Speakeasy

A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–1933, longer in some states). During that time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States.

Speakeasies largely disappeared after Prohibition was ended in 1933, and the term is now used to describe some retro style bars.

Etymology

According to an 1889 newspaper, "Unlicensed saloons in Pennsylvania are known as 'speak-easies'." They were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors." The term is reported to have originated with saloon owner Kate Hester, who ran an unlicensed bar in the 1880s in the Pittsburgh area town of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Although the phrase may have first come to prominence in the United States because of raids on unlicensed saloons in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, the phrase "speak easy shop," denoting a place where unlicensed liquor sales were made, appeared in a British naval memoir written in 1844. The phrase, "speak softly shop," meaning a "smuggler's house," appeared in a British slang dictionary published in 1823. Many years later, in Prohibition-era America, the "speakeasy" became a common name to describe a place to get a drink.