Thanksgiving 1933: ‘The First Time That Devil’s Brew Hit My Lips’
Prohibition had just been repealed in Illinois on Thanksgiving 1933. At age 21, Studs Terkel had his first taste of what he calls “the devil’s brew.” His first drink was alongside the residents of the Wells-Grand Hotel, a men’s hotel near Washington Square Park that his mother owned. His mother decided to have Thanksgiving dinner with everyone that year since many of them didn’t have anyone else to celebrate with. Technically, Prohibition was officially repealed at the federal level on […]