Speakeasy

A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–1933, longer in some states). During that time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States.

Speakeasies largely disappeared after Prohibition was ended in 1933, and the term is now used to describe some retro style bars.

According to an 1889 newspaper, "Unlicensed saloons in Pennsylvania are known as 'speak-easies'." They were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors". The term is reported to have originated with saloon owner Kate Hester, who ran an unlicensed bar in the 1880s in the Pittsburgh area town of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Although the phrase may have first come to prominence in the United States because of raids on unlicensed saloons in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, the phrase "speak easy shop", denoting a place where unlicensed liquor sales were made, appeared in a British naval memoir written in 1844. The phrase, "speak softly shop", meaning a "smuggler's house", appeared in a British slang dictionary published in 1823. Many years later, in Prohibition-era America, the "speakeasy" became a common name to describe a place to get a drink.

Different names for speakeasies were created. The terms "blind pig" and "blind tiger" originated in the United States in the 19th century. These terms were applied to lower-class establishments that sold alcoholic beverages illegally, and they are still in use today. The operator of an establishment (such as a saloon or bar) would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a "complimentary" alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law.

In desperate cases it has to betake itself to the exhibition of Greenland pigs and other curious animals, charging 25 cents for a sight of the pig and throwing in a gin cocktail gratuitously.

[They] are in a mysterious place called a blind tiger, drinking the very bad whiskey for which Prohibition is indirectly responsible.

...
Wikipedia