Why were saloons popular

Taverns produced a particular type of public sphere in colonial America. Many people compare it to the coffeehouse in London or Paris salons, but those were bourgeois meeting-places. In taverns people could mix together: you see men drinking alongside the people they work for.

And once you add alcohol in there, it changes the way everyone relates to each other. You end up with accelerated relationships—and occasionally cantankerous ones. People become more willing to go out and raise hell over things that they might have let go when sober.

Are there any constants that run through our bar history? Bars have always been where people share news and discuss it. How have bars evolved over time? From colonial times to the midth century you had taverns, which provided food and lodging.

They had a tapster in a cage—as opposed to at a long bar—and it was open to all members of the community, including women and children. Women were rarely allowed. By this time, the attack on the segregated prostitution of the Levee district had convinced the burgeoning middle class that the barroom was incompatible with residence districts.

Many patrons drank downtown and telephoned for the delivery of liquor to their private sideboards. Prohibition killed the legal saloon in , but over three thousand city speakeasies and dozens of suburban roadhouses, many of them once village taverns, serviced the demand for more secret illegal drinking. Duis, Perry R. Wendt, Lloyd, and Herman Kogan. Lords of the Levee. All Rights Reserved. However, if a man came in and confessed that he was broke and needed a drink, few men would refuse him.

Because the saloon was usually one of the first and bigger buildings within many new settlements, it was common that it was also utilized as a public meeting place. Judge Roy Bean and his combination saloon and courtroom were a prime example of this practice. Another saloon in Downieville, California was not only the most popular saloon in town but also the office of the local Justice of the Peace.

Several noted gunmen of the west owned saloons, tended bar, or dealt cards at one time or another. But, most notable among the many saloons of the West, was the ever-present violence that was instigated or occurred within these establishments. There were numerous killings inside of these Old West saloons. Many other acts of violence were instigated in saloons, which wound up with shoot-outs in the street, or public hangings after vigilante groups had formed within a saloon.

And lest we not forget the saloon or dance-hall girl , whose job was to brighten the evenings of lonely men starved for female companionship. Contrary to what many might think, the saloon girl was very rarely a prostitute — this tended to occur only in the very shabbiest class of saloons.

Their job was to entertain the guests, sing for them, dance with them, talk to them and perhaps flirt with them a bit — inducing them to others in the bar, buying drinks, and patronizing the games.

Most girls were refugees from farms or mills, lured by posters and handbills advertising high wages, easy work, and fine clothing. Many were widows or needy women of good morals, forced to earn a living in an era that offered few means for women to do so.

Commonly drinks bought for the girls would only be cold tea or colored sugar water served in a shot glass; however, the customer was charged the full price of whiskey, which could range from ten to seventy-five cents a shot. In most places, the proprieties of treating the saloon girls as ladies were strictly observed, as much because Western men tended to revere all women, and because the women or the saloon-keeper demanded it.

Any man who mistreated these women would quickly become a social outcast, and if he insulted one he would very likely be killed.

In the early California Gold Rush of , dance halls began to appear and spread throughout the boomtowns. While these saloons usually offered games of chance, their chief attraction was dancing.

After the dance, the girl would steer the gentleman to the bar, where she would make an additional commission from the sale of a drink. And though the gaming tables and spittoons may be long gone, the tavern or bar remains an establishment that is apparently free from the effects of the economy and will, no doubt, always remain a place where business people continue to make deals and people frequent to chase away their cares.

In an increasingly cut-throat profession, there was a lot of competition to bring in the best. Manuals for bartenders emerged during the s. Johnson instructed bartenders in the salesmanship of both drinks and themselves, demonstrating his high esteem for the craft.

An expert bartender would be called "Professor" or " Mixologist ," a title that could have been endowed upon James Earp, elder brother to the famous Earp cowboys. James Earp worked as a bartender at saloons in Fort Worth and Wichita, KS, in the s, perhaps sending his patrons to the nearby Wichita brothel operated by his wife.

Many saloons were places for men of different backgrounds to gather. According to one account of California gold rush saloons :.

The people composing the crowd were men of every class However, there was less racial diversity. Once a settlement transitioned into a town or a city, marginalized groups often built their own establishments. Saloons that exclusively served Irish immigrants, African Americans , and men of German heritage developed alongside each other, catering to specific groups of drinkers. Operated by William Brown , the saloon was described by Mark Twain - writing for the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City at the time - as a "popular resort for the colored population.

Faro, a game popularized in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, was commonly played in saloons throughout the American West. Faro was played using a single deck, with a dealer, called a banker, placing an additional 13 cards - one from each denomination of a suit usually spades - on the table.

In its simplest form, faro players bet on one or several cards , and as the dealer flipped from the deck, he turned over a "dealer" and a "player" card. Bets on the same denomination as a dealer card were lost, while bets on player cards earned a payout. There were additional ways to bet, but the overall ease of the game and its inclusion of multiple players made it popular among gamblers of all kinds. Poker was also a common game , played among cowboys on the frontier and at saloons. In saloons that adopted increasingly elaborate gambling facilities, poker, three-card monte, and roulette tables were set up to offer an array of activities.

Gamblers varied in terms of success. The combination of drinking and betting often left cowboys and other saloon patrons deprived of their earnings, but it was part of the experience. One cowboy from Montana explained :. When I would get into a town I wanted to have a good time. I usually took a few drinks, and sometimes got into a game of poker, and generally left town "broke. Gambling, alcohol, sex work, and violence were common at many saloons.