How do you get into Backroom?
We have not confirmed it. Backroom is in the directory because it period concealment name, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at Backroom
How the venue describes itself: “WhatsApp Messenger: More than 2 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere. WhatsApp is free and offers simple, secure, reliable messaging and calling, available on phones all over the world.” (from its own website, retrieved 9 October 2026)
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: French 75, Clover Club, and Aviation are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where Backroom sits
Backroom is in McAllen, Texas, in Hidalgo County, in the Southwest of the United States.
This is currently the only verified hidden bar our directory lists in McAllen. If you know another, tell us.
Texas holds 110 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Texas speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Texas
Texas did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1918, two years before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, Texas already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Texas.
What the newspapers recorded in Texas
Searching the Library of Congress run of Texas newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Texas:
- El Paso herald, May 27, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Brownsville herald, July 2, 1922 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Snyder signal, June 11, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Laredo weekly times, August 15, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach Backroom by phone on (956) 358-9722, through its own website, and on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Youtube.
The address is 2901 W Expressway 83, McAllen, TX 78503-8301. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Backroom we hold street address, telephone number, official website, and social accounts. We do not yet hold opening hours, a published drinks list, an online booking link, or a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because its own name names a back room.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.