Speakeasy
[3] The phrase "speak softly shop", meaning a "smuggler's house", appeared in a British slang dictionary published in 1823.
[5] The similar phrase "speak easy shop", denoting a place where unlicensed liquor sales were made, appeared in a British naval memoir written in 1844.
They have been "holes in the wall" and various other things descriptive of their leading peculiarities, but it is only within very recent times, and in the city of Pittsburgh, that they have been dubbed "speak-easies".
[4]Speakeasies 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".
[9] Although failing to account for earlier usage outside the U.S., The New York Times attributes the term to saloon owner Kate Hester, who ran an unlicensed bar in the 1880s in McKeesport, supposedly telling her rowdy customers to "speak easy" to avoid attention from authorities, which has become a common American anecdote.
The operator of an establishment (such as a saloon or bar) would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a "complimentary" alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law.
[They] are in a mysterious place called a blind tiger, drinking the very bad whiskey for which Prohibition is indirectly responsible.
This law introduced alcohol licenses, set closing times, banned sales to minors, and generally aimed to control the unruly environment.
Pittsburgh barkeeps mostly complied with these regulations until 1888, when the Brooks High-License Act increased the annual license fee from $50 to $500.
[19] This led to national media attention, including a 1891 New York Times article noting:The commonest term in the police news of Pittsburg is the raid of a "speak-easy".
[...] the expression became common in McKeesport and spread to Pittsburg, Here the newspaper men accepted the term as filling a long-felt want.
Even though police and agents of the Bureau of Prohibition would often raid them and arrest their owners and patrons, they were so profitable that they continued to flourish.
Texas Guinan, a former screen and stage actress, opened many speakeasies during Prohibition such as the 300 Club and the El Fey.
In 2007 secret underground rooms thought to have been a speakeasy were found by renovators on the grounds of the Cyber Cafe West in Binghamton, New York.
They started the business in Greenwich with a place called "The Redhead" and later moved onto the next operation "The Puncheon Club".
