
To Evade Pre-Prohibition Drinking Laws, New Yorkers Created an Inedible Sandwich - camtarn
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/raines-sandwich
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dickeytk
In Oregon bars that serve liquor have to serve food as well. Some of the
regulations:

“Substantial food item” means food items prepared or cooked on the licensed
premises and that are typically served as a main course or entrée. Some
examples are: fish; steak; chicken; pasta; pizza; sandwiches; dinner salads;
hot dogs; soup; and sausages. Side dishes, appetizer items, dessert items, and
snack items such as popcorn, peanuts, chips, and crackers do not qualify as
substantial food items.

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lgessler
This reminds me of how weed is currently sold in DC. You pay $60 or so for a
sticker or a dozen cookies, and a courier meets you somewhere and also happens
to offer you a "gift". IANAL but my guess is that since possession of weed is
decriminalized up to a certain amount (but dealing is not), this is a safer
way of going about it.

~~~
probably_wrong
This scheme comes up quite often, and the answer is always the same:
autorities are not dumb, and this scheme offers you no extra legal protection
whatsoever.

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imgabe
This is true. But it does offer a "brown bag" level of protection. I.E. the
story from The Wire about how public drinking is illegal, but if you at least
conceal what you're drinking in a brown bag, the cops won't hassle you because
they don't really want to enforce the law.

I live in DC and the only weed dealers I hear of getting arrested are the ones
who are extremely flagrant, like the one guy who operated out of a van with a
giant pot leaf painted on it.

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unnouinceput
Quote: "For Raines and the law’s other architects, this was the most alarming
unintended consequence: their efforts to make New Yorkers virtuous had caused
a spike in casual sex and prostitution."

Wanna guess today where prostitution is most prolific as well? Where it
involves drugs. Current drugs laws have the same effect as to Raines ones
mentioned in article. If only legalizing drugs, just like tobacco and alcohol
is, and tax it to make more money for state and federal budget, would be such
a good idea.

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sprafa
Also sort of the reason why the Spanish have tapas (Wikipedia lists it as one
of the possible founding myths) - the King ordered drinks could not be served
without food

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dvtrn
I used to drink at a cigar lounge in the Deep South (USA) that offered a $40
ham and cheese sandwich as the sole menu item for the exact same reason: local
laws required food to be served at your establishment if you wanted an alcohol
license.

I saw one person order the sandwich in many years drinking there. Sure enough
the bartender reached into the mini fridge under the bar, and would proceed to
make a ham and cheese sandwich right there in the spot.

Sure enough, he charged the guy

Mayo was extra.

~~~
burtonator
There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling water.

Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free.

Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle.

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vageli
> There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling
> water.

> Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free.

> Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle.

All it takes is one person to pass out from heat exhaustion to end this
practice.

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anthonybullard
Indiana at least until very recently had much more onerous regulations around
food in bars(namely there must be a sandwich, a soup, coffee, and milk
available). Here's an example compliance menu [1]

EDIT: Included details of the regulations.

[1]: [https://www.kegworks.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/Scree...](https://www.kegworks.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-23-at-5.03.51-PM.png)

~~~
res0nat0r
A local brewery complied with this by having a sign that said they would serve
pizza, but it was something like from Dominoes and would cost 150$ if you
ordered it.

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smelendez
In Louisiana, I believe breweries have the opposite problem: the majority of
their revenue must be from beer, so if they sell too much food they're in
trouble. I think some get around this with pop-up restaurants, maybe paying a
fixed fee to be there.

Another weird rule is that Louisiana bars cannot allow children, even with
parents, but breweries can. So breweries are often full of children. One in
New Orleans has a bounce house on weekends.

~~~
undersuit
Breweries in Montana are full of children. Play areas with toys are common and
some places even go so far as to make a beer-free beverage like root beer or
kombucha.

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DoctorOetker
In dutch there is the expression "glazen boterham" ("glass sandwich") which
today at least refers to a glass of beer, I wonder if the dutch expression is
somehow connected to this story... I always assumed this merely referenced the
caloric content of the alcoholic beverage...

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ZWoz
In Estonia there is "vedel leib" (liquid bread), meaning beer. "Leib" means
rye bread (dark bread), not white bread for additional nuance. White bread
("sai" in Estonian) was fancy and somewhat expansive food, if we talk about
19th or early 20th century.

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hprotagonist
Rules-lawyering at its finest.

This kind of reminds me of the “is a jaffa cake a biscuit” legal fight, which
mattered a great deal for VAT purposes.

~~~
sonofgod
See also -- Marvel's legal team: "The X-Men aren't _really_ people."

[https://mentalfloss.com/article/92007/why-us-federal-
court-r...](https://mentalfloss.com/article/92007/why-us-federal-court-ruled-
marvels-x-men-arent-humans)

~~~
hombre_fatal
Or a classic alt.sex.stories signature:

"All creatures in this story live in a solar system where one year is equal to
1,000 Earth years."

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Gibbon1
Odd story. My grandmother worked for a while a fry cook. She worked at a
diner. Next door was a bar.

The state passed a law that said bars couldn't have windows.

The bar next door to her work had a fine set of windows. The owners of the
diner and bar next door installed a door and a window in the wall between the
bar and the diners kitchen. And the bar got a restaurant license. Which was
cheaper.

Neener neener.

~~~
smelendez
That's the opposite of the Raines Law, which I believe said bars could _only_
allow drinking in areas visible through the window.

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Rebelgecko
There's still laws like this in Utah. I was at a brewery that required you to
buy food before they could fill your growler up. IIRC they had toast for 25¢

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exabrial
Reminds me exactly of the sugar taxes going on (except it you're Starbucks in
Seattle, that sugar is exempt from law)

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getup8
Somewhat an aside, but Raines Law Room in the Flatiron in NYC is a great
little speakeasy/cocktail bar and brings back this vibe a bit.

