Prohibition In 'Essay No Meal Without Wine'

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No Meal Without Wine Bars on virtually every corner, throngs of people and cops on city streets, fights, and public drunkenness making Toronto an embarrassment to visiting tourists. No, I'm not describing the Entertainment District on a Saturday night. It's actually a scene from the Junction. (Johnson, 2012) The significance behind this quote shows the reasoning behind what led to the ninety-four year long prohibition in the Junction, from 1903 - 1997. Around this time, the “neighbourhood’s working-class, Irish Catholics, Brits, Macedonians, and Croatians” (Johnson) all decided together to enact the laws that made West Toronto go dry. The prohibition started as intended and as a result made the Junction a popular shopping destination. However, the Junction’s popularity …show more content…

Consequently, the Junction was losing profits and residents began to want the prohibition laws repealed so that they can get business to return. One of the significant advocates for this reform was the pizza restaurant called Vesuvio. By the end of the 1960’s the restaurant began to desire alcohol because their customers wanted beer with their pizzas and Red Wine with their Italian food (Vesuvio). Since prohibition was still active, Vesuvio lost a lot of customers. As a result the owners of Vesuvio, Dominic and Ettore Pugliese, assisted the neighbourhood with trying to get rid of the prohibition law. There was one plebiscite (1969) and four referendums (two in 1969, the third in 1973 and the last in 1984), which all were lost to keeping the Junction dry (Vesuvio). Emotions were saddened in the pizza joint because the Pugliese and the waitresses knew they had lost their jobs. In the midst of the sadness, Ettore nailed 2 X 4’s to the dining room doors while customers sat inside. He then declared, “that every meal was on the house, and that no meal would be served again until it could be served with a glass of wine” (Vesuvio). Soon after, the brothers acquired a little jewelry

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