this one out. Right? They had rum running, right? Rum running.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: So locals would load rum onto the boats headed for, like, Boston or New York or whatever, where American speedboats were waiting offshore in what they called rum row to then take the rum to, like, little, like, I don't know, fishing docks or, like, hidden coves to unload it at night onto trucks that would take it to all the speakeasies all over the country.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: I mean, it's insane.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: That's rum running or rum row or whatever. Right. And Canada did the same thing. Canada just did it with whiskey. And that came through Detroit, and then all the rum running came up through the other way. Yeah. Yeah. Wild. Okay.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: And we're mad about drugs.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: I know. Seriously. Oh, my God. Can I keep going? Because I got more.
He's fascinating. I got a few. I got, like, three more. Okay. I don't even know what number we're on. Who cares? Okay. Remember a few weeks ago when I didn't know, like, on the wagon, off the wagon.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[00:33:39] Speaker A: Okay. I officially solved the on the way off the way. I think it was Dick Van Dyke. We were talking. Yeah. Because we didn't know if he was on or off the wagon. Okay. The phrase on the wagon came from people climbing onto water wagons to publicly swear off of drinking. So they would climb onto the water wagon that would come through town after a drunken night. Right. They would get up on this wagon. So if you're on the wagon, you're sober.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: They'd ride around all day until later that night, then they would subsequently get off. Yes. Hop off the wagon and go right back into the bar to keep drinking. Hence falling off the wagon.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: All right, the more you know, now.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: We know we're good. Okay, number eight. Maybe breweries survive Prohibition selling grape concentrate bricks.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Grape.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Yes. Like, that they would freeze. Yes. Along with malt syrup that had warning labels attached to them that basically explained how to turn them into illegal booze. So, remember, breweries were banned. Right. And then they did the speakeasies, which were all like.
So brewery still had to find a way to make money. So this is what they did. They sold these bricks of grape concentrate and malt syrup. And then the label said, do not mix with water and let sit for 20 days or this will ferment into wine.
They were.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Don't do this.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Right. They were recipeing on the warning label so they could sell it. It's freaking crazy. Okay.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Sneaky, sneaky.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: All right, save the best one for last. Here we go. Prohibition accidentally invented nascar.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: What?
[00:35:03] Speaker A: You know, like the race nascar?
[00:35:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: What? Yeah, seriously, listen to this.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Because they were racing with all their booze.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Bingo. Yeah, absolutely. So moonshine, Right. So they had moonshine runners that had to figure out how to outrun all the federal agents, like, on the twisting backwoods back road countries. And they started tricking out all the regular cars with, like, bigger engine, hidden compartments, better suspension, all this shit. Did you ever watch Dukes of Hazzard? I watched Dukes of Hazard growing up.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: I mean, you only watched it for the short shorts, but anyway, I did Daisy Duke, right?
[00:35:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But then now, like, Fast and Furious. Anybody playing along at home? Like, Fast and Furious. Shit, who cares? Whatever. So they got good at driving, like, really fast and, like, eluding the police officers. So when Prohibition was over, they just started racing on and crowds started showing up.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: They started gambling on it, and bam. Nascar, huh? That is wild. I thought that was the coolest one. Where there's a will, there's a way. Go nascar, go Prohibition. Fun facts out.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: I mean, if you, like, think about it, the Daytona 500 basically started from Prohibition. Yeah.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Running booze, craft cocktails.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: We have so much to owe to Prohibition.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: We really do. We really do.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Which is also funny, because that is, like, the DNA of America, right?
[00:36:07] Speaker A: It is.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: Fast cars, fast driving, drinks, partying.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: I said, you gotta understand America's personality.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Weren't wrong. You weren't wrong.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Here we are. I think that's why this was so fascinating to me. I'm like, prohibition, I'm going to learn about this. And I'm like, oh, this was kind of cool.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: All right, well, for anybody else who wants to.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: So wait, second, we have to thank Woodrow Wilson. Then we. We were. We were throwing shade. We were Throwing shade on Woodrow Wilson. He didn't even know how good he did.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Okay, fair. Right.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: All right. Anyway.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: All right, well, if anybody wants to learn a little bit more about Prohibition and get into the. More of the gritty details.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:36:38] Speaker B: What should they do?
[00:36:38] Speaker A: Get drunk.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Well, drunk history. Drunk history.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Try every alcohol. There is no. Okay. I can't do that. I can't condone alcoholism.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Okay. Drunk history.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: I would say what we were just talking about. Like, I'm a total history nerd. You're like, love your speakeasy stuff. So I would start with go to a speakeasy. Somebody should go Yelp it. Yes. Yelp one. Figure it out. New York, Chicago, they have them everywhere. They have them right here in la. Amanda was just talking about, like, figure that out. It's. We'll call it educational drinking fair. How's that?
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: Is that fair? Okay. If you don't want to do that, we could sit on your couch. Because I always have one for people that just want to sit on your couch.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: I mean, it's always about if someone.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Wants to drink and sit on their couch. Watch the documentary Prohibition by ken Burns on PBS. It's long. It's long. It's like six hours, but it's in three. It's three episodes. So it's like an hour and 45 minutes to two hours. No, but they're like. They're segments, so it's fine.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: It's fine.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: They do it over Christmas vacation. It's very, very interesting. I did watch it. I thought it was fascinating. It's a way deeper dive than this. Like, you could learn a bunch of shit.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Right? If you're a history nerd, go. If you're not a history nerd, don't do it. If you're more of a book person, read Last Call by Daniel Okran. Yes. Yes. Last Call. It is the definitive book on prohibition in America. If you're gonna read one book on prohibition, read that one. It explains everything. He was excellent. Okay. And if you don't do any of that, well, then just remember these details to be sorta sophisticated.
Here we go. All right, number one. In 1919, legislation enacted Prohibition, and it did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. The government banned alcohol to make America moral and orderly, and instead of instantly created a boomerang black market, 30,000 speakeasies in New York City alone.
Bathtub booze and the rise of Al Capone and organized crime. So there it was, the ultimate national backfire. They undid their mess. In 1933. And thank God, they did go prohibition.
Number two, prohibition didn't just change drinking, it changed culture. Speakeasies gave us jazz fueled nightlife, flappers and the birth of the modern cocktail because everyone was just trying to make terrible booze somehow more drinkable. Half of the classic drinks that you order today were invented during Prohibition. It's incredible. Number three, it was deadly. Jeanette, SHOUT out. When bootleggers started stealing industrial alcohol and turning it into liquor, the government ordered factories to add stronger poison to stop them. People drank it anyway, and somewhere between 10 and 20,000 people died. It was one of the darkest and least talked about parts of the Prohibition era.
And finally, Prohibition is a perfect example of a pattern America keeps repeating. We panic about a vice, we outlaw it. People find workarounds, crime spikes, government eventually gives up, and then they tax it. We did it with marijuana, gambling, we'll do it with vaping. They even try to do it with comic books and video games. Like I said back in the day, Prohibition isn't just history. It's a blueprint we keep following.
[00:39:28] Speaker B: And there you have it, dear listeners, the wild ride known as Prohibition. A decade of good intentions, bad decisions, and Americans doing absolutely everything except what the law told them to do. From the women's crusades that kicked this whole thing off to the government agents chasing bootleggers across country highways, it was a moment in history where the rules changed overnight and people immediately found the loopholes. So if we did our job today, you're walking away a little more curious, a little more confident, and definitely ready to flex. A fun fact. But the point is, Prohibition didn't just reshape drinking, it reshaped America.
And as always, if you like this episode, hit, subscribe, leave us a review, and send it to someone who thinks the 1920s were all glamorous outfits and jazz. They deserve to know about the poisoned alcohol, part two.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: They definitely do.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: Until next time, stay curious, stay inspired, and remember, a little context makes history go down smooth.
