underground bar
Basement drinking spot
An underground bar is a drinking establishment operating illegally or without proper licensing, recalling the speakeasies of Prohibition-era America.
The term also describes legitimate bars located in basements or subterranean spaces, often with a secretive or exclusive atmosphere: The entrance to the underground bar was hidden behind a bookshelf.
Some venues cultivate both senses—legal but deliberately evoking clandestine drinking culture.
- speakeasyIllicit liquor establishment
- roaring twentiesProsperous 1920s period
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- hiddenKept out of sight
- hidden doorDisguised access point
secret · basement · password · password required · doorway · jazz · bootleg · clandestine · dive · low lighting · whiskey · craft cocktails · cocktails · bouncer · backroom · alley · entrance · smoky
- ProhibitionProhibition, speakeasies, bootlegger, bootleggers, speakeasy
- underground spacesbasement, cellar, cave, cavern, tunnel
- barscocktail bar, gold bar, silver bar, bartender, bar stools
- speakeasiesspeakeasy, blind pig, gin joint, speak, secret bar
- vice densbrothel, opium den, speakeasy, gambling den, crack house
underground, under, ground, undergrounds, barred, grounded, grounding, grounds