I participated in a business event last night at the famed 21 Club in New York City, dining in the wine cellar. Which piqued my interest to learn more about the history of the restaurant, hence this book.It turns out that 21 started life as a speakeasy - that is, a bar during prohibition, the time between the 18th amendment which outlawed booze and the 21st which brought it back (well, legally that is) in 1933.
To protect against raids by federal agents, 21's founders built their wine cellar with a hidden door to withstand searches. There's quite a bit of history, amusing anecdote and plenty of namedropping in this book. If you're at all interested in NY City history, it is a fun read.
