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News & ArtsMonday, December 7, 2009
Chow / Drunk Practically Free! Beer for a Quarter at the Five Point Tomorrow
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 11:50 AM
To commemorate its 80th anniversary, beloved Seattle dive bar the Five Point is selling food and beverage at 1929 prices from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow:
• 25-cent PBRs
• 25-cent bacon and eggs with toast
• 20-cent burger and fries
• 30-cent "Blue Plate Special"
It's bound to be mobbed, so dress warm to wait in line.
Info in the Chow Calendar.
3
I hope we can get 4 plays on the jukebox for a quarter - Zep, AC/DC, and 2 other "anxious bar fight songs". hey, isn't that a band?
5
Beer was illegal in 1929, but that doesn't mean they didn't sell it. . . .I think the actual price would have been a nickel or fifteen cents at the most.
7
Yes, there were speakeasies in Seattle, but they weren't typically in places like the Five Point, and they didn't typically serve beer. Beer is weak, thus voluminous, thus hard to smuggle. Illegal drinking joints in Seattle tended to serve bathtub gin or smuggled whiskey from Canada. A typical setup would be a semi-legitimate business upstairs with the bar downstairs or in the back. Does the Five Point have a basement?
Maybe it was, but I'm going to want to see evidence before I accept that it was so.
Maybe it was, but I'm going to want to see evidence before I accept that it was so.
8
Beer was indeed voluminous, which is why Eliot Ness went after Capone's breweries. You didn't want to have to ship it far, so your "soda pop manufacturer," formerly a brewery, would continue to brew beer and truck it out it under cover of darkness/paid off cops to local bars. I'd bet money (25 American cents!) that beer was no more or less available in Seattle during Prohibition than it was in other American cities. Maybe even moreso, given the proximity to Canada and potential delivery by boat. Speakeasy culture also differed based on neighborhood--fancier parts of town would indeed have the night club/secret doorway/code word nonsense and serve bathtub gin and Canadian whiskey, but neighborhood saloons just became drug stores or tailor's shops and sold beer to people they knew.
9
The speakeasies would have been out of Seattle proper, or near the water or both:
"Far more striking, however, was the impact of Prohibition. Kenmore quickly became famous in Seattle for its fine country dining and, more importantly, its fine country drinking, as a substantial illegal alcohol industry developed to meet the demands of Jazz Age Seattle nightlife. Although relatively close to Seattle proper—thanks to Bothell Way's status as one of the few improved roads then heading north from downtown— it was nonetheless far enough out that Department of Revenue officers could, for the most part, ignore it.
The Blind Pig, a roadhouse on Shuter's Landing at Lake Washington, was probably the most famous of the Kenmore speakeasys. At the lakeside, its illegal hooch could be dumped into the lake quickly and easily should it become necessary. Few people were fooled; the name itself was, in fact, a well-known slang term meaning "speakeasy". But despite its notoriety, the Pig was not even the city's most infamous saloon. Routine violence and fist-fights at the Inglewood Tavern earned that establishment an alternative name: the Bucket of Blood.
This archipelago of dining and entertainment - over 30 different restaurants, dance halls, bars, and clubs in a three-block area - remained a major part of Kenmore's identity through the 1940s."
from a Kenmore Wa history page
and remember there was a viable interurban rail system then.
"Far more striking, however, was the impact of Prohibition. Kenmore quickly became famous in Seattle for its fine country dining and, more importantly, its fine country drinking, as a substantial illegal alcohol industry developed to meet the demands of Jazz Age Seattle nightlife. Although relatively close to Seattle proper—thanks to Bothell Way's status as one of the few improved roads then heading north from downtown— it was nonetheless far enough out that Department of Revenue officers could, for the most part, ignore it.
The Blind Pig, a roadhouse on Shuter's Landing at Lake Washington, was probably the most famous of the Kenmore speakeasys. At the lakeside, its illegal hooch could be dumped into the lake quickly and easily should it become necessary. Few people were fooled; the name itself was, in fact, a well-known slang term meaning "speakeasy". But despite its notoriety, the Pig was not even the city's most infamous saloon. Routine violence and fist-fights at the Inglewood Tavern earned that establishment an alternative name: the Bucket of Blood.
This archipelago of dining and entertainment - over 30 different restaurants, dance halls, bars, and clubs in a three-block area - remained a major part of Kenmore's identity through the 1940s."
from a Kenmore Wa history page
and remember there was a viable interurban rail system then.
10
Seattle drinking joints were in Chinatown, and further up Jackson in "black and tan" joints (black-owned clubs catering partly or mostly to whites); or they were on the highways north out of town -- the Bothell Highway (The Coon Chicken Inn, the China Castle), the Everett Highway (The Jungle Temple Inn). Kenmore, same thing. Down what is now 99 to the south, too, around where the airport is today (The Grove).
"Bucket of Blood", though, was a common name for lots of clubs; in Chinatown it was the Hong Kong Chinese Society Club at 511-1/2 7th Ave. S.
Seattle was during Prohibition by some accounts the second-most-wide-open town in America, after New Orleans. But I'm not finding any references to the Five Point.
"Bucket of Blood", though, was a common name for lots of clubs; in Chinatown it was the Hong Kong Chinese Society Club at 511-1/2 7th Ave. S.
Seattle was during Prohibition by some accounts the second-most-wide-open town in America, after New Orleans. But I'm not finding any references to the Five Point.
12
sweet, old timers getting their drink on all over up in this biatch; prohibiting things always works out just hunky-dory all right.
13
At Fnarf: not every neighborhood speakeasy would have made the news or even the records of the local historical society types, and so might not be easily verified. My great-grandfather ran taverns in Chicago before, during and after Prohibition, and I have yet to find any mention of any place he owned in any Chicago publication I've pored through (many many many) besides pre-Prohibition city directories. Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack. And if Seattle black-and-tans were anything like those in most big cities, they were probably not black-owned; they'd have black servers, musicians and some customers, but such places were almost always run by white organized crime.
14
Unfortunately, the WSLCB regulates how much liquor can be sold for, so the 25 Cents is the lowest we could go. We were hoping to do dime beers. Either way, Pabst wasn't on the 1929 menu, but it is tomorrow, and it's CHEAP.
Funny fnarf mentions the term "Wide Open". Former 5 Point owner Dick Smith used to say the 5 Point was "wide open" since 1929. And the name of the business that now owns the 5 Point is Wide Open Inc. It's a great term with lots of meaning. Nice one fnarf.
Funny fnarf mentions the term "Wide Open". Former 5 Point owner Dick Smith used to say the 5 Point was "wide open" since 1929. And the name of the business that now owns the 5 Point is Wide Open Inc. It's a great term with lots of meaning. Nice one fnarf.
18
@Chicago Fan - Seattle is not Chicago. If the black and tans weren't black-owned, they were more likely to be Chinese or Japanese-owned. We had organized crime here, but it didn't resemble Chicago or other Eastern cities. We also had the most thoroughly corrupt police department in the US.
Fun fact: the mayor of Seattle when Prohibition was enacted (in 1916, three years before the rest of the country), Hiram Gill, ran on an explicitly "Wide Open" ticket. In 1929, the mayor was anti-booze "reformer" Frank Edwards, who continued the club-shutting frenzy begun by his predecessor, bluenose Bertha Landes, the first woman mayor of a major US city.
My sources are not just "local historical types". Oral histories supported by original sources like ethnic neighborhood newspapers work best for stuff like this; see the amazing "Jackson Street After Hours". That is, in fact, what you are doing -- your grandfather is an oral source. Unfortunately, present-day bar owners are not always so reliable; virtually every joint in Seattle that was open then, and a lot that weren't, claims to have been a "speakeasy". It's mostly mythology.
Again, I'm not saying the Five Point wasn't. I'm saying I haven't seen anything that suggests it was. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I AM wrong. But I'd like to see something other than someone who owns the place. Especially since speakeasies are trendy nowadays.
Fun fact: the mayor of Seattle when Prohibition was enacted (in 1916, three years before the rest of the country), Hiram Gill, ran on an explicitly "Wide Open" ticket. In 1929, the mayor was anti-booze "reformer" Frank Edwards, who continued the club-shutting frenzy begun by his predecessor, bluenose Bertha Landes, the first woman mayor of a major US city.
My sources are not just "local historical types". Oral histories supported by original sources like ethnic neighborhood newspapers work best for stuff like this; see the amazing "Jackson Street After Hours". That is, in fact, what you are doing -- your grandfather is an oral source. Unfortunately, present-day bar owners are not always so reliable; virtually every joint in Seattle that was open then, and a lot that weren't, claims to have been a "speakeasy". It's mostly mythology.
Again, I'm not saying the Five Point wasn't. I'm saying I haven't seen anything that suggests it was. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I AM wrong. But I'd like to see something other than someone who owns the place. Especially since speakeasies are trendy nowadays.
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