I’ve got a pop quiz this morning for all you history buffs. What is something that was declared illegal 100 years ago, but is perfectly legal today? I’ll give you a hint: it inspired the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. In what was termed the Noble Experiment, the United States government made it a crime to manufacture, transport or sell alcoholic beverages. From 1920 to 1933—a period referred to today as the Prohibition Era—all the bars and saloons and liquor stores in the nation shut down. Or did they?
Instead of ending the practice of drinking, the 18th Amendment just drove it underground—literally. One example of this can be found in the city of Los Angeles, California. While law enforcement and government officials pretended to stop the flow of liquor in the city, underneath the c…