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Boning up on the local “code” was the first order of business for the traveling drinker. The rituals concerning the dispensing of liquor varied considerably from region to region, state to state, and even county to county.
I was young and naive as to these matters when I found myself in a Southern state where bars as I’d known them were scarce but “private clubs” were plentiful. I soon got the sense that this was how drinking establishments got around anti-discrimination laws. And, in the case of myself and my traveling companions, how they kept out shaggy young Northerners. Having my presence so blatantly regarded as undesirable gave me a small taste of what some people put up with on a daily basis.
I was young and naive as to these matters when I found myself in a Southern state where bars as I’d known them were scarce but “private clubs” were plentiful. I soon got the sense that this was how drinking establishments got around anti-discrimination laws. And, in the case of myself and my traveling companions, how they kept out shaggy young Northerners. Having my presence so blatantly regarded as undesirable gave me a small taste of what some people put up with on a daily basis.