How do you get into Witherby Speakeasy?
We have not confirmed it. Witherby Speakeasy 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: Adonis, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
The building
Documented — Witherby Speakeasy occupies the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places under reference number 78000751. 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 78000751 · NPS nomination document
Where Witherby Speakeasy sits
Witherby Speakeasy 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 Witherby Speakeasy are Prohibition Lounge, a few doors away, The Grand on 5th, a few doors away, and Room 56, about 250 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.
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
You can reach Witherby Speakeasy by phone on (619) 696-0579 and through its own website.
The address is 526 Market St, San Diego, CA 92101. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Witherby Speakeasy we hold street address, telephone number, official website, and a listed-building record. We do not yet hold social accounts, opening hours, a published drinks list, or an online booking link.
It is in the directory because its own name calls it a speakeasy 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.