Drinking Games

Get a sip of Prohibition in these former speakeasies.

Photo: Susan Ogan

assachusetts was one of the first states to ratify the 18th Amendment to outlaw the sale of alcoholic beverages, and it was one of the first states to gleefully break the Prohibition laws that took effect as a result in 1920. Bootleggers hid just off the long, rocky coast, and small, fast boats unloaded cargo shops full of gin and whiskey just past the three-mile limit. Bribes kept police and politicians off everybody’s backs. The Irish mob took hold here during Prohibition, too, smuggling in illegal alcohol. All of this booze ended up in countless speakeasies, many of which remain hidden in unlikely places all around New England. Which is why we’ve got some for you here. These are the kinds of secrets we like:

A former speakeasy with wings so cheap it can’t be legal
 

An upscale cigar lounge that was once a speakeasy
 

A southern-style, manly sports bar in the ‘burbs that survived Prohibition as a speakeasy
 

A hole-in-the-wall Italian joint that was a speakeasy in the ’20s
 

Check out this place that’s speakeasy-like.
 

An underground “speakeasy” in Davis Square