How do you get into Prohibition Lounge?
We have not confirmed it. Prohibition Lounge is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at Prohibition Lounge
How the venue describes itself: “San Diego’s original speakeasy bar and club. Perfect for birthdays, business events, and parties. No reservations are needed. Enjoy classic drinks and live music in an underground setting.” (from its own website, retrieved 9 October 2026)
The current drinks list is published on the venue’s own site — see the menu.
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a 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 Prohibition Lounge sits
Prohibition Lounge is in San Diego, California, in the county of the same name, in the West of the United States.
Our directory currently lists ten speakeasies and hidden bars in San Diego. The full list is on our guide to hidden bars in San Diego.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Prohibition Lounge are The Grand on 5th, a few doors away, Witherby Speakeasy, a few doors away, and Room 56, about 350 m away.
California holds 173 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our California speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in California
California came under national prohibition on 17 January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment took effect and the Volstead Act defined an intoxicating beverage as anything above one half of one per cent alcohol — a threshold strict enough to close breweries that had expected to survive.
Reported Prohibition Lounge is described as having operated during that period. Claims of Prohibition-era trade are common and are rarely documented; we label this one reported until an archival source confirms it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in California.
What the newspapers recorded in San Diego
Searching the Library of Congress run of California newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from San Diego:
- Süd California Deutsche zeitung, January 26, 1923 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
Hours published by the venue:
- Sunday-Wednesady 8:00pm – 1:30am
- Thursday-Saturday 7:00pm – 1:30am
Hours as published on the venue’s own site, retrieved 9 October 2026.
You can reach Prohibition Lounge by phone on (619) 501-1919, through its own website, and on Facebook and Instagram.
The address is 548 5th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Prohibition Lounge we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, opening hours, a published drinks list, and an online booking link. We do not yet hold a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because its own name calls it a lounge and names Prohibition and the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Two independent open datasets, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, both carry this venue at this location. Agreement between them is the strongest existence check we can make without visiting.
The source data classifies the premises as a nightclub.