Welcome to the party! Is there anywhere more thrilling than New York City smack dab in the middle of 1920s? You’d think Prohibition would make it difficult to get a cocktail, but truthfully, the bar scene became a lot more lively when drinking went underground. I’m Minnie, the owner of Minnie’s Speakeasy, and I’d love to show you around some of my favorite places in New York City. First a safety note: Make sure you don’t stray from my tour. The streets of the Lower East Side are run by gangs and if you walk down the wrong street, you’ll be emptying your pockets to the neighborhood goons.
Are you hungry? Let’s stop by Moskowitz’s Roumanian at 219 Second Avenue. This is Joseph Moskowitz’s original restaurant, and if you’re lucky, he’ll be playing his cymbalom that night. (Confession: I didn’t know what a cymbalom was until my boyfriend took me to the restaurant on our first date. Imagine a table with strings pulled across the top. The player uses two sticks to make the most beautiful music. You can see a cymbalom here.) Keep your eyes open: You might spy Charlie Chaplin or Captain Dupont enjoying a Roumanian tenderloin steak or grashitze (sweetbreads). Give the waiter a nice firm handshake—one with a fiver in it—and he’ll make sure your soda comes with a strong mixer, if you know what I mean.
Now that you’ve eaten, let’s move on to (more) drinking. Our first stop is the Back of Ratner’s, a speakeasy tucked behind the restaurant. The restaurant is delicious during the day and where you should go if you need to find gangster Meyer Lansky, but around the corner is where the good stuff is kept. Go through the back alley until you come to the bum loitering. He’s not a bum and he’s not loitering. Show him your card, the one that lets him know someone okayed you. Once he’s had a gander, he’ll knock on an inconspicuous door—it blends in with the wall—and head down to a second door. The room is large, dimly lit, with couches and plush chairs around cozy wooden tables. You have two choices of a drink, tea or lemonade, which are both served in tea cups. Don’t worry: it’s straight bourbon or gin. The men may also drink beer, which is what is inside all those paper bags.
Looking for something a little more swanky? Then Harlem is where you’ll need to travel as both Cindy’s Inn and the Cotton Club are in the upper parts of New York City. The best musicians are here. I was sad when Duke Ellington left the Cotton Club but Cab Calloway replaced him, and he’s truly the bee’s knees. He’s a tremendous singer and he leads the house band. I’m sure you know the song “Minnie the Moocher.” That’s his song. These clubs have strong drinks and big dance floors and the best music you’ll find in all of New York.
Finally, I saved the best for last. My speakeasy! Minnie’s. Head down to Baxter Street till you see the Baxter Street Soda Shop. Slip into the alley next to it and walk almost to the end. You’ll see a guy sitting outside, looking like he’s doing nothing. Tell him “the whisper sister” sent me. He’ll let you in the first door but you’ll also have to get past Big Al, who is just inside the second door. Yes, he’s intimidating, but he’s a nice guy. Give him the password, and you’ll be granted entrance. The bar is startling after walking through the griminess of the outside world. No one expects such a swanky place in the Lower East Side. Note the well-polished oak bar, the tasteful gold ivy vines stripping the wallpaper, the chandeliers dripping with glittering glass. I love watching the boys making cozy with girls at our intimate tables. The old men sitting at the bar are pretty amusing too. But of course, you haven’t come for the décor; you’re here for my drinks. My fabulous cocktails. Don’t just take my word for it. The New Yorker said, and here I quote, “the original concoctions, which wouldn’t be out of place at the Puncheon Club, are sweet delectations.” So what’s a better way to end the tour? Have a seat and let me mix you up something special.
THE WHISPER SISTER by Jennifer S. Brown
The author of Modern Girls delivers an atmospheric coming-of-age story set in Prohibition-era New York, tracing one immigrant family’s fortunes and a young girl’s journey from the schoolyard to the speakeasy.
The streets of New York in 1920 are most certainly not paved with gold, as Minnie Soffer learns when she arrives at Ellis Island. Her father, who left Ukraine when Minnie was a toddler, feels like a stranger. She sleeps on a mattress on the kitchen floor. She understands nothing at school. They came to America for this?
As her family adjusts to this new life, Minnie and her brother work hard to learn English and make friends. When her father, Ike, opens his own soda shop, stability and citizenship seem within reach. But the soda shop is not what it seems; it’s a front for Ike’s real moneymaker: a speakeasy.
When tragedy strikes the Soffers, Minnie has no choice but to take over the bar. She’s determined to make the speakeasy a success despite the risks it brings to herself, her family, and her freedom. At what price does the American dream come true? Minnie won’t stop until she finds out.
Women’s Fiction Historical [Lake Union Publishing, On Sale: September 3, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662521232 / ]
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About Jennifer S. Brown
Jennifer S. Brown has lived on three of the four corners of the U.S. (Miami Beach, New York, Seattle) and now calls the suburbs of Boston her home. She has a BFA in film & television from NYU and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. Jennifer loves writing historical fiction because the research lets her live vicariously in another time and place.
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