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The Way We Were: Speakeasies
When Prohibition began on January 1, 1920, people didn’t stop partying, they just brought the party downstairs.

The underground hotspots known as speakeasies were considered more socially acceptable for women than public bars had ever been, and elegant rooms drew as many revelers as mob-frequented gin joints. Better speakeasies were located between 40th and 60th Street brownstone-fronts in the East 50s but many were in basement dives. Illegal liquor establishments allegedly numbered over 30,000 in New York City by 1929.

Some of this history can still be revisitied: One of the best known, Chumley’s on Bedford Street in Greenwich Village was recently shuttered due to a fire, but a few remain:

Onieal's Grand Street
174 Grand Street
In its former life, Onieal's was connected by a tunnel to the old Police Headquarters across the street.
Bill's Gay Nineties
57 East 54th Street (between Madison and Park Avenues)
This midtown bar keeps its history visible as if preserved in amber; as close to the real thing as you can get.
Flute Bar
205 West 54th Street (between Broadway and Seventh Avenue)
This basement-gone-upscale champagne spot inhabits the former home of Club Intyme, which was run by the notorious nightclub hostess Texas Guinan, and frequented by literary wit Dorothy Parker and her contemporaries. 
‘21’ Club
21 West 52nd Street
The Palm restaurant
837 Second Avenue near 45th Street