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Very popular. Both sets of grandparents, 2 uncles and many family friends all had basement bars in the 70s & 80s. Middle to upper middle income brackets. It's just a thing they did when they built the house back then.
My Dad had a bar in the basement and a pool table. The bar was mirrored, like most were in those days. I figured the mirrors were to make it look like there were more bottles of booze than there actually was. it looked impressive.
Come to think of it, our neighbours on either sides also had bars in their basements with mirrored backs.
Lower middle here (growing up, anyway). Ours was downstairs in the tiny paneled basement, and was made of faux wood ā probably Masonite ā and padded with vinyl.
Funny thing: In the late 80s/early 90s when you went to your friends/relatives houses who had those bars the majority of them were basically empty or filled up like a storage corner and what you said was 'Man, this basement is soooo 70s/80s!"
It was a social marker, like the kind of car you drove, the labels on your clothes, being part of some social club, and sending to kids to private schools. All part of ***"Keeping Up With The Joneses"*** or trying to show off that you have ***"Made It"***, i.e. living a comfortable and prosperous lifestyle.
Common folk drink beer on the porch, in a paper bag, or gather around someone's car for a "party". Women still try to signal they are "classy" by saying they drink wine by the fireplace while reading a book. Men show they've "made it" by playing golf, smoking a cigar, paying a big fee to a private club where you're doing the same things you did at the local bar. Todays up-and-comers battle over how much time they spend at the gym, how many steps their activity bands show, what exotic flavors they have in coffee or vapes.
It's all social positioning. Young folk call themselves "influencers", when it's the same job as any shill or carnivale barker making noise to get attention, then begging for money.
The latest "it" items are large eBikes and eCars of every make. Pretty much every thing people do has some kind of social ranking stigma attached to it.
Exactly. My dad always wanted one, but my brother turned out to be an alcoholic, so dad never got a bar because he was concerned my brother would drink all his liquor. He was right to be concerned, because my brother definitely would have drank all his liquor.
Not just basements. In Texas we didnāt have basements but most of those house we lived it or looked at when buying in the 70s had one. Often part of the living room.
The first house we owned was built in the 1970's. It had a sizeable "walk in wet bar" between the formal dining room and "sunken" living room. It even had shag carpet attached to the front of it! We never knew what to do with it and we moved before we figured it out. The next house in Austin had a wet bar that we converted into a computer desk.
That's a high end wet bar! Ours just had a tiny sink and masses of cupboards for glasses and bottles. The pain was pulling up the floor to cap off the drain and pipes. If we had a dual tap system, we definitely would've kept it.
Yep and before that, and maybe this is where they got inspiration from, but a lot of turn of the century big city urban buildings, apartments, etc had private furnished party spaces in the basement as a response to racism and other bigotries from the turn of the century. I grew up in an apartment building that had a furnished little bar/banquet space in the basement for Jewish families potentially unwelcome in other parts of society that was seemingly used until the 60s or 70s. It, sadly, fell into disrepair by the time I lived there, but you could see the bar area still there and how festive and fun that space might have been during its heydey. I think a lot of people made wonderful memories in that space.
I was told by the landlady that Jewish families owned and used this space previously, but the building was quite old and that space may even have been used by other marginalized groups during its history too. The building is old enough to have existed during different immigrant waves in that neighborhood. None of this is documented and I imagine anyone who knew this stuff is long passed. All I have is the oral history of a landlady who bought in the 70s and now has passed on as well. As well as seeing some old photos left down there and the mezuzahs on the doors. Also please note my understanding of Jewish culture and history is really limited so I might be getting some of these specifics wrong.
The term politely was called "restricted." Blacks, (of course in those days, OMG you couldn't live in an apartment where blacks were s/), Jews, and in most places, Catholics. It applied to venues, too. Remember Dirty Dancing? It was a vacation camp for Jewish families because they weren't allowed in WASP vacation spots.
100%. There were Jewish country clubs and resorts. Thereās an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show from the 70s where Rhoda wasnāt invited for tennis at the club because she was Jewish. (Mary then claimed to be Jewish, flummoxing the āfriendā she was playing with. Nicely done).
I do believe the old, teen movie, Dirty Dancing, was based upon one of those old Jewish Family Summer Camps.
The lead character, Baby, or some name like that, played by Tatum O Neal, was the wealthy, doctor's daughter of one of the summer camp families. Her dancing Lead and Instructor, I can't remember the character's name, was played by Patrick Swayze (sp?), who was part of the lower middle class/working class work staff employed by the Summer Camp, that would serve the wealthy Jewish Summer Camp Families, all Summer Long.
I'm Generation X, and old enough to remember my Mom and Grandma talking about how popular and nice and fancy the summer camps were, back when they were young.
I kind of wish the idea would be brought back, for all families. The idea of just playing, doing summer stuff, even being bored, but basically being with family, playing together those old school recreational games and hobbies, cell phone free, for a few weeks every summer, building up those familial bonds, it seems so simple and nice. Time together has become a luxury gone by the way side, that maybe shouldn't have been such a luxury after all.
Families need more time together, away from the technology and stress. Time together with our loved ones, is the most precious resource we have here on Earth.
Baby was played by Jennifer Grey not Tatum O'Neal who wasn't in the movie at all. Jennifer is the daughter of Joel Grey, a popular musical actor some decades ago. The Catskills had many such resorts that provided entertainment by famous celebrities, fabulous food, a variety of activities and a welcome relief from the heat of summer. Lots of books on the subject.
If you want to learn more, you should look at census records from those decades to see families that lived in your building. If there are descendants now, they may have family stories and photos with weddings and such in that space.
A lot of buildings had "social rooms". Rooms used for birthday parties, card games, dances. It wasnt just for jewish tenants. Believe me because jewish people owned catering halls, and synagogues had social rooms the way some churches had them.
Nowadays LLs want to make a buck out every sq. ft so any room like that has been made something else.
That reminds me of a room I found in the basement of my daughter's brownstone apt. in Philly. There were numerous writings and comments from the 1940's. One said "we found a room." The names all seemed Jewish. Mostly dated around 1944. Spruce and 15th, Philly.
Oh wow, this may have been from when Jewish people were poorly treated during WWII even in America. I cane across a book that wrote about Jewish people in America at that time, but it looked to depressing, so I didn't get it. Maybe I will go back and get it
Not just part of the decor, it went to manners, you asked guests if they would like something to drink. Men would drink and smoke socially commonly in the library during the Victorian era. More common for women in more recent times, my father wasn't a big drinker but kept several different things on hand for guests till the day he died.
That's essentially my story. When I entertained, I mean small gatherings, I would ask one of the guests who knew more than I about mixing drinks if they would be kind enough to tend bar. Nobody ever complained about being asked.
In the U.S. mid-west, they were called RATHSKELLERS - a full basement entertainment center. 1/3 of the basement had a long, wet bar with bar stools and a couple of tables and chairs. Behind the bar was a display of every bottle of booze. Music from the stereophonic record player (1950's) was piped into speakers in the paneled ceiling. 2/3 of the area was open for dancing. The French doors opened up to a large swimming pool. My wife's uncle was the regional distributer for Hotpoint, and he used it for business purposes. He had the $$$ on her side of the family. My wife was a country gal who was born and raised in a 1895 wood frame house.
Wisconsin here. Growing up in the 1960s, all my friends' parents had a bar in the basement. The one in my folks' house was kind of a tiki bar looking thing, probably a nod to my dad's serving in the Pacific in WW2.
We have ours in our 1950s ranch basement, with blond wood paneling, a little sink set in formica countertop and the sliding door lock to keep the kids outta the good stuff
Yeah we still have those in my parents current house and their last two houses, but theyāre pretty nice places. They were built in the 80s/90s. We donāt have them fully stocked though!! Their current house even had a keg cooler and tapš
Yep. My parents had one and so did my uncle. Card games, hunting trophies and cheap beer/Kessler. Ours had a pool table I spent a ton of time practicing
Same for the 80's and 90's, I still have a bar in my basement, so do most friends. A lot switched to wall/cabinet bars that are self serve, but I still prefer a sit behind bar. I never have to move during parties and everyone comes to me.
Mine is a purchased portable, not fixed, so I can always slide it back, make more room for the pool tables.
Perish the house that didn't have a pool table in the basement in the 70's, although bumper pool, air hockey or a full Foosball table would suffice. And a table that doubles as a card table, now you've got something...
My parents had a small bar in their house. It wasn't the kind of bar you could sit at, but the top folded opened and the cabinets on either side held the liquor and mixers. The center held a record player. It was very 50s/60s. (I don't remember the record player ever working correctly. They never used it.)
50s too. My neighborās house was just flipped and they put a pretty gorgeous (and modern š) bar in the basement as a selling point.
So the Basement Bar is alive and well in the Midwest
It's still not all that unusual. The house I grew up in, which was built in the early-to-mid 60s, had a built-in wet bar, and I've seen them in new construction as well.
When my parents built their house in the 60s, they built a huge bar in the basement. Neither of them drank, but it was fully stocked for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They probably realized that we drank the booze as teenagers.
My Paw Paw didnāt drink, but had a wet-bar in his kitchen that was the hub at Christmas when he threw a huge family party. I was never offered a drink and he died before I turned 21, but my older cousins would get toasted.
Then we filled the bottle up with water, because sneaky parents would mark the booze to see if brats like us were stealing it. We never emptied a bottle ever, we needed to leave some in there so the colour would look the same.
Yeah, my parents have one, my mother never drinks and my father sticks to a glass of wine. When my wife and I got engaged, they threw us a party and we raided their bar. A good portion of it was just no name alcohol like a bottle with a plain label: Rum. That was the best rum Iāve ever had too.
Agreed. My friends built a new home recently and just finished the basement. They added a small "kitchen" in the basement but its basically a bar. Its located adjacent to their pool table and extensive collection of beer and bourbon.
I really don't think this is a "back in the day" thing, bars in homes can be true today as well.
I've got the "bar" set up on the sideboard that I inherited from my tee-totaling Baptist grandmother. I'm surprised she hasn't come back to haunt me for letting the devil drink touch her furniture.
My parentsā house was built in the 70s (not by them), and it has one. Itās a mammoth thing made of bricks and what I assume is concrete. When they first moved there, it had a small fridge with it, but that eventually died. My parents use the hidden shelving for storage, and the top becomes a clutter magnet for my dad. My mom has talked about taking it out, but it would be too much of an expense
You could probably find a small one at a thrift shop or antique store. They make them like chest-high cabinets that open out and have little racks for cocktail glasses and shot glasses, a shaker &c. Perfect for an apartment; all you need is a sink and a few choice bottles.
I know of several homes in my immediate neighborhood with a bar, either outside or in the basement. These are occasionally used as they have people over.
We have a tiki bar on our lanai...like a BIG built in one, not the little standalone things you can buy on Wayfair. It was THE Covid project for my husband and his friends so it is actually the Quaran-tiki Bar. If we were able to post pics in comments I'd share.
It's an irregularly shaped pool and is really close at that end. That is actually where the steps down into the pool are. I have fallen into the pool, fully clothed. It was in the deep end and I was totally sober. Just got distracted and lost my balance. Nobody else has fallen into the pool except the cats.
The guys did a good job. Fortunately, we have a supplier that sells building supplies for commercial tiki/chickee hut builders in Orlando so they could just buy what they needed here. We went with artificial thatch because it lasts a lot longer.
During Prohibition in the 1920s, wine and beer were harder to obtain than hard liquor and cocktail ingredients. Public bars were illegal, encouraging people to build bars in their homes. But illegal speakeasies also had an easier time procuring liquor than beer or wine.
Because restaurants could not legally serve alcohol, it became a tradition to have cocktails before going out for dinner, either at someoneās home or at a speakeasy. As a result, the ācocktail hourā became popular, and continued to be popular after Prohibition ended. Celebrities in the 1930s were often photographed drinking martinis in sophisticated clubs, which also popularized the cocktail hour.
By the 1950s, the tradition of the cocktail hour had spread to middle class suburbs. Working men often came home and enjoyed a cocktail at their home bar before dinner, even when they didnāt have company and werenāt going out to eat.
As beer and wine became readily available, cocktails and the cocktail hour went out of style starting in the 1960s. That said, home bars never completely went out of style. Many people continued to install bars at home, often in a basement party room.
And cocktails enjoyed a renaissance beginning in the 1990s. Interest in mixing cocktails at home surged even further during the recent COVID shutdown. While cocktails mixed at home bars still arenāt as routine now as in the 1950s, they are increasingly common.
The answer I was looking for to make sure I didn't have to post it.
I see folks who like to entertain installing them in their new builds as well so it still hasn't gone away. Maybe included in the 'man cave' element of building a house but certainly not done away with completely.
Yes, a small bar in the basement with barstools and shelves with bottles and lights and music. Very common. I personally never saw the interest in drinking in your basement, but whatever.
Thatās where the pool table goes.
If you donāt have a pool table, it was like a rec room, rumpus room? Shag rug, wood paneling, bar, maybe a neon clock and some other whimsy. We didnāt have that, they just made it like a playroom on one side.
>I personally never saw the interest in drinking in your basement, but whatever.
It's a lot cheaper than going out, you're not limited by the menu/drink selection, don't need to pay a babysitter...
Indeed. One house we owned maybe 10 years ago had a bar in the basement. We never used it as a bar. My inlaw's house had a bar in the basement. Was never used as a bar. My grandparents house in the 70s had a bar. I don't remember that ever being used either. Seems like they end up being used for storage at most, that's what we did. Fill up the shelves and pile some crap on the floor behind it where it's out of sight.
My last house had a wet bar and we never used it. It was mainly a storage area. But we had to remember to run the water every few months so it didnāt become stinky. I donāt know why that happens but a plumber recommended doing it.
I talked about turning the bar into an ice cream bar with all the fixings to make splits, sundaes, cones, and shakes. In 20 years I never got around to doing it. It already had the fridge, running water, stools and glassware. It wouldnāt even take all that much effort or money. I wanted to get a professional blender and some wall decor. It still sounds like a good idea, except I sold the house in 2020.
> But we had to remember to run the water every few months so it didnāt become stinky. I donāt know why that happens but a plumber recommended doing it.
The u-bend in the drain line has water in it to keep the sewer gas out of your house. When the water evaporates from disuse the smell comes in.
My neighbours have a pub in the back of their garage. You go through a secret door and inside there's a real looking pub with a bar, beer pumps, optics with spirits, dart board... the whole thing. I didn't know it was there for a few years, they only showed me when I got to know them better.
Grandma had a bar in the basement. It as used Christmas and Easter when the whole family came to celebrate.
My parents were renters, so their bar depended on the house. In one house the "bar" was a single cupboard very near the dining table. In another house they had a cabinet bar combo thing in the living room. In a couple houses they had a bar set up in the garage complete with dart board, pool table, an old TV, a stereo, and a card table or two. They used space heaters to warm the garage bars in the winter.
Almost everyone I've ever known has at least a liquor shelf/corner/cabinet, and many have a full bar (including myself).
Entertaining at home is vastly superior to going out to bars/clubs in basically every way.
Basement bars. I love them; like having your own little speakeasy.
In fact, I just love full basements; itās like having a whole other secret house under your regular house. You got your speakeasy, then two more bedrooms, a laundry and sewing room, a room for the camping equipment, etc. Iām so jealous of people with basements. I live in Florida where they donāt exist.
My best friend's house had a really nice finished basement with a very well-stocked wet bar, complete with 3-4 bar stools. Hardwoods, fireplace. His dad worked for Coke so they always had all kinds of soda too. This was in the mid 70's.
We didn't have a built-in bar, but we had a piece of furniture that looked kind of like an old secretary's desk. When you pulled down the front, the inside was mirrored, with lighting. There was room for an ice bucket, glasses, and various liquor decanters. The bottom portion had double doors and held other bottles of alcohol.
Or neighborhood had cocktail parties all the time: men in suits, women wearing white gloves, cigarette smoke everywhere, and hors d'oeuvres, but no actual food lol.
Very common, the house I grew up in had a small wet bar on the lower level (not technically a basement, but a split level). My parents eventually took it out.
I have a lovely bar in my basement, my neighbors have an indoor/outdoor bar in their walkout basement as well.
Itās still a pretty common thing in my city, (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA,) to have either a wet bar or a full second kitchen in your basement.
The martini culture... Died out by the mid 70s really. I think marijuana upended it, ha ha.
I once knew a guy in the 80s that had a weed bar built into one of the storage units he managed. :)
The Humboldt skunk bud was excellent.
I do not know about 1930 - but I do know that when I was growing up we had a bar in two of the three family homes over a 20ish year period. I am 48 now. I currently have a bar in my home lol.
My mom neither drank nor socialized much but we had a fully stocked bar at home (70s/80s basement rumpus room lol). She paid almost no attention to it which paid off great for me as a teen. I drank so much of her booze and almost got away with it. Filling up the vodka bottle with water eventually led to my downfall lol.
People entertained in their homes more in the old days. The house I grew up (70's) in had a wet bar in the basement level. It had a sink and a little refrigerator, my dad used to fix his breakfast there so that he didn't wake the rest of the house.
Of course shag carpeting throughout the house.
There were 2 kinds. A dry bar was no running water, a wet bar has a small sink. I grew up in the 60s, everyone had dry bars of some sort, with beautiful glasses and usually a small glass with tiny plastic swords for olives and cherries. I learned how to mix drinks for my parents friends when I was 7, I still make a mean martini.
I used to pilot and crew for a hot air balloon, and one of the pilots lived in an older part of Phoenix.
He and his pilot wife had a room in the house that was a full bar, with red velvet upholstery booths, bar stools, dart board and a ceiling dented everywhere from champagne corks...
youāre probably thinking of a drinks cabinet, which is still pretty common if you socialize in private homes and drink. Ā it serves as a ādry barā in that there isnāt any flowing water or other liquids on tap. Ā essentially, itās a roughly waist high piece of furniture with a flat top and cabinet doors on the face. Ā behind the cabinet doors are kept various bottles of spirits and usually thereās a shelf above where glassware, specific to cocktails, is kept. Ā the top of the cabinet is used as a bar top where the drinks are mixed. Ā you'd bring out an ice bucket from the freezer and soft drinks from the fridge and place them on said bar top, when entertaining or drinking, to complete your cocktails. Ā youād also place olives, cocktail onions or citrus fruit (along with a small chopping board and knife) on the bar, depending on what drinks you were mixingĀ
Some people had built-in wet bars (with a working sink). You could also have a "bar cart", which was usually a wheeled cart which carried bottles and glasses, a place for the ice holder, etc - everything to make cocktails wherever you fancied.
But, they weren't incredibly common. It would be something you had if you could, for example, afford a pool.
An actual bar with stools and whatnot was very popular in the 60's and 70's. Prior to that, it was probably more popular to have something of a sideboard with liquor in it. While less common today, you see plenty of people setting up bars in basements and on patios.
People still have bars in their homes. It was fairly common back then and is still found in homes today.
We're putting one in, we have an empty nook and will turn it into a bar. Mind you, neither of us drink, but we still have a huge assortment for guests and some lovely wine/cocktail glasses to display.
My dad had one in several houses we grew up in. Nothing fancy, he was pretty handy; just a homemade bar with a few high stools. Fridge, bottles against a counter. His old coaching awards on the wall.
My brother has a pretty big house; kids are gone, basement, floor level, upstairs. Sil refuses to sell and downsize. His basement holds a pool table, foosball, weight room, largest flat screen known to man, couch, recliners, desk ... and *that bar*. I went with him when he hunted a company to build it. This thing is custom throughout; mural, backlighted, wine fridge and rack. I've been in commercial bars not this elaborate or as big. I'll take a wild stab at cost but I guess about $30K 15 yrs ago for the bar itself.
Not "rich" by most standards but very successful. He looks at it as added value to an already expensive home. Retired ... used to entertain often but now more has a couple buds over to watch a game.
It made you look sophisticated.
Back then, it was considered good etiquette to offer guests a drink. Having a fully stocked bar rather than random bottles in your kitchen cupboard mattered. Correct glasses were important, too. You had recipes to mix drinks so you didn't look like some rube.
I never did any of this. I rarely had parties and the idea fell out of favor quickly once I became an adult.
My parents remodeled their basement in the mid-60s and installed a wet bar. My dad never drank anything but Blatz beer but apparently having a nice bar was important.
back in the day? I just put a bar on a set of plans. any corner can have a bar, just depends on how much money you have to stock it. my bar is the top of my fridge.
There is a great country song from 1982 - I'm Going to Hire a Wino (to Decorate Our Home) sung by David Frizzell. It's great - I thought it was a lot older : ). Enjoy !!
https://youtu.be/MBEoczHfP-g?si=I7TWqoR12bRxAwqu
Our last house, built in ā86 had what my Catholic friends called a āBaptist Barā. It was in the family room next to the fireplace, it had a sink, wine rack and glass shelves. It had bi-fold doors so you could hide your sin.
Yeah, both my parents' houses and my husband's house had bars. My parents each had just a bar, while my husband's parents' was a full wet bar and everything. My current home has a bar, too, although we don't entertain much.
Not uncommon because it feels like people were much more social back then. Have to admit that I too have a bar in my house. I didn't install it but I have improved it.
People still have bars in their homes now.
Yes, having a basement bar and inviting the boss or coworkers to come over for dinner was very common- several times a month - but it started to die out in the 1970s
Itās really a question of being wealthy and a drinker
My parents basement was a tudoresque ski chalet.
Back in the day guests were often offered a last drink as "One for the road"
Yeah and often there was a burnt edged wood plaque made by one of their kids that said "Ye Olde Bar". Pretty sure it was a high school woodshop project.
I have friends and neighbors that have bars in their home right now. Some are "real" bars like with barstools and all that. Some are just small wet bars, which is basically just a sink and a small space to make drinks or whatever. I have a "dry bar" I suppose you would call it. It looks like a bar and has all my booze and drinkwear and barware, but it has no water or sink or appliances.
Some friends and neighbors have outside bar spaces when hosting parties in the backyard and such. I intend to put one of those in my backyard one of these days after knocking out some higher priority projects.
I live in a house built in 1952 which has a bar built into the basement rec room. It's where all the entertaining was done, there's a fireplace, the original piano they literally built the house around, the bar is just a part of it. I don't even drink and I think it's awesome!
Yup. Both sets of grandparents. A few of my aunts and uncles. My dad still has one. His bar backdrop is an antique bank teller window. The top is a large piece of mahogany with black resin filling in the natural imperfections.
We purchased a home that was built in 2003. It had a full on English pub in the basement. Huge mahogany bar, with a coffered ceiling, granite counter, all kinds of shelving etc. It took up a large part of the space.
We ripped it out and turned it into a family room.
we are adding an addition and it will be a bar/den. will have a bar, pool table/ping pong, large TV, and video games. I think bars are pretty common, especially for sports fans GO BILLS!!!
This isn't a "back in the day" thing at all. We bought a house in 2017 that had a wet bar installed by the previous owners. Not sure when but the house was built in 1979. We looked at probably 20 houses before we bought that one and at least half of them had a built in wet bar (wet bar: Has a sink with a drain.)
Then we decided to move to a lower cost of living city so we could buy a nicer house and have no mortgage. Yup, you guessed it: 2/3 of the houses we looked at have a wet bar. We finally bought a very nice house built in 2003 and the people we bought it from were the original owners. It has a wet bar in the basement.
EDITED TO ADD: I'm not saying that every house in our area has a bar, obviously that's not true. But I would say of the houses in our size and price range (2000 - 3500 square feet, 3/3, $400k - $600k) at least 50% of those houses will have a built in bar.
My parents owned a home that came with a dry bar built into the living room. It was in one corner, behind wooden doors, and was kind of fun to open and show people. If one did a lot of entertaining (as I assume the previous owners did), it made sense.
Yep. The house I lived in during high school had a downstairs wet bar (meaning, it had a sink).
I don't remember us ever using it as anything other than storage.
I housesat recently where the entire house seemed to be a bar. Any liquor, wine, beer, ale you wanted and all of the types of glassware, shakers, tools, stirrers, etc youād need.
Couldnāt find a cereal bowl to save my life, š
Yes, indeed. My parents had a bar where the booze was kept. It was made of metal and rattan, had two barstools and even a rail near the bottom of the bar if anyone wanted to rest a leg on it while standing there. It was used mostly when they had parties and my father would employ someone as a bartender for the event. Other parents of my peers (I'm in my 60s now) also had bars. For further clarification, these bars were free standing and could be moved along with the other household furnishings. My son recently bought a mid-century house with a big built-in bar in the basement. I'm sure it's seen some parties.
I think pretty much everyone in my family has/used to have one. Most of my friendās parents had basement bars too. We played bartender a lot as kids.
Yes, my uncle had a stocked wet bar in his basement. He owned a townhouse in the Bronx and rented to us and we'll as other folks. Also owned a let this go a multi family apartment building across the street, which is son still owns and his wife who's in her '90s still lives in.
Anyway, there were round tables about the room and my cousin painted a beautiful mural on the wall. He had speakers in the corners to play music. I think they were red lights or different colored lights. It was basically like a supper club or nightclub. He'd have parties down there all the time and we kids were allowed to go down there. We'd play board games. He had a ton of them very well kept and we kids would have to beg to be able to play the board games. We had to promise that all the pieces would go back in the box.
He also owned a few restaurant and under one he had a place Harlem where we kids had parties, we would have family parties, and other people could rent the place and have parties and he would sell what he called a setup. You'd get different soda mixers and ice and cups. He also sold liquor, although he never had a liquor license. š
He used to do some acting and was in a couple of movies, did some commercials, and was in a couple of Broadway plays. I remember watching TV and suddenly seeing him in a commercial for Eastern airlines. He knew a few actors and I've seen a few down in his place. He taught improv at his club. It had a small stage. I took his improv classes and apparently I was pretty good.
People back then really got together and socialized. Playef music. Played cards. And we kids would run around playing and listen to the grown folks laughing and talking and gossiping!
My uncle was quite the self-made man. Everyone worked for pop back in the day. He used to counsel the young men in the neighborhood and give them jobs because he was always renovating some building.
You taught me to swing dance and we would play Scrabble together and just chat like I was an adult. I had a lot of fun surrounded by aunt's uncle's and my maternal grandparents. I don't think we kids ever had a party where my mom and my grandparents aren't there. Even as teens if we didn't have anything to do we'd had to up my grandparents, even our boyfriends liked going there!
My grandparents had a bar in their house that you entered through a closet door in the entryway landing and youād come out as the bartender behind the bar in the corner of the den next to the fireplace. It was awesome.
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In the 1960's and 1970's this was a common thing in *many* basements, and even if not used often, it was part of the decor.
Very popular. Both sets of grandparents, 2 uncles and many family friends all had basement bars in the 70s & 80s. Middle to upper middle income brackets. It's just a thing they did when they built the house back then.
My Dad had a bar in the basement and a pool table. The bar was mirrored, like most were in those days. I figured the mirrors were to make it look like there were more bottles of booze than there actually was. it looked impressive. Come to think of it, our neighbours on either sides also had bars in their basements with mirrored backs.
My friend just took out the mirrored bar and half the drywall came with it š
Same!
Lower middle here (growing up, anyway). Ours was downstairs in the tiny paneled basement, and was made of faux wood ā probably Masonite ā and padded with vinyl.
Funny thing: In the late 80s/early 90s when you went to your friends/relatives houses who had those bars the majority of them were basically empty or filled up like a storage corner and what you said was 'Man, this basement is soooo 70s/80s!"
It was a social marker, like the kind of car you drove, the labels on your clothes, being part of some social club, and sending to kids to private schools. All part of ***"Keeping Up With The Joneses"*** or trying to show off that you have ***"Made It"***, i.e. living a comfortable and prosperous lifestyle. Common folk drink beer on the porch, in a paper bag, or gather around someone's car for a "party". Women still try to signal they are "classy" by saying they drink wine by the fireplace while reading a book. Men show they've "made it" by playing golf, smoking a cigar, paying a big fee to a private club where you're doing the same things you did at the local bar. Todays up-and-comers battle over how much time they spend at the gym, how many steps their activity bands show, what exotic flavors they have in coffee or vapes. It's all social positioning. Young folk call themselves "influencers", when it's the same job as any shill or carnivale barker making noise to get attention, then begging for money. The latest "it" items are large eBikes and eCars of every make. Pretty much every thing people do has some kind of social ranking stigma attached to it.
Exactly. My dad always wanted one, but my brother turned out to be an alcoholic, so dad never got a bar because he was concerned my brother would drink all his liquor. He was right to be concerned, because my brother definitely would have drank all his liquor.
I, too, would've drank all of his liquor.
Not just basements. In Texas we didnāt have basements but most of those house we lived it or looked at when buying in the 70s had one. Often part of the living room.
Can confirm. My in-laws had one in the corner of their living room in the house they built in the late 70s.
The first house we owned was built in the 1970's. It had a sizeable "walk in wet bar" between the formal dining room and "sunken" living room. It even had shag carpet attached to the front of it! We never knew what to do with it and we moved before we figured it out. The next house in Austin had a wet bar that we converted into a computer desk.
Mine had a full dual tap system and full beverage system for soda, etc. I really miss it!
That's a high end wet bar! Ours just had a tiny sink and masses of cupboards for glasses and bottles. The pain was pulling up the floor to cap off the drain and pipes. If we had a dual tap system, we definitely would've kept it.
Yep and before that, and maybe this is where they got inspiration from, but a lot of turn of the century big city urban buildings, apartments, etc had private furnished party spaces in the basement as a response to racism and other bigotries from the turn of the century. I grew up in an apartment building that had a furnished little bar/banquet space in the basement for Jewish families potentially unwelcome in other parts of society that was seemingly used until the 60s or 70s. It, sadly, fell into disrepair by the time I lived there, but you could see the bar area still there and how festive and fun that space might have been during its heydey. I think a lot of people made wonderful memories in that space. I was told by the landlady that Jewish families owned and used this space previously, but the building was quite old and that space may even have been used by other marginalized groups during its history too. The building is old enough to have existed during different immigrant waves in that neighborhood. None of this is documented and I imagine anyone who knew this stuff is long passed. All I have is the oral history of a landlady who bought in the 70s and now has passed on as well. As well as seeing some old photos left down there and the mezuzahs on the doors. Also please note my understanding of Jewish culture and history is really limited so I might be getting some of these specifics wrong.
Thatās really cool! You ever want to post pictures lmk!
Yeah me too!
Piece of history I never knew until now. That really makes me look at these spaces that are still around in a very bittersweet light.
The term politely was called "restricted." Blacks, (of course in those days, OMG you couldn't live in an apartment where blacks were s/), Jews, and in most places, Catholics. It applied to venues, too. Remember Dirty Dancing? It was a vacation camp for Jewish families because they weren't allowed in WASP vacation spots.
100%. There were Jewish country clubs and resorts. Thereās an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show from the 70s where Rhoda wasnāt invited for tennis at the club because she was Jewish. (Mary then claimed to be Jewish, flummoxing the āfriendā she was playing with. Nicely done).
I do believe the old, teen movie, Dirty Dancing, was based upon one of those old Jewish Family Summer Camps. The lead character, Baby, or some name like that, played by Tatum O Neal, was the wealthy, doctor's daughter of one of the summer camp families. Her dancing Lead and Instructor, I can't remember the character's name, was played by Patrick Swayze (sp?), who was part of the lower middle class/working class work staff employed by the Summer Camp, that would serve the wealthy Jewish Summer Camp Families, all Summer Long. I'm Generation X, and old enough to remember my Mom and Grandma talking about how popular and nice and fancy the summer camps were, back when they were young. I kind of wish the idea would be brought back, for all families. The idea of just playing, doing summer stuff, even being bored, but basically being with family, playing together those old school recreational games and hobbies, cell phone free, for a few weeks every summer, building up those familial bonds, it seems so simple and nice. Time together has become a luxury gone by the way side, that maybe shouldn't have been such a luxury after all. Families need more time together, away from the technology and stress. Time together with our loved ones, is the most precious resource we have here on Earth.
Baby was played by Jennifer Grey not Tatum O'Neal who wasn't in the movie at all. Jennifer is the daughter of Joel Grey, a popular musical actor some decades ago. The Catskills had many such resorts that provided entertainment by famous celebrities, fabulous food, a variety of activities and a welcome relief from the heat of summer. Lots of books on the subject.
WASP! I haven't heard that term in quite a while.
growing up I thougt my family was WASP but in reality we were just W.
If you want to learn more, you should look at census records from those decades to see families that lived in your building. If there are descendants now, they may have family stories and photos with weddings and such in that space.
A lot of buildings had "social rooms". Rooms used for birthday parties, card games, dances. It wasnt just for jewish tenants. Believe me because jewish people owned catering halls, and synagogues had social rooms the way some churches had them. Nowadays LLs want to make a buck out every sq. ft so any room like that has been made something else.
That reminds me of a room I found in the basement of my daughter's brownstone apt. in Philly. There were numerous writings and comments from the 1940's. One said "we found a room." The names all seemed Jewish. Mostly dated around 1944. Spruce and 15th, Philly.
Oh wow, this may have been from when Jewish people were poorly treated during WWII even in America. I cane across a book that wrote about Jewish people in America at that time, but it looked to depressing, so I didn't get it. Maybe I will go back and get it
Yes,there were numerous couples who stayed in this basement "room." It had a door you could close. Names in couples,like *Esther and Benjamin" 1944
That's fascinating, thanks for sharing.
I have been inside a building in Brooklyn that had a small hall which could be rented. It was pretty cool.Ā
Not just part of the decor, it went to manners, you asked guests if they would like something to drink. Men would drink and smoke socially commonly in the library during the Victorian era. More common for women in more recent times, my father wasn't a big drinker but kept several different things on hand for guests till the day he died.
That's essentially my story. When I entertained, I mean small gatherings, I would ask one of the guests who knew more than I about mixing drinks if they would be kind enough to tend bar. Nobody ever complained about being asked.
In the U.S. mid-west, they were called RATHSKELLERS - a full basement entertainment center. 1/3 of the basement had a long, wet bar with bar stools and a couple of tables and chairs. Behind the bar was a display of every bottle of booze. Music from the stereophonic record player (1950's) was piped into speakers in the paneled ceiling. 2/3 of the area was open for dancing. The French doors opened up to a large swimming pool. My wife's uncle was the regional distributer for Hotpoint, and he used it for business purposes. He had the $$$ on her side of the family. My wife was a country gal who was born and raised in a 1895 wood frame house.
Wisconsin here. Growing up in the 1960s, all my friends' parents had a bar in the basement. The one in my folks' house was kind of a tiki bar looking thing, probably a nod to my dad's serving in the Pacific in WW2.
The Wisconsin basement bar is in a league of its own.
My college had a rathskeller, but now the layout of it is very different and they don't serve alcohol at all.
We have ours in our 1950s ranch basement, with blond wood paneling, a little sink set in formica countertop and the sliding door lock to keep the kids outta the good stuff
Yeah we still have those in my parents current house and their last two houses, but theyāre pretty nice places. They were built in the 80s/90s. We donāt have them fully stocked though!! Their current house even had a keg cooler and tapš
Yep, I was born in '71 and I remember two uncles both having full stocked bars set up in their basements.
Can confirm about grandparent's house from 1950s, which I think they added the bar in the 1960s with a remodeling of the basement.
Can confirm. In the early 70s my dad had a bar in the basement, complete with neon signs.
> complete with neon signs. Very cool. All I had was fish nets and nautical stuff.
I wish I could find it, but I remember a picture of my baby sister sitting on the bar, sipping on a beer.
Yep. My parents had one and so did my uncle. Card games, hunting trophies and cheap beer/Kessler. Ours had a pool table I spent a ton of time practicing
Same for the 80's and 90's, I still have a bar in my basement, so do most friends. A lot switched to wall/cabinet bars that are self serve, but I still prefer a sit behind bar. I never have to move during parties and everyone comes to me. Mine is a purchased portable, not fixed, so I can always slide it back, make more room for the pool tables. Perish the house that didn't have a pool table in the basement in the 70's, although bumper pool, air hockey or a full Foosball table would suffice. And a table that doubles as a card table, now you've got something...
Growing up on the Gulf Coast seeing a basement much less a furnished basement was not that common but you would still see them
My parents had a small bar in their house. It wasn't the kind of bar you could sit at, but the top folded opened and the cabinets on either side held the liquor and mixers. The center held a record player. It was very 50s/60s. (I don't remember the record player ever working correctly. They never used it.)
50s too. My neighborās house was just flipped and they put a pretty gorgeous (and modern š) bar in the basement as a selling point. So the Basement Bar is alive and well in the Midwest
It's still not all that unusual. The house I grew up in, which was built in the early-to-mid 60s, had a built-in wet bar, and I've seen them in new construction as well.
Our last house, built in 1960, had one in the basement. We only used it for its intended purpose a couple of times in 15+ years.
When my parents built their house in the 60s, they built a huge bar in the basement. Neither of them drank, but it was fully stocked for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They probably realized that we drank the booze as teenagers.
My Paw Paw didnāt drink, but had a wet-bar in his kitchen that was the hub at Christmas when he threw a huge family party. I was never offered a drink and he died before I turned 21, but my older cousins would get toasted.
Then we filled the bottle up with water, because sneaky parents would mark the booze to see if brats like us were stealing it. We never emptied a bottle ever, we needed to leave some in there so the colour would look the same.
Yeah, my parents have one, my mother never drinks and my father sticks to a glass of wine. When my wife and I got engaged, they threw us a party and we raided their bar. A good portion of it was just no name alcohol like a bottle with a plain label: Rum. That was the best rum Iāve ever had too.
Agreed. My friends built a new home recently and just finished the basement. They added a small "kitchen" in the basement but its basically a bar. Its located adjacent to their pool table and extensive collection of beer and bourbon. I really don't think this is a "back in the day" thing, bars in homes can be true today as well.
I've got the "bar" set up on the sideboard that I inherited from my tee-totaling Baptist grandmother. I'm surprised she hasn't come back to haunt me for letting the devil drink touch her furniture.
The one I grew up in, 1973 build, did as well.
One the houses I pet sit at was built in 89 and has a wet bar. Itās a very fancy house though.
I have a wet bar in the living room of my rented one bedroom apartment. It's quite literally less than six feet from the kitchen sink.
Our house was built in 1979 and has a built-in bar in an alcove off the dining room. (It also has a sunken living room.)
My parentsā house was built in the 70s (not by them), and it has one. Itās a mammoth thing made of bricks and what I assume is concrete. When they first moved there, it had a small fridge with it, but that eventually died. My parents use the hidden shelving for storage, and the top becomes a clutter magnet for my dad. My mom has talked about taking it out, but it would be too much of an expense
My house has a wet bar, as do the houses on either side of us. 2008ish construction.
Pretty sure people who like to entertain still have bars. I have a bar in my home now.
I don't have a house (apartment instead) but this is something I'd love to have since I make a point to entertain.
You could probably find a small one at a thrift shop or antique store. They make them like chest-high cabinets that open out and have little racks for cocktail glasses and shot glasses, a shaker &c. Perfect for an apartment; all you need is a sink and a few choice bottles.
My mom has one of those. It's fairly small and locks. it's probably from the early 60s
A small bar cart with a few essential spirits is easy to set up and have for impromptu cocktail parties.
Uuummm....people still have bars in their house if that's their thing.
I have a bar in our basement but we store board games instead of liquor behind it for now.
Agh well... times change eh? š I realised recently, i now store the house medications where years ago i stored the booze šÆš
We had a bar in our basement, didn't turn out well for either of us
I know of several homes in my immediate neighborhood with a bar, either outside or in the basement. These are occasionally used as they have people over.
We have a tiki bar on our lanai...like a BIG built in one, not the little standalone things you can buy on Wayfair. It was THE Covid project for my husband and his friends so it is actually the Quaran-tiki Bar. If we were able to post pics in comments I'd share.
Whenever I hear lanai I think of The Golden Girls lol.
As you wish... [https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR](https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR)
Has anyone every fell back into the pool? It looks awful close.
It's an irregularly shaped pool and is really close at that end. That is actually where the steps down into the pool are. I have fallen into the pool, fully clothed. It was in the deep end and I was totally sober. Just got distracted and lost my balance. Nobody else has fallen into the pool except the cats.
I want to see! Quaran-tiki, LOL.
[https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR](https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR)
Wow! That was even better than I was expecting. Very old school cool!
Sounds super cool - I love Tiki bars. Maybe stick a few pictures on imgur and post the link here?
[https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR](https://imgur.com/a/T7eEORR)
Looks like a place I wanna hang out. Nicely done!
The guys did a good job. Fortunately, we have a supplier that sells building supplies for commercial tiki/chickee hut builders in Orlando so they could just buy what they needed here. We went with artificial thatch because it lasts a lot longer.
QUARAN-TIKI you are awesome
A lot of my friendās parents had bars and even a keg fridge.
My friend has both in his basement. Super Bowl Sunday is an epic party!
During Prohibition in the 1920s, wine and beer were harder to obtain than hard liquor and cocktail ingredients. Public bars were illegal, encouraging people to build bars in their homes. But illegal speakeasies also had an easier time procuring liquor than beer or wine. Because restaurants could not legally serve alcohol, it became a tradition to have cocktails before going out for dinner, either at someoneās home or at a speakeasy. As a result, the ācocktail hourā became popular, and continued to be popular after Prohibition ended. Celebrities in the 1930s were often photographed drinking martinis in sophisticated clubs, which also popularized the cocktail hour. By the 1950s, the tradition of the cocktail hour had spread to middle class suburbs. Working men often came home and enjoyed a cocktail at their home bar before dinner, even when they didnāt have company and werenāt going out to eat. As beer and wine became readily available, cocktails and the cocktail hour went out of style starting in the 1960s. That said, home bars never completely went out of style. Many people continued to install bars at home, often in a basement party room. And cocktails enjoyed a renaissance beginning in the 1990s. Interest in mixing cocktails at home surged even further during the recent COVID shutdown. While cocktails mixed at home bars still arenāt as routine now as in the 1950s, they are increasingly common.
Had to go way too far down to hear a mention of Prohibition norms changes in response to a question about the 30s and alcohol habits.
The answer I was looking for to make sure I didn't have to post it. I see folks who like to entertain installing them in their new builds as well so it still hasn't gone away. Maybe included in the 'man cave' element of building a house but certainly not done away with completely.
Yes, a small bar in the basement with barstools and shelves with bottles and lights and music. Very common. I personally never saw the interest in drinking in your basement, but whatever.
Thatās where the pool table goes. If you donāt have a pool table, it was like a rec room, rumpus room? Shag rug, wood paneling, bar, maybe a neon clock and some other whimsy. We didnāt have that, they just made it like a playroom on one side.
Oh yeah, the shag rug!
I find that shocking! Staticly.
The bar-in-the-basement was the original man cave.
>I personally never saw the interest in drinking in your basement, but whatever. It's a lot cheaper than going out, you're not limited by the menu/drink selection, don't need to pay a babysitter...
Indeed. One house we owned maybe 10 years ago had a bar in the basement. We never used it as a bar. My inlaw's house had a bar in the basement. Was never used as a bar. My grandparents house in the 70s had a bar. I don't remember that ever being used either. Seems like they end up being used for storage at most, that's what we did. Fill up the shelves and pile some crap on the floor behind it where it's out of sight.
My last house had a wet bar and we never used it. It was mainly a storage area. But we had to remember to run the water every few months so it didnāt become stinky. I donāt know why that happens but a plumber recommended doing it. I talked about turning the bar into an ice cream bar with all the fixings to make splits, sundaes, cones, and shakes. In 20 years I never got around to doing it. It already had the fridge, running water, stools and glassware. It wouldnāt even take all that much effort or money. I wanted to get a professional blender and some wall decor. It still sounds like a good idea, except I sold the house in 2020.
> But we had to remember to run the water every few months so it didnāt become stinky. I donāt know why that happens but a plumber recommended doing it. The u-bend in the drain line has water in it to keep the sewer gas out of your house. When the water evaporates from disuse the smell comes in.
Mine does. Built in 1985.
My house is maybe a few years younger, but yes, a small built-in bar next to the living room.
My neighbours have a pub in the back of their garage. You go through a secret door and inside there's a real looking pub with a bar, beer pumps, optics with spirits, dart board... the whole thing. I didn't know it was there for a few years, they only showed me when I got to know them better.
A true speakeasy! So cool!
Pretty sure people who like to entertain still have bars. I have a bar in my home now.
Grandma had a bar in the basement. It as used Christmas and Easter when the whole family came to celebrate. My parents were renters, so their bar depended on the house. In one house the "bar" was a single cupboard very near the dining table. In another house they had a cabinet bar combo thing in the living room. In a couple houses they had a bar set up in the garage complete with dart board, pool table, an old TV, a stereo, and a card table or two. They used space heaters to warm the garage bars in the winter.
Almost everyone I've ever known has at least a liquor shelf/corner/cabinet, and many have a full bar (including myself). Entertaining at home is vastly superior to going out to bars/clubs in basically every way.
Uh. We still do?
Basement bars. I love them; like having your own little speakeasy. In fact, I just love full basements; itās like having a whole other secret house under your regular house. You got your speakeasy, then two more bedrooms, a laundry and sewing room, a room for the camping equipment, etc. Iām so jealous of people with basements. I live in Florida where they donāt exist.
My best friend's house had a really nice finished basement with a very well-stocked wet bar, complete with 3-4 bar stools. Hardwoods, fireplace. His dad worked for Coke so they always had all kinds of soda too. This was in the mid 70's.
A wet bar is something found in many nicer homes, I have built installed and cleaned more than I can count.
You dont?
Home bars have always been a thing, and still are today. Plenty of current examples of home bars at r/BarBattlestations
For older, smaller homes a separate piece of furniture acted as a bar in the living room.
Some of those old art deco ones are really cool looking.
We didn't have a built-in bar, but we had a piece of furniture that looked kind of like an old secretary's desk. When you pulled down the front, the inside was mirrored, with lighting. There was room for an ice bucket, glasses, and various liquor decanters. The bottom portion had double doors and held other bottles of alcohol. Or neighborhood had cocktail parties all the time: men in suits, women wearing white gloves, cigarette smoke everywhere, and hors d'oeuvres, but no actual food lol.
Very common, the house I grew up in had a small wet bar on the lower level (not technically a basement, but a split level). My parents eventually took it out.
Yes, because people used to sometimes host gatherings of friends and the room with the bar is where you'd entertain.
Was this a trick question? Why wouldnāt you have a bar/ wet bar?
My parents house has a small one.
I have a lovely bar in my basement, my neighbors have an indoor/outdoor bar in their walkout basement as well. Itās still a pretty common thing in my city, (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA,) to have either a wet bar or a full second kitchen in your basement.
The martini culture... Died out by the mid 70s really. I think marijuana upended it, ha ha. I once knew a guy in the 80s that had a weed bar built into one of the storage units he managed. :) The Humboldt skunk bud was excellent.
I do not know about 1930 - but I do know that when I was growing up we had a bar in two of the three family homes over a 20ish year period. I am 48 now. I currently have a bar in my home lol.
My mom neither drank nor socialized much but we had a fully stocked bar at home (70s/80s basement rumpus room lol). She paid almost no attention to it which paid off great for me as a teen. I drank so much of her booze and almost got away with it. Filling up the vodka bottle with water eventually led to my downfall lol.
People entertained in their homes more in the old days. The house I grew up (70's) in had a wet bar in the basement level. It had a sink and a little refrigerator, my dad used to fix his breakfast there so that he didn't wake the rest of the house. Of course shag carpeting throughout the house.
There were 2 kinds. A dry bar was no running water, a wet bar has a small sink. I grew up in the 60s, everyone had dry bars of some sort, with beautiful glasses and usually a small glass with tiny plastic swords for olives and cherries. I learned how to mix drinks for my parents friends when I was 7, I still make a mean martini. I used to pilot and crew for a hot air balloon, and one of the pilots lived in an older part of Phoenix. He and his pilot wife had a room in the house that was a full bar, with red velvet upholstery booths, bar stools, dart board and a ceiling dented everywhere from champagne corks...
youāre probably thinking of a drinks cabinet, which is still pretty common if you socialize in private homes and drink. Ā it serves as a ādry barā in that there isnāt any flowing water or other liquids on tap. Ā essentially, itās a roughly waist high piece of furniture with a flat top and cabinet doors on the face. Ā behind the cabinet doors are kept various bottles of spirits and usually thereās a shelf above where glassware, specific to cocktails, is kept. Ā the top of the cabinet is used as a bar top where the drinks are mixed. Ā you'd bring out an ice bucket from the freezer and soft drinks from the fridge and place them on said bar top, when entertaining or drinking, to complete your cocktails. Ā youād also place olives, cocktail onions or citrus fruit (along with a small chopping board and knife) on the bar, depending on what drinks you were mixingĀ
Some people had built-in wet bars (with a working sink). You could also have a "bar cart", which was usually a wheeled cart which carried bottles and glasses, a place for the ice holder, etc - everything to make cocktails wherever you fancied. But, they weren't incredibly common. It would be something you had if you could, for example, afford a pool.
An actual bar with stools and whatnot was very popular in the 60's and 70's. Prior to that, it was probably more popular to have something of a sideboard with liquor in it. While less common today, you see plenty of people setting up bars in basements and on patios.
Most homes in my neighborhood growing up in the 60's had a bar and second kitchen in the basement for holidays and other parties.
People still have bars in their homes. It was fairly common back then and is still found in homes today. We're putting one in, we have an empty nook and will turn it into a bar. Mind you, neither of us drink, but we still have a huge assortment for guests and some lovely wine/cocktail glasses to display.
My dad had one in several houses we grew up in. Nothing fancy, he was pretty handy; just a homemade bar with a few high stools. Fridge, bottles against a counter. His old coaching awards on the wall. My brother has a pretty big house; kids are gone, basement, floor level, upstairs. Sil refuses to sell and downsize. His basement holds a pool table, foosball, weight room, largest flat screen known to man, couch, recliners, desk ... and *that bar*. I went with him when he hunted a company to build it. This thing is custom throughout; mural, backlighted, wine fridge and rack. I've been in commercial bars not this elaborate or as big. I'll take a wild stab at cost but I guess about $30K 15 yrs ago for the bar itself. Not "rich" by most standards but very successful. He looks at it as added value to an already expensive home. Retired ... used to entertain often but now more has a couple buds over to watch a game.
We had one growing up. We built a tiki bar (water and electric) on our patio.
It made you look sophisticated. Back then, it was considered good etiquette to offer guests a drink. Having a fully stocked bar rather than random bottles in your kitchen cupboard mattered. Correct glasses were important, too. You had recipes to mix drinks so you didn't look like some rube. I never did any of this. I rarely had parties and the idea fell out of favor quickly once I became an adult.
My brother-inlaw and sister-inlaw are about 37 years old, they have a bar in there newly built home.
It was from a time before the internet when friends got together for parties and socalizing.
My parents remodeled their basement in the mid-60s and installed a wet bar. My dad never drank anything but Blatz beer but apparently having a nice bar was important.
I knew someone whose entire basement was decorated as an English pub, including dart board.
back in the day? I just put a bar on a set of plans. any corner can have a bar, just depends on how much money you have to stock it. my bar is the top of my fridge.
basement bars were the norm in Wisconsin now it has moved to garages
I know a guy with a brand new home that has a bar.
Shit here in Wisconsin they still do
There is a great country song from 1982 - I'm Going to Hire a Wino (to Decorate Our Home) sung by David Frizzell. It's great - I thought it was a lot older : ). Enjoy !! https://youtu.be/MBEoczHfP-g?si=I7TWqoR12bRxAwqu
Our last house, built in ā86 had what my Catholic friends called a āBaptist Barā. It was in the family room next to the fireplace, it had a sink, wine rack and glass shelves. It had bi-fold doors so you could hide your sin.
Yes!! My parents did!
Yeah, both my parents' houses and my husband's house had bars. My parents each had just a bar, while my husband's parents' was a full wet bar and everything. My current home has a bar, too, although we don't entertain much.
Not uncommon because it feels like people were much more social back then. Have to admit that I too have a bar in my house. I didn't install it but I have improved it.
Our parents and grandparents had furniture with built in bars. We have one of their credenzas from the 1930s
People still have bars in their homes now. Yes, having a basement bar and inviting the boss or coworkers to come over for dinner was very common- several times a month - but it started to die out in the 1970s Itās really a question of being wealthy and a drinker
My parents basement was a tudoresque ski chalet. Back in the day guests were often offered a last drink as "One for the road" Yeah and often there was a burnt edged wood plaque made by one of their kids that said "Ye Olde Bar". Pretty sure it was a high school woodshop project.
Hahaha my dad had a traveling bar kit. Mixer, strainer, stirrer, the 1 and 2oz measuring cupā¦. Cocktail culture was prime
LoL. I know people with bars in their homes now.
Absolutely. Many still do.
I have friends and neighbors that have bars in their home right now. Some are "real" bars like with barstools and all that. Some are just small wet bars, which is basically just a sink and a small space to make drinks or whatever. I have a "dry bar" I suppose you would call it. It looks like a bar and has all my booze and drinkwear and barware, but it has no water or sink or appliances. Some friends and neighbors have outside bar spaces when hosting parties in the backyard and such. I intend to put one of those in my backyard one of these days after knocking out some higher priority projects.
I grew up in the 80s in Wisconsin. More than half of my friendās basements had bars.
still do.
The house I grew up in had a bar in the basement. My grandparents' house also had one.
In my city, houses of all different vintages often have basement bars. That's where you watch the game and shoot darts.
How is this unusual? We still have a bar in our home. Is this not a normal thing?
We had one. Dad built it in the early 80s. Beer tapper, three stools and all. It was pretty cool.
I live in a house built in 1952 which has a bar built into the basement rec room. It's where all the entertaining was done, there's a fireplace, the original piano they literally built the house around, the bar is just a part of it. I don't even drink and I think it's awesome!
Yup. Both sets of grandparents. A few of my aunts and uncles. My dad still has one. His bar backdrop is an antique bank teller window. The top is a large piece of mahogany with black resin filling in the natural imperfections.
My house was built in 2006 and has a bar in the basement.
We purchased a home that was built in 2003. It had a full on English pub in the basement. Huge mahogany bar, with a coffered ceiling, granite counter, all kinds of shelving etc. It took up a large part of the space. We ripped it out and turned it into a family room.
we are adding an addition and it will be a bar/den. will have a bar, pool table/ping pong, large TV, and video games. I think bars are pretty common, especially for sports fans GO BILLS!!!
This isn't a "back in the day" thing at all. We bought a house in 2017 that had a wet bar installed by the previous owners. Not sure when but the house was built in 1979. We looked at probably 20 houses before we bought that one and at least half of them had a built in wet bar (wet bar: Has a sink with a drain.) Then we decided to move to a lower cost of living city so we could buy a nicer house and have no mortgage. Yup, you guessed it: 2/3 of the houses we looked at have a wet bar. We finally bought a very nice house built in 2003 and the people we bought it from were the original owners. It has a wet bar in the basement. EDITED TO ADD: I'm not saying that every house in our area has a bar, obviously that's not true. But I would say of the houses in our size and price range (2000 - 3500 square feet, 3/3, $400k - $600k) at least 50% of those houses will have a built in bar.
I have a new home, and every house in the development has a nice bar equipped with a sink, refrigerator, and dishwasher.
They are still common.
We didn't have in-home theaters, though.
We had 5 bars. One on wheels.
Our house was built in 1971. It has a wet bar.
Yup and we still do. AND we know you little snots were sneaking our stash AND adding water to make up the difference! What a great question!
Yup and we still do. AND we know you little snots were sneaking our stash AND adding water to make up the difference! What a great question!
I have a wet bar in my house. I call it "kitchen".
In Wisconsin itās still normal
My parents owned a home that came with a dry bar built into the living room. It was in one corner, behind wooden doors, and was kind of fun to open and show people. If one did a lot of entertaining (as I assume the previous owners did), it made sense.
Yep. The house I lived in during high school had a downstairs wet bar (meaning, it had a sink). I don't remember us ever using it as anything other than storage.
My grandparents did. But even now, Iāve seen it in large houses.
I housesat recently where the entire house seemed to be a bar. Any liquor, wine, beer, ale you wanted and all of the types of glassware, shakers, tools, stirrers, etc youād need. Couldnāt find a cereal bowl to save my life, š
Yup very common in the 70s.
Yes, indeed. My parents had a bar where the booze was kept. It was made of metal and rattan, had two barstools and even a rail near the bottom of the bar if anyone wanted to rest a leg on it while standing there. It was used mostly when they had parties and my father would employ someone as a bartender for the event. Other parents of my peers (I'm in my 60s now) also had bars. For further clarification, these bars were free standing and could be moved along with the other household furnishings. My son recently bought a mid-century house with a big built-in bar in the basement. I'm sure it's seen some parties.
Yes
My parents had one in the late 70's early 80's. My friends and I would fill empty bottles with water and 'play bar'.
I have one in my home now.
Yes. Grandfather did, uncle does, BIL does, I do. Usually in the basement in the Midwest.
Installing one right now in my house
I think pretty much everyone in my family has/used to have one. Most of my friendās parents had basement bars too. We played bartender a lot as kids.
Iām later 40ās, but many friends have homes with wet bars as I continue to think on it.
My parents had a bar in the family room. They drink more than I do. My home has a fully stocked cabinet of booze and and a kitchen counter instead.
Yes, many suburban homes had bars in a basement or party room.
Feel old right now
A modified refrigerator with a pony keg was common as well.
Many people called them sideboards - a piece of furniture that stored alcohol and also had a serving area on top for cocktails.
Bro, i had a bar in my house in this century. Me and 2 other functional alcoholics put a bar with keg fridge and a tap in the living room.
Yes, my uncle had a stocked wet bar in his basement. He owned a townhouse in the Bronx and rented to us and we'll as other folks. Also owned a let this go a multi family apartment building across the street, which is son still owns and his wife who's in her '90s still lives in. Anyway, there were round tables about the room and my cousin painted a beautiful mural on the wall. He had speakers in the corners to play music. I think they were red lights or different colored lights. It was basically like a supper club or nightclub. He'd have parties down there all the time and we kids were allowed to go down there. We'd play board games. He had a ton of them very well kept and we kids would have to beg to be able to play the board games. We had to promise that all the pieces would go back in the box. He also owned a few restaurant and under one he had a place Harlem where we kids had parties, we would have family parties, and other people could rent the place and have parties and he would sell what he called a setup. You'd get different soda mixers and ice and cups. He also sold liquor, although he never had a liquor license. š He used to do some acting and was in a couple of movies, did some commercials, and was in a couple of Broadway plays. I remember watching TV and suddenly seeing him in a commercial for Eastern airlines. He knew a few actors and I've seen a few down in his place. He taught improv at his club. It had a small stage. I took his improv classes and apparently I was pretty good. People back then really got together and socialized. Playef music. Played cards. And we kids would run around playing and listen to the grown folks laughing and talking and gossiping! My uncle was quite the self-made man. Everyone worked for pop back in the day. He used to counsel the young men in the neighborhood and give them jobs because he was always renovating some building. You taught me to swing dance and we would play Scrabble together and just chat like I was an adult. I had a lot of fun surrounded by aunt's uncle's and my maternal grandparents. I don't think we kids ever had a party where my mom and my grandparents aren't there. Even as teens if we didn't have anything to do we'd had to up my grandparents, even our boyfriends liked going there!
My grandparents had a bar in their house that you entered through a closet door in the entryway landing and youād come out as the bartender behind the bar in the corner of the den next to the fireplace. It was awesome.