How do you get into 1923 Banana Club?
We have not confirmed it. 1923 Banana Club is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, 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: Bronx, Monkey Gland, and Hanky Panky are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
The building
Documented — 1923 Banana Club occupies the Ritchie Grocery Building, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places under reference number 90000900. The listing is a federal record maintained by the National Park Service, and the nomination document is the primary source for the building’s architectural and social history.
National Register reference 90000900 · NPS nomination document
Where 1923 Banana Club sits
1923 Banana Club is in Texarkana, Arkansas, in Miller County, in the Deep South of the United States.
This is currently the only verified hidden bar our directory lists in Texarkana. If you know another, tell us.
Arkansas holds eight listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Arkansas speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Arkansas
Arkansas did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1915, five 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, Arkansas already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Arkansas.
What the newspapers recorded in Arkansas
Searching the Library of Congress run of Arkansas newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Arkansas:
- Pine Bluff daily graphic, March 20, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Prescott daily news, April 12, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Pine Bluff daily graphic, May 16, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Prescott daily news, June 4, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach 1923 Banana Club by phone on (903) 824-7674, through its own website, and on Facebook.
The address is 223 E Front St, Texarkana, AR 71854. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For 1923 Banana Club we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, and a listed-building record. We do not yet hold opening hours, a published drinks list, or an online booking link.
It is in the directory because its own name carries a Prohibition-era year and the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.