Speakeasies of 1932

Introduction by Pete Hamill.

When Manhattan joints were hung out to dry, the Booze-oizie sniveled, then pirouetted on their stools to find reasonably palatable Speakeasy facsimiles. These Prohibition hangouts each had their own flavor, decorum, décor and formula for ducking the law. Each found its own alcoholic substratum: its own inimitable characters behind, at and under the bar.

Fear not – all has not been lost to the repeal of the 18th Amendment, Starbucks corporate latte, and the wrecking ball. One intoxicating artifact remains, a book of lustrous vintage – Al Hirschfeld's The Speakeasies of 1932, wherein Hirschfeld nails these dipsomaniacal outposts with his pen and brush in the manner of a dour Irish bartender sizing up a troublesome souse. Provided as well is the recipe for each of the speakeasy's cocktail claim to fame. The resulting concoction is the perfect antidote to the Cappuccino Grande Malaise, a book that will make everyone yearn for a Manhattan, old fashioned, and straight up.

“His comments are as swooping and witty as his lines.”

– The New Yorker