Editing Prohibition Era (section)

== Culture and Society ==

Prohibition-era Philadelphia developed a distinctive nightlife culture centered on speakeasies and jazz clubs. The illegal venues, freed from pre-Prohibition regulations that had separated drinking establishments by race and class, sometimes became spaces where boundaries were crossed. Jazz musicians found work in speakeasies, and the music developed in these venues before reaching wider audiences. The neighborhoods around South Broad Street became particularly known for jazz clubs, contributing to Philadelphia's development as a center of African American music. The speakeasy culture, despite its criminality, fostered cultural innovation.<ref name="weigley"/>

Women's presence in drinking establishments increased during Prohibition. Traditional saloons had been largely male spaces, but speakeasies attracted mixed crowds. The "flapper" culture of the 1920s—young women asserting independence through fashion, behavior, and social freedom—found expression in speakeasy culture. This social change outlasted Prohibition; when legal drinking resumed, women's presence in bars was established as normal. Prohibition had intended to protect families from alcohol's destructive effects but inadvertently accelerated changes in gender relations that its supporters would have deplored.<ref name="lerner"/>