Category: Culture
Homemade Moonshine Still Turns Deadly After Flame Goes Out
A homemade moonshine operation apparently turned deadly in New York in 1920 when a man was found dead in his lodgings beside an improvised still….
Los Angeles Bootlegger Found Beaten and Shot During 1928 “Rum War”
By the summer of 1928, Prohibition had created a vast illegal market for alcohol, and in Los Angeles, competition over the liquor trade could turn…
Candy Sales Boomed as Men Turned to Sweets Instead of Drinking
In the summer of 1919, candy dealers noticed an unexpected change in their customers. Men who had once dismissed sweets as something meant primarily for…
Woman Charged 25 Cents to View Executed Murderer’s Body
The execution of Frank Small in Pittsburgh in March 1882 did not end public interest in his case. If anything, his death appears to have…
In 1924, Universities Were Already Planning to Teach Classes by Radio
Long before online courses, video lectures, and virtual classrooms became part of everyday education, American universities were already considering whether new technology could bring lessons…
Washington Food Vendor Arrested for Cooking With Water From a Horse Trough
Washington, D.C., health officials had a blunt warning for food and drink vendors in the summer of 1923: keep it clean or face arrest. Dr….
Chicago Woman Sought Divorce After Husband Refused to Remove “Who’s Boss” Sign
A Chicago woman reportedly decided she had endured enough of her husband’s sense of humor, especially after he refused to remove a provocative sign hanging…
Grieving New York Impresario Searched for a Singer Who Sounded Like His Dead Wife
After the death of his young wife, Russian impresario Max Rabinoff set out to find something that seemed almost impossible: another woman who could sing…
Strange Businesses Once Found on the Streets of New York City
At the turn of the 20th century, New York City offered just about any service a person could imagine, along with quite a few that…
Advertisers Urged to Give Away Drinking Cups To Stop Sharing
In the early 1900s, public health officials were trying to convince Americans to abandon one of the most ordinary, and potentially unsanitary, habits of daily…
