How do you get into Bar 1919?
We have not confirmed it. Bar 1919 is in the directory because it a hidden entrance, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
Drinks of the era
We have not seen this venue’s own list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Jack Rose, Diamondback, and Brown Derby are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where Bar 1919 sits
Bar 1919 is in San Antonio, Texas, in Bexar County, in the Southwest of the United States.
Our directory currently lists eleven speakeasies and hidden bars in San Antonio. The full list is on our guide to hidden bars in San Antonio.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Bar 1919 are Backroom Bar at TPC, about 750 m away, Boutique Speakeasy, about 1.0 km away, and Backroom Bar at TPC, about 1.0 km away.
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 San Antonio
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 San Antonio:
- San Antonio light, August 30, 1925 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- San Antonio light, October 14, 1923 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- San Antonio light, March 27, 1924 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- San Antonio light, October 7, 1923 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach Bar 1919 by phone on (210) 227-1420, through its own website, and on Facebook.
The address is 1420 S Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78204. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Bar 1919 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 carries a Prohibition-era year and the map tags on the record mark it a cocktail bar.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.