When alcohol was outlawed in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933 under Prohibition, resourceful bar owners carved out clandestine spaces that would become known as speakeasies. Hidden in basements, behind unmarked doors and inside back rooms, these covert watering holes survived on secrecy — whispered passwords, trusted regulars and, at times, occasional bribes to stay open. The term is thought to have come from the warning to “speak easy” and keep the bar’s existence quiet.
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