December 2008
by Jerry McCoy
Each day hundreds of people walk to and from the Silver Spring Metro station via Bonifant Street. It is a good bet that those who walk on the north side of the street alongside Piratz Tavern, situated at the intersection of Bonifant and Georgia Avenue, have no idea that this corner was the location of one of the biggest parties in Silver Spring ever held in celebration of the end of an era.
Seventy-five years ago a crowd of 1500 people gathered here on December 6, 1933 to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition, which went into effect the day before with the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Located on the corner of Oak Street (today's Bonifant Street) at 8400 Georgia Avenue was the central Montgomery County Liquor Dispensary.
by Jerry McCoy
"The crowd besieging the counter," this photograph of customers clamoring to purchase liquor appeared in the December 7, 1933 Washington Post. Note the address "8400" in the center-left background stenciled onto the open door of the liquor dispensary. Courtesy Washingtoniana Division, DC Public Library.
Each day hundreds of people walk to and from the Silver Spring Metro station via Bonifant Street. It is a good bet that those who walk on the north side of the street alongside Piratz Tavern, situated at the intersection of Bonifant and Georgia Avenue, have no idea that this corner was the location of one of the biggest parties in Silver Spring ever held in celebration of the end of an era.
Seventy-five years ago a crowd of 1500 people gathered here on December 6, 1933 to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition, which went into effect the day before with the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Located on the corner of Oak Street (today's Bonifant Street) at 8400 Georgia Avenue was the central Montgomery County Liquor Dispensary.
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