How do you get into BABs Secret Lounge?
We have not confirmed it. BABs Secret Lounge is in the directory because it described as secret, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at BABs Secret Lounge
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: Mary Pickford, El Presidente, and Hotel Nacional Special are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where BABs Secret Lounge sits
BABs Secret Lounge is in Odessa, Florida, in Pasco County, in the South Atlantic of the United States.
This is currently the only verified hidden bar our directory lists in Odessa. If you know another, tell us.
Florida holds 100 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Florida speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Florida
Florida did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1919, one year before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, Florida already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Florida.
What the newspapers recorded in Florida
Searching the Library of Congress run of Florida newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Florida:
- The Pensacola journal, January 19, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Ocala evening star, August 4, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Lakeland evening telegram, August 10, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Pensacola journal, June 6, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach BABs Secret Lounge by phone on (813) 926-3062, through its own website, and on Facebook and Instagram.
The address is 16540 Pointe Village Dr, Odessa, FL 33558-5256. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For BABs Secret Lounge we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, and a published drinks list. We do not yet hold opening hours, an online booking link, or a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because its own name calls it a lounge and calls it secret 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.