Never on Sunday

[p51]

I remember Blue Laws well -- we had them here until the late '70s.

I grew up in North Florida (really Deep South) and we had them well into the 1990s! I remember for sure in 1992 I encountered that. We were going to get some beers and someone pointed out the county we were in wouldn't allow it.
I now live in Washington state and up until a year ago, you couldn't buy the hard stuff on a Sunday because the state ran all the liquor stores and they were closed on Sundays. That changed with an election last year.

 

[tonyb]

When I first moved out here (Seattle area), as an adolescent in 1968, there were still signs painted on many a tavern window that read "Tables for Ladies." These were visible vestiges of a time when the law forbade women from sitting at the bar. The law was aimed at curbing the practitioners of that most ancient of professions. (In another sense, it may well have "curbed" them. You know, put 'em out in the street.)

It wasn't long before I arrived out here that you couldn't even buy distilled spirits in a bar on Sunday. Beer, yes. Whiskey, no. I heard from old cab drivers that they did well by selling bottles out of the trunks of their taxis on the Lord's Day. Even when I was first here you had to buy a "meal" if you wished a drink on Sunday. This led to lots of packaged food being passed off as "meals," and many of those meals ending up in the garbage.

 

[3fingers]

Even when I was first here you had to buy a "meal" if you wished a drink on Sunday.

It is still that way here. No Sunday package sales at all. You can get a drink in a restaurant with a meal. And there is a lot of fudgery on exactly what constitutes a meal. There is one little town that has package sales on Sunday. It is 12 or 15 miles away and in another county.
On a slightly related note, our county will not issue a liquor license. They leave it to the city or village to sort out. A friend and I wanted to open a dance hall, restaurant and bar years ago in a building just outside a town line. The county wouldn't even consider it.

 

[Cochese]

I grew up in North Florida (really Deep South) and we had them well into the 1990s! I remember for sure in 1992 I encountered that. We were going to get some beers and someone pointed out the county we were in wouldn't allow it.
I now live in Washington state and up until a year ago, you couldn't buy the hard stuff on a Sunday because the state ran all the liquor stores and they were closed on Sundays. That changed with an election last year.

We just got Sunday alcohol LAST YEAR.

Surprisingly, the whole area isn't running around naked and cavorting on Sundays. Who knew.

 

[vitanola]

It is still that way here. No Sunday package sales at all. You can get a drink in a restaurant with a meal. And there is a lot of fudgery on exactly what constitutes a meal. There is one little town that has package sales on Sunday. It is 12 or 15 miles away and in another county.
On a slightly related note, our county will not issue a liquor license. They leave it to the city or village to sort out. A friend and I wanted to open a dance hall, restaurant and bar years ago in a building just outside a town line. The county wouldn't even consider it.

Ever hear of a "Raines Law Sandwich"?

How about a "Raines law Hotel"?

 

[3fingers]

Ever hear of a "Raines Law Sandwich"?

How about a "Raines law Hotel"?

No. I looked it up. Very creative. Never seen a brick sandwich served. A lot of popcorn and pretzel buffets though. May also include a bit of garlic bread, salami, or some other house specialty.:cheers1:

 

[fashion frank]

It was the Monday Holiday law that really drove the nail into the proper celebration of holidays. Remember when Memorial Day came on May 30th every year and was a sombre occasion for commemorating war dead, with public speeches, wreath-laying ceremonies and visits to the cemetery -- and not just another excuse to SELL SELL SELL?

At least they had the sense to put Veteran's Day back to the proper Armistice Day date -- but they ought to go the next step and repeal the whole Monday Holiday foolishness.

Well here in Rhode Island being the only state in the nation to celebrate V. J. day ( victory over Japan) on the second
Monday in August ,it's the one Monday holiday that I do look forward to .

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[p51]

We just got Sunday alcohol LAST YEAR.

I'm not shocked. I went through Kennesaw (in an ill-fated attempt to see "The General" in the Big Shanty museum, missed it closing by 20 minutes) on my trip to Huntsville from ATL in September and I swear the place hadn't changed at all since I was last there in the '80s...

 

[Cochese]

I'm not shocked. I went through Kennesaw (in an ill-fated attempt to see "The General" in the Big Shanty museum, missed it closing by 20 minutes) on my trip to Huntsville from ATL in September and I swear the place hadn't changed at all since I was last there in the '80s...

Downtown Kennesaw itself hasn't changed much, but boy has everything else.

 

[Shangas]

I would never support blue laws. I think it's appalling to enforce religious morality (or indeed, morality of any kind) on a people, by law. Look what happened in the 1920s.

 

[Edward]

I would never support blue laws. I think it's appalling to enforce religious morality (or indeed, morality of any kind) on a people, by law. Look what happened in the 1920s.

Inevitably there will always be a crossover between law and morality, but my professional opinion has always been that save where consent is lacking or there is some element of significant physical harm to the self, it is at best very ill-advised for the state to interfere in matters of personal morality.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

It was the Monday Holiday law that really drove the nail into the proper celebration of holidays. Remember when Memorial Day came on May 30th every year and was a sombre occasion for commemorating war dead, with public speeches, wreath-laying ceremonies and visits to the cemetery -- and not just another excuse to SELL SELL SELL?

At least they had the sense to put Veteran's Day back to the proper Armistice Day date -- but they ought to go the next step and repeal the whole Monday Holiday foolishness.

Ostensibly the purpose of the Uniform Monday Holiday Law was to increase the number of three day weekends for federal employees. In actuality it seems as if the real purpose was to guarantee a paid holiday in the event that the actual holiday fell on a weekend when many government employees wouldn't be working anyway.