While Atlantic City's Resorts Casino Hotel has Club Piscopo, which, yes, means you can see Joe Piscopo, it also is home to Prohibition, very possibly the "first full-time gay bar at any big American casino." The casino's CEO Dennis Gomes told the NY Times, "I feel like I’m doing something that needs to be done, but it’s perfect because the right thing to do is the lucrative thing to do, too." Word. more ›

A time-honored tradition of getting irreparably blazed before the senior prom went horribly awry for a group of teens in Glassboro, New Jersey on Friday night. Five friends were gathered in a silver dodge Intrepid driven by one regally-named King M. Seals, 18. But despite his magisterial moniker, Seals seems to have exercised poor judgment in failing to adequately hotbox the Intrepid, and the pungent scent of marijuana smoke wafting from the vehicle caught the attention of one Patrolman Ron Marchese. And everything went sideways from there. more ›

We recently looked back at the Golden Age of Jazz in New York City (1938-1948), but what about before all that? Thirteen.org just took a trip to 133rd Street in Harlem for their City Concealed series, and below is their video on the early Jazz scene there. Particularly interesting is their visit to The Nest, which was housed in the basement of 169 West 133rd Street: more ›

No wonder we get the DTs if we don't get our bottle of GT Synergy Kombucha in the morning: Since the popular product continues to ferment in the bottle, some bottles may have an alcohol content above 0.5%, the legal threshold for a non-alcoholic beverage. Earlier this week, Whole Foods yanked GT Synergy Kombucha from its shelves, and the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau [TTB] has launched an investigation into the nascent yet booming kombucha industry. Pretty soon you may need to show ID to buy your six pack of Guava Goddess! more ›

For years now, MTA officials have been trying to take away one of the last remaining "privileges" enjoyed by adults schlepping home from Grand Central on Metro North: Alcohol. First they tried to just ban booze, but backed down in the face of an outcry (and the fact that alcohol sales brought in $1 million profit for the MTA at the time). But with the introduction of a new fleet of 300 train cars to replace the 1970s-era models, it seems The Man is one step closer to wresting the bottle from riders on the New Haven line. Not a single new bar car has been built, and the old wood-paneled ones aren't compatible with the new fleet! more ›

Just after midnight on 4/20—a day celebrated by stoners around the world for reasons they've mostly forgotten—the Associated Press harshed the holiday's vibe by releasing the results of a nationwide survey about legalizing marijuana. The conclusion: we still live in a nation of uptight, reactionary Archie Bunker types who think it makes sense to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars for the sake of criminalizing a plant. Survey says: more ›

When asked during his 2001 mayoral campaign if he ever smoked marijuana, Mayor Bloomberg replied, "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." And over the weekend, he dressed up like a hippie and clowned around with cast members from Hair. But don't be fooled! Nanny Bloomberg is still a prohibitionist; when asked about a coming marijuana legalization referendum in California, Bloomberg said, "I would vote against legalizing marijuana." The Mayor explained that the stuff "keeps getting stronger and stronger" and could lead to "greater use of drugs, which isn't good." Meanwhile, the New York State Senate is preparing to vote on a bill that would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for medicinal purposes in New York. more ›

The NYC Health Department is intensifying a crackdown on bars and clubs that permit cigarette smoking, and officials may make an extreme example of extremely obnoxious club M2 UltraLounge. The club went on trial last week at a special administrative court that the city uses when it seeks to take away property, and the Times reports that if M2 loses, it would be the first time the city had closed a business solely for violating a ban on smoking. more ›

The Daily News talked to some bartenders and alkies about today's significance. 35-year-old Daria Dennhardt from the Bronx said she can't wait to squeeze into The Back Room for the "classic cocktails," adding, "Thank God it's still legal." Can't you just smell it on her breath when you read that? As a side note, have fun tomorrow with this website that calculates the calories in how much you imbibed, then shows you the (shocking) the equivalent in food. [Via Grub Street] more ›

It’s been legal for individuals to bring absinthe into the U.S. for some time now, but only this year are authentic varieties of the spirit made with 19th-century distilling methods legal to produce in America and sell in stores. The complete end of prohibition – which, as the Times reports, has already taken place in the E.U. – is thanks in part to studies concluding that the chemical thujone, found in wormwood and often blamed... more ›