From Publishers Weekly
Brought back into print, this redesigned volume of Hirschfeld's pen-and-ink drawings from 1932 offers a window onto the Jazz Age. His trademark illustrations capture the feeling of bartenders, both straight-faced and dour, as well as of the patrons, some dressed for dance, others longing to bend an ear. Set on the facing page of each drawing is a short essay on the drinking establishment (written by Gordon Kahn and Al Hirschfeld), followed by the recipe for that place's signature drink. For example, in Mike's bar in Harlem, the author's write, "Caucasian patronage is tolerated but not solicited," and the Pink Lady Cocktail is made with grenadine, brandy, gin and egg white. Hirschfeld depicts the bartender Ralph, serving a sophisticated, blasé black couple, sitting at the same table as a derelict-looking white man. The publication of this book marks the launch of Applause's new imprint, Glenn Young Books. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Introduction by Pete Hamill. When Manhattan joints were hung out to dry, the Booze-oizie sniveled, then pirouetted on their stools to find reasonably palatable Speakeasy facsimiles. These Prohibition hangouts each had their own flavor, decorum, decor and formula for ducking the law. Each found its own alcoholic substratum: its own inimitable characters behind, at and under the bar. Fear not - all has not been lost to the repeal of the 18th Amendment, Starbucks corporate latte, and the wrecking ball. One intoxicating artifact remains, a book of lustrous vintage - Al Hirschfeld's The Speakeasies of 1932, wherein Hirschfeld nails these dipsomaniacal outposts with his pen and brush in the manner of a dour Irish bartender sizing up a troublesome souse. Provided as well is the recipe for each of the speakeasy's cocktail claim to fame. The resulting concoction is the perfect antidote to the Cappuccino Grande Malaise, a book that will make everyone yearn for a Manhattan, old fashioned, and straight up. "His comments are as swooping and witty as his lines." - The New Yorker

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Manhattan joints were hung out to dry, the Booze-oizie sniveled, then pirouetted on their stools to find reasonably palatable Speakeasy facsimiles. Each Prohibition hangout had its own flavor, decorum, decor, and formula for ducking the law. Each found its own alcoholic substratum, its own inimitable characters, behind, at and under the bar.

Al Hirschfeld nails these dipsomanical outposts with his pen and brush in the manner of a dour Irish bartender sizing up a troublesome souse. Provided as well is the recipe for each speakeasy's claim to fame. The resulting concoction is the perfect antidote to the Cappuccino Grande Malaise, a book that will make everyone yearn for a Manhattan, old-fashioned and straight up.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

As a personal artistic record, it...reveals an artist who had not yet found his metier but was no amateur, either. Hirschfeld possessed a sharp eye and keen knack for capturing the nuance and gesture of his subjects. And while his black-and-white sketches relied too much on clumsy brush shading, which he later rejected for the purity of the pen-and-ink line, key elements of his graphic personality shine through in his idiosyncratic, comic rendering of hands, eyes, noses and mouths.—Steven Heller

The New Yorker