Prohibition in Sacramento: Moralizers & Bootleggers in the Wettest City in the Nation

by Annette Kassis

Overview

Sacramento's open opposition to Prohibition and ties to rumrunning up and down the California coast caused some to label the capital the wettest city in the nation. The era from World War I until the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment brought Sacramento storied institutions like Mather Field and delightful surprises like a thriving film industry, but it wasn't all pretty. The Ku Klux Klan, ethnic immigrant hatred and open hostility toward Catholics and Jews were dark chapters in the Prohibition era as Sacramento began to shape its modern identity. Join historian Annette Kassis on an exploration of this wet—and dry—snapshot of the River City.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626191662
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/15/2014
Series:	American Palate
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Annette Kassis is an independent historian in the Sacramento area and author of Weinstock's: Sacramento's Finest Department Store." Formerly co-owner of the Sacramento-based advertising agency K&H Marketing, LLC, Annette currently works as the manager of consumer communications for the California Beef Council and serves on the board of the Sacramento History Foundation. She holds a master's degree in history from California State University, Sacramento."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction. Sacramento: the Wettest City? 11

1 Sacramento: City of Saloons 15

The Most Filthy and Degraded and Undesirable Classes 18

Going After California One Region at a Time 20

Teaching Children and Blaming Immigrants 21

Local Breweries, Local Saloons and Local Hops 25

2 World War I and the Eighteenth Amendment 33

Flight Schools and Foodstuffs 41

"Over Here, Over Here, There is Beer, Beaucoup Beer, Over Here" 48

Why Not One More Constitutional Amendment? 51

Last Public Rites for Liquor 53

Good for What Ails You? 56

A Florin Wincry Makes Big Headlines 60

Near Beer, Home-Brew and Nature's Gifts from the Silo 63

3 The Ku Klux Klan Comes to Town 67

A New Klan with New Fears 70

Kleagle Fuller and the Sacramento Klan 72

A List of Names Unleashes a Firestorm of Outrage 77

Rome, Rum and Rebellion 81

The Klan Targets Woolwine 83

Klan Implosion, Flaming Youth and a Nifty Little Vanity Case 86

4 Brazen Bootleggers and Lax Enforcement 91

Mommy Was a Bootlegger 93

Battering Rams and Stool Pigeons 95

Mabel Walker Willebrand: From California Lawyer to U.S. Assistant Attorney General 99

An Emphasis on the Small-Time Operator 101

5 Speakeasies and Virtuecrats 105

Hollywood and Wine 108

Society Women Begin to Push for Reform 113

Mabel Walker Willebrandt and the "Smart Set" 116

The People Have Had Enough 119

Sacramento's Society Bootlegger and a Product Called Vine-Glo 122

6 Menacing Bootleggers, Missing Boilermakers and Taking the "Near" Out of Beer 127

Want a Biolermaker? Too Bad 129

California-Booze Battleground 131

In the Aftermath 134

From "How Dry I Am" to "Happy Days Are Here Again" 136

Notes 139

Index 151

About the Author 155