Calapiz Stela. Peninsula 360 Press.
Moss Beach Distillery
We had driven along bumpy roads from "La Casa de la Playa" bordering the sea to the misty cliffs that covered the steep limits of the raging ocean. At last an old board read: "Moss Beach Distillery". A historical monument that, during the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, distilled it for sale in San Francisco.
While we ate, we listened to country music that evoked that time. We enthusiastically went down to the floor and, as in the Old West movies, on the shelves of the big mirror in the bar, there were bottles of liquor from that time, where the bartender was serving a woman dressed in red, a few musicians were playing on the small dance floor across the street, and near them a blonde girl dressed in a blue flapper was wiggling.
One man played masterfully the washboard with two spoons harmonizing with the group - formed, moreover - by the banjo, a guitar, the harmonica, the dobro, and the fiddle. The music was great, emulating that time of smuggling. We ordered beer from the house while we commented on the thinness of the woman in red, her body lengthening as it touched the ceiling, her bony legs coming out of the side openings of her dress. As I saw the bearded faces of the men and the bodies of the dancing women disappearing from their clothes, I dropped the glass of beer splashing my pants; the woman in blue who had observed the scene came to my aid; when I raised my face to thank him, the lifeless holes in his eyes looked at me as his bony hand offered me a napkin to wipe me off and as I wanted to lean on my partner, my hand was lost in a gelatinous mist, he was not there. I went up to the dining room looking for him, I asked the hostess if she had seen him, she said:
-Mrs., you arrived alone and there is no bar here where music is played.
The Story
At the beginning of the 20th century, the massive influx of working class immigrants to the great Cities had led to the flourishing of a new urban culture based on the love of the alcohol and the noisy atmosphere of the Bars. It was a way of having fun that not everyone could tolerate. The conservative sectors, who defended the old values of order and strict morality, saw in this entertainment a threat to typical American principles and protested until they were abolished. And this began with "The Volstead Law" (named after its initiator, Lutheran Congressman from Minnesota Andrew J. Volstead) which was approved in 1919 by Congress after three months of debate. The following year, the rule prohibiting "the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating alcoholic beverages" came into force.
Curious facts On the beaches, which was where the contraband arrived, a buoy marks the three nautical miles, the limit of American territorial waters; on the other side await ships loaded with prohibited liquor, and the bars that sold alcohol clandestinely multiplied throughout the country after the prohibition, to enter them used to require an invitation as, or know a certain password. These speakeasies were called "speakeasies" to avoid attracting the attention of the police and in the Midwest, as "blind pigs" or "blind tigers", a name that refers to the fact that they carried out their activity hidden "blind".
The "wine bricks" contained concentrated grape juice (whose production was legal) that allowed to make wine at home. On the label (and under the warning that such a thing was illegal) the procedure for obtaining it was explained.
"Moonshine is the name still given to illegally distilled liquor, one of the flourishing activities in Prohibition times. Drinking it was dangerous, as it lacked health guarantees.
The rural areas of the country with a long tradition of producing their local drinks increased illegal liquor production that allowed farmers to make money behind the back of the treasury by distilling the surplus of the harvest who created for this purpose ingenious systems to produce alcoholic beverages at home.
https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/ley-seca-era-prohibicion-estados-unidos_12311/29
The Legend
Moss Beach Distillery dates back to 1927 when Frank Torres built the bar-restaurant. He called it "Frank's Place" and turned it into a speakeasy (a place that sold alcohol illegally) during the Prohibition era. It was frequented by some very influential people of the time, and a place for a variety of criminal underground activities. Politicians, gangsters and silent movie stars were among Frank's clientele.
This turned out to be very advantageous for Frank. Since "Frank's Place" was used as a drop-off point for Canadian rum brokers. They would land on the beach below, take the rum up to the cliff where they would load it into vehicles and deliver it to other illegal establishments along the coast. Frank's connections provided protection for the operation and his nightclub was never raided, though others in the area were not so fortunate. But rum was not the only liquor in Frank's place, Prohibition became a challenge to the law, and a real diversion for many middle and upper class young people; among those women I will tell you the legend of Mary Ellen (Blue Lady).
Mary Ellen, she was a beautiful woman who loved to wear blue dresses. Blue Lady's story tells that she was a married woman who fell in love with a pianist, John Contina. John and Mary Ellen had an illicit love affair going on for quite some time. They enjoyed their love at a hotel right next to the Moss Distillery where they used to walk along the beach during their passionate encounters. The couple was stabbed one night while walking. But John survived and disappeared, turning up dead on the beach much later. Since then, it is said that "Blue Lady" appears in those places and, moreover, it is said that very strange things happen in that place as it happened to me.
The legend is confused with reality; the story tells a part of Reality and the Story is written by sharing these two realities with the introspection and perception, intense, deep, of another reality not because it is unreal.
