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DCist is proud to be the official media sponsor of Cultural Tourism DC's free event this Saturday, Sept. 29: WalkingTown DC offers a wealth of free walking tours all day long to get Washingtonians out and discovering new things about their city and neighborhoods.
The Temperance Tour, hosted by volunteer Garrett Peck, author of The Prohibition Hangover, begins at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 1 p.m. and wraps up at the Woodrow Wilson House around 4, with an after-party to celebrate the ability to drink legally at the Brickskeller. More info is available at the WalkingTown web site.
Peck has been giving this tour for some time for the Close Up Foundation, a program that brings high school civics teachers and students to Washington, D.C., but this is the first time it's been available to the wider public. He took a few minutes to answer our questions about the tour.
DCist: What attracted you to the idea of a Prohibition tour of D.C.?
Garrett Peck: Next year - 2008 - marks the 75th anniversary of Repeal, so it's particularly timely to look back to see how Americans have adjusted to alcohol in only three or four generations.
DCist: What's your favorite thing on the tour?
GP: I really enjoy talking with people about how influential the temperance movement was once in America. People forget how deeply ingrained it was in American culture, as it was largely pushed by evangelical Protestants. Few people remember anymore the Anti-Saloon League, which had its national kickoff meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in 1895, or that it was led by Wayne Wheeler -- the Karl Rove of his day. The ASL got the 18th Amendment passed that outlawed alcohol.
Photo of Temperance Fountain courtesy Garrett Peck
DCist: What will surprise people about this tour?
GP: People will be surprised at how may Starbucks we pass along the tour route. There are three along 7th Street, and another two we pass in Dupont. So maybe the temperance movement won after all!
I think people are also genuinely surprised at how strong the temperance movement once was in America -- and how horribly Prohibition backfired on them. They completely misjudged the extent that Americans wanted to drink, and our willingness to break the law to make a buck. Today, drinking alcohol is the norm for most Americans: Gallup has done an annual survey since 1939 confirming that two-thirds of American adults drink. That's quite a change, since abstinence was once considered the norm.
DCist: If someone can only go on one tour on Saturday, why should they pick yours?
GP: People will learn about how the U.S. got into the mess that was Prohibition (and how we repealed the Constitution after only 13 years), see some sights that they've probably never considered before. Have you ever seen President Woodrow Wilson's wine cellar? Well, now's your chance! Best of all, the forecast for Saturday is for a beautiful, sunny, 75 degree day. Perfect for a nice walk and a beer afterward at the Brickskeller.
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Every Sunday, you can be reminded of the temperence movement by way of DC's wonderfully antequted blue laws.
#1 You are the true prophet believer, preach on preacher man, preach on
Is the Brick open at 4 o'clock on a Saturday?
They should go to Temperance Hall for drinks.
BostonRay says: The temperance movement has been around, in one form or the other, for about 100 years. Now it is funded by the $16 billion Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His stated goal, in addition to a total tobacco ban, is to achieve bans on alchohol. You see he also makes a pill to substitute for organic booze. As in his tobacco propaganda wars his alchohol propaganda will feature "second hand alcohol" as it's main theme. He figures that it was so easy to dupe the gullible nitwits about imaginary tobacco "danger and deaths" he might as well stick with the same motif. Just as he purchased and operates the American Cancer Society, American Heart/Lung Societies he also owns and operates Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) to spew his fraudulent propaganda. He first came for smokers and now he is coming for you. He has invested $500 million so far - Motive? Money and profit. Don't believe me? Check out his website.