Located at the corner of Williamsbridge Road and Pelham Parkway, the Woodmansten Inn, memorialized today only by Woodmansten Place next to the Morris Park 5 train stop, was once a purveyor of the illegal substances. In a February 1921 article in the New York Times, it was reported that a raid at the hot spot revealved 800 bottles of whiskey in the basement, among other spirits–with a street value of $15,000, which adjusted for inflation is about $200k bucks. The enforcement agent commented to the owner of the inn, Joe Pani, upon his arrest, that “One would think you never heard of the 18th ammendment.”
Here are two post cards from the inn, currently for sale on Ebay: (Note: one places the inn in Westchester, NY, while the other says West Chester—while the cards were printed after New York City bought the area from Westchester County, the name for the old town was still often used as Riverdale or Astoria are used today, rather than Bronx or Queens respectively)
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