Joe Downtown: Bars, Mob Museum to celebrate repeal of Prohibition
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 | 3:02 p.m.
References to Prohibition Era drinking has practically gone viral downtown.
At least three businesses are celebrating the repeal of Prohibition, which was a Constitutional ban on alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933.
Prohibition was repealed Dec. 5, 1933.
So at midnight tonight, The Atomic, 917 Fremont St., will release balloons during a speakeasy party. To get into the place, however, you’ll need to say the secret password at the door. That word: “repeal.”
Imbibers are encouraged to wear clothes as close to 1920s style as possible.
The Velveteen Rabbit, 1218 S. Main St., will serve Prohibition era cocktails, $6 punch and offer live music for its National Repeal Day celebration starting at 10 p.m. Thursday.
And the city’s Mob Museum is going all out to mark the occasion.
At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, former Mayor Oscar Goodman will join customers for a free toast to the end of Prohibition.
Participants will be able to take home a free souvenir shot glass.
From 6 to 11 p.m., $35 gets customers access to a speakeasy party and admission to the museum. A drink competition called “Boss of the Bars” will take place at 8 p.m.
A special VIP party will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. for those 21 and older. The cost is $65 and includes live music and food.
The Downtown Cocktail Room, 111 Las Vegas Blvd. South, is also celebrating Repeal Day with special drinks, live music and a Champagne toast at midnight tonight.
Joe Schoenmann doesn't just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group's embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts building.