The Roaring ’20s – a time of flappers, gangsters, and surprisingly, Prohibition. The short-lived experiment of Prohibition has been chronicled in a traveling exhibit, “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.” Curated by Daniel Okrent, author of “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” this exhibit includes an informative combination of alcohol-related artifacts from before, during and after Prohibition, tools of the prohibitionists, period clothing and examples of slang, as well as recipes and names of era cocktails.
This glimpse into America’s dry times starts in the lobby with a 1929 Buick Marquette. Six-cylinder cars like this were known as a “Whiskey 6” and were modified by bootleggers to smuggle alcohol across Canadian borders as well as to evade authorities.
Moving into the exhibit, there are displays featuring the alcohol culture of the 1800s. A wall of bottles illustrates how much alcohol the average person over the age of 15 was drinking during this time… see more
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