The Loose Cannon: The First Prohibition, John Lloyd
Editor’s note: A version of the following column was published in the Aug. 8, 2024 edition of the Yountville Sun.
From the Napa Journal, Jan 12, 1906:
“All Yountville Saloons Closed
“District attorney Benjamin had an injunction served on Theodore Whitton and George Gibbs, the Yountville saloon keepers, Tuesday, and as a result their places were closed Tuesday night… Yountville is now an absolutely ‘dry town.’”
Jan 12, 1906? Wait, what? Prohibition didn’t start until January 17, 1920. OK, backing up just a bit:
From the Napa Journal, Dec 18, 1904:
“The Veterans’ Home
“Directors want to turn Yountville Home over to Uncle Sam.
“Governor Pardee received a letter from the chairman of the board of directors of the soldier’s home of Yountville notifying him the Board had passed a resolution in favor of a bill transferring the Yountville Home to the United States Government, if the government would accept it.”
Apparently, the offer was declined.
The article ended with, “The directors also want the Legislature to pass a law prohibiting the sale of liquor within one mile and a half of the home.”
From the Napa Journal, March 21, 1905:
“Governor Signs Bill
“Governor Pardee has signed the bill prohibiting the sale of liquor within a mile and a half of the Veterans’ Home at Yountville. The bill goes into effect on October 1st next.
“The effect of the law will be to close up every saloon in the town of Yountville, and every roadhouse north and south within a mile and a half of the Veterans’ Home property.”
Some of the saloons tried to fight the bill, but by Jan 12, 1906, they were all shut down.
Over the years, several local entrepreneurs worked out methods to get hard liquor into the hands of the thirsty vets. Some barely legal, some not. The scope and ingenuity of these operations may warrant a separate column in the future.
Prior to the end of prohibition, the Cullen–Harrison Act effective April 7, 1933, legalized the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% and wine of similarly low alcohol content, thought to be too low to be intoxicating.
Yountville was incorporated in 1965 and Vintage 1870 was gaining a foothold in 1966. But the alcohol restriction was stifling Yountville’s bars, card rooms and restaurants.
From the Napa Valley Register, May 16, 1968:
“Yountville Mayor Issues State Tough Challenge
“YOUNTVILLE – The usually affable Mayor of Yountville hurls a tough challenge at state assemblymen, their legislative committees, the state liquor control board and the governor himself Wednesday. What got Mayor John Lloyd’s dander up was a bill, recently introduced in the state assembly, that would put an end to the sale of beer (3.2%) in this quiet, grape growing, often hot and sometimes thirsty Napa Valley community of about 6,000-5,500 of them billeted at the nearby California Veterans Home.
“Yountville citizens are already the unwilling victims of a state ban that is designed to protect the vets-not always known for habits of abstention-from the consumption of hard liquor and wine.”
From the Napa Valley Register, Mar 6, 1969:
“Mayor sees growth if Law Stricken
“YOUNTVILLE – ‘Many millions of dollars will be invested in this community in the next five years,’ said Yountville’s Mayor John Lloyd, ‘as soon as we abolish the liquor regulations on Yountville.’
“This was said at a city council meeting Wednesday evening, at which the mayor disclosed behind the scene activity to abolish the law. Lloyd had discussed progress in Sacramento with a legislative assistant of Assemblyman John Dunlap… He said Dunlap would introduce the repeal measure either this week or next.”
Those feisty, spunky, rebellious, overachieving Yountvillagers from the 1960s got us incorporated, created Vintage 1870 and got us hard liquor all while transforming Yountville!
We are blessed to have a handful of those forward-thinking rebels still walking among us. Maybe we should offer them a ride in the Grand Marshall’s car in the Yountville Days Parade.
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