When Manhattan joints were hung out to dry the Booze-oizie sniveled then pirouetted on their stools to find reasonably palatable Speakeasy facsimiles. These Prohibition hangouts each had their own flavor decorum d©cor and formula for ducking the law. Each found its own alcoholic substratum: its own inimitable characters behind at and under the bar.ÞFear not ä all has not been lost to the repeal of the 18th Amendment Starbucks corporate latte and the wrecking ball. One intoxicating artifact remains a book of lustrous vintage ä Al Hirschfeld's ÊThe Speakeasies of 1932Ê wherein Hirschfeld nails these dipsomaniacal outposts with his pen and brush in the manner of a dour Irish bartender sizing up a troublesome souse. Provided as well is the recipe for each of the speakeasy's cocktail claim to fame. The resulting concoction is the perfect antidote to the Cappuccino Grande Malaise a book that will make everyone yearn for a Manhattan old fashioned and straight up.Þ His comments are as swooping and witty as his lines. Þä ÊThe New YorkerÊ | The Speakeasies of 1932 by Al Hirschfeld, Paperback | Indigo Chapters