33rd Street & Broadway Facing West c. 1920
32 FEBRUARY 2020 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
The Last License
The winter of 1919-
1920 would go down
as one of the most
brutal winters of New
York’s history up to that
time with the most snow on record. A
few minutes before midnight on Jan.
17, 1920, the temperature was falling
towards the single digits and snow from
earlier in the week was a sheet of ice.
That evening, no one wanted to go
home early, from the “flappers” dancing
with their tuxedoed “swells” at midtown
nightspots, to the tap room at the
legendary watering hole, Minden House,
in Jamaica, Queens where a group of
serious, older men, one in priestly garb
with a small casket, posed for a photo.
It was captioned “John Barleycorn’s
Funeral.”
Some called it the “noble experiment.”
For others it was simply Prohibition, a
ban on the production, transportation,
and sale of alcoholic beverages – and it
was to become law at midnight. Although
its advocates talked about the evils of
liquor, the law’s purpose was to target
the immigrant populations residing in
the large urban centers in the east. Two
thirds of the states, mostly rural and in
the south and west were already dry. The
law was passed specifically targeting
places like New York.
We can imagine what it was like that
evening at the Bohemian Benevolent
Society in Astoria whose membership –
working men with typical Czech names
as Emil, Rudolf, Pavel and Josef – stood
standing, cradling their beers, nervously
glancing at the clock, as each second
ticked by. In the minutes leading up to
midnight, surely no one was leaving.
Prohibition was a
dagger to the very heart of
their culture. Beer gardens
were places for their
community to gather on
weekends: men talked of
politics and work, women
keeping a keen eye on
their children, exchanged
gossip and news. Their
traditions of craft brewing went back
a thousand years; hop cultivation two
thousand. For Czechs, with the world’s
highest beer consumption, beer was
literally cheaper than water.
Stubborn and steadfast to their values
in the face of the oncoming tide, they
resolutely laid the cornerstone for their
Hall in 1910 and finished their park
just before Prohibition arrived. Knowing
that it was only a matter of time, they
purchased one of the last liquor licenses
issued by New York in 1919. It cost the
equivalent of nearly $5,000 in today’s
money. They placed it on the wall behind
the bar.
As the clock chimed midnight across
the country, an eyewitness recorded the
moment: “Lights were switched off and
on to announce the hour. Some who
were drinking from glasses carried them
away. Others who had bottles in their
hands about to pour drinks carried them
off. No one stopped them.” We cannot
plumb their sadness as Bohemian Hall
emptied homeward that night, but we can
sense their iron resolve to continue their
traditions. That liquor license remained
on the wall.
The community sustained
Bohemian Hall though Prohibition,
Depression, World War II, and changing
demographics. It is the last authentic
old time beer garden in New York
City. In the 1990s when it threw
open its doors to the public, a new
generation discovered its beauty and
charms and in doing so, spawned a
new awareness of beer gardens and
craft beer throughout the nation. The
1919-1920 liquor license was still
proudly displayed.
Legends
Greater Astoria Historical Society
LIC Arts Building # Suite 219
44-02 23rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
718-278-0700 / info@astorialic.org
Serving the communities of
Old Long Island City:
Blissville
Sunnyside
Sunnyside Gardens
Hunters Point
Dutch Kills
Ravenswood
Astoria Broadway
Norwood
Old Astoria Village
Ditmars
Steinway
Bowery Bay
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