B.C. bars were initially wide open, but were toned down after Prohibition
Beer drinkers in B.C. rejoiced on March 21, 1925, when they could finally legally drink in public after eight long years.
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“Awaiting the moment when the doors should be thrown open were groups of thirsty ones eager to quaff the first glass,” reported the Vancouver Sun. “Within a few minutes of opening, the places were crowded.”
Eighteen beer parlours were opened in Vancouver on March 21, which was a Saturday. Another 13 were set to open two days later. But you still couldn’t drink in many municipalities, thanks to B.C.’s quirky liquor laws.
B.C. had adopted Prohibition on Oct. 1, 1917, after a public referendum. But it was rejected by voters in another referendum on Oct. 21, 1920, and B.C. Prohibition was repealed on June 15, 1921.
The catch was, the government still wouldn’t let you drink in public. You could buy booze in a government liquor store or drink in a private club, but there were no public bars.
Pressure mounted to allowing beer to be sold in bars, especially in resource towns. There was a B.C. election on June 20, 1924, so the government asked voters the beer question.
The public rejected beer in bars, but the government found a compromise.
“In overall numbers, that vote failed,” said Robert Campbell, author of Demon Rum or Easy Money: Government Control of Liquor in British Columbia from Prohibition to Privatization (Carleton University Press, 1991).
“But what the government decided to do was allow licensed public drinking in those ridings that had voted in favour of it. So Vancouver was wet, and Victoria was dry.”
It was close, though: Vancouver had gone wet by only 78 votes, 16,498 to 16,420. Burnaby went wet by one vote, 2,447 to 2,446. Victoria stayed dry by almost 2,000 votes, 7,627 to 5,693.
The beer parlours that opened in 1925 were a lot different than the bars pre-Prohibition.
“They removed all the trappings of the saloon,” said Campbell, a retired historian at Capilano University.
“You couldn’t stand at a bar and drink. You had to be seated at a table and the waiter would bring you beer, and there was only beer, draft beer by the glass.
“There was no food, there was no entertainment and no women. So the great irony of the beer parlour was about all you could do was drink.”
Hard liquor and wine also weren’t for sale in public bars until the province allowed cocktail lounges on April 22, 1954.
This didn’t stop people from drinking spirits, of course — they simply drank in illegal “blind pigs” or in speakeasies. Then there were “bottle clubs,” nightspots where your brought your own bottle and purchased mix.
“In the late 19th century, B.C. combined saloons to hotels,” said Campbell. “They did that because they wanted to restrict the number of saloons. Hotels were very expensive to create and operate, so it automatically limited the number of saloons that could be in existence.”
When beer parlours did reopen, women weren’t allowed in.
“There’s nothing in the act or regulations that banned women, but they were banned initially,” said Campbell.
“The concern there, of course, was the fear of prostitution. Beer parlours were a very highly regulated public space, and that shows you the (continuing) strength of the dry movement.”
Women were eventually allowed to drink in public, though.
“What evolved by the late 1920s was separate sections for women and their escorts,” he explained.
“These separate sections existed for many, many years, where one door would be open for men only, and the other one would say above it ‘ladies and escorts,’ and women could bring in their husbands or their boyfriends. (But) a lot of other things happened, too, men snuck in to meet women.”
Ironically, Prohibition was initially defeated in the 1916-17 referendum. Prohibitionists won a vote within the province on Sept. 14, 1916, but the result was overturned when the vote by B.C. soldiers fighting in Europe was tallied and added in March, 1917.
The prohibitionists objected.
“There were some dodgy things about that referendum in 1917,” said Campbell. “To be honest, I don’t know (if it was true), but there were a lot of accusations that the soldiers voted repeatedly.”
Over half the soldier vote was thrown out, and Prohibition was declared.
