Cocktails Across America: A Postcard View of Cocktail Culture in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s

Cocktail culture boomed in the United States after Prohibition, starting with the jazz- filled taverns and bars in New York City and, as rail and automotive travel advanced, flowing all the way to the postwar-era resorts and beach clubs of California and beyond. New-fangled concoctions like the Red Snapper, the Sidecar, and the Aviation were being developed by barkeepers and mixologists across the country, and a newly liberated, economically thriving America couldn't get enough.

The unique cocktail lounges, hotel bars, and other, more exotic, drinking venues (ice rinks, carousels, and indoor menageries, just to name a few) defined this era of drinking culture and were immortalized in the linen postcards used to advertise them. With over 50 vintage cocktail recipes (plus several modern twists), fascinating historical vignettes, and more than 100 pieces of vintage ephemera, transport yourself to an era of unbridled indulgence and distinct glamour.