Stanley Walker

The saloon had traditionally been a male preserve. The only women seen in bars were prostitutes and dance-hall girls. But Prohibition opened the doors for women in more ways than one. Once social drinking became fashionable, women flocked to speakeasies in droves to drink and smoke with the same zeal as their male counterparts. It was a liberating step toward the modern era. But not all bartenders and patrons enjoyed the company, relates Stanley Walker. Some speakeasy owners kept the doors closed to women just to keep the peace.

Stanley Walker was a city editor for the New York Herald Tribune and author of many works of nonfiction. He earned a reputation for being one of New York's most astute and resourceful newspapermen.

Soon after 1920 great, ravening hordes of women began to discover what their less respectable sisters had known for...