My thanks to Steve T for sending me these photos of his wonderful find: a boxed book called “Hollywood Cocktails.” It’s from 1933 and proved so popular they did three printings in one month. Mind you, that’s the year Prohibition came to an end, so Angelenos were THIRSTY!
If you’re interested, you can see the whole book online.
See also: Giggle Water.
I will have to try making these drinks. I wonder what the modern day names are of these cocktails? Great find
Not a drinker – but love the graphics. Yet no updated photos of what these “sites” look like today. Thanks for posting.
I, too, love the graphics.
Thanks Martin, I loved looking through this book!
It’s interesting to me that more than a few of these cocktails require eggs. Not much of a thing anymore, I guess because, well, raw eggs?
The cocktails with the graphics are all locations in Los Angeles so I looked up one I wasn’t familiar with. The “Hi-Ho” cocktail. A website called Barina Craft says that the Hi-Ho Club was a popular 1930s hangout and this was their signature cocktail. The place was named after their location on “Highland and Hollywood.” Hi-Ho. Anyone else heard of this place? That intersection is a focal point of photographs and I’ve never seen nor heard of this place previously! I also looked in your “Hollywood Places” directory, Martin, and didn’t notice it there.
Regardless of the ingredients, I enjoyed the names of all these cocktails in this book: The Atta Boy Cocktail, Between the Sheets, Broken Spur, Depth Bomb, Damn-the-Weather, Earthquake (I laughed as the only direction for the cocktail is “Shake Well”), Garbo Gargle, Los Angeles, Poop-Poop-a-Doop, Sweet Patotie and, in honor of this year’s Best Picture Winner, the “Everything But” Cocktail.
The Hi-Ho is a new one for me, so I shall have to go investigating. And yes, someone put *a lot* of thought into those cocktail names.
Maybe Max Factor was a bootlegger as well as a makeup guy. It was Prohibition after all. I would love to learn more about that night spot Martin, see what you can dig up.
I worked there at the Hollywood Museum (Max Factor Building) but this is a first for me. I hope someone can help us out with more info.
Just thought I’d add something of note here today: This book was republished this year, 2023, under the author name Michael O’Mara Books, in hardcover! Ninety years after it’s first printings!