The relationship of North Dakotans and liquor has always been prickly, if not hypocritical and sanctimonious.
In the dry days, Germans in western North Dakota felt prohibition was foisted on them by Red River Valley Scandinavians.
Since Prohibition was repealed in 1932 and North Dakota became a wet state for the first time in its history by a margin of 35,000 votes, the bickering over booze has not abated.
And in 1947 when North Dakota voters, in their infinite wisdom, adopted a liquor-food divorcement law, liquor could not be served with food anywhere in the state. You couldn't even buy a packet of chips in a beer store.
In 1964, they came to their senses and voted out liquor divorcement, as it was known. The exceptions to the law during those years -- there are always exceptions -- were fraternal organizations and private clubs which prospered. And, of course, the restaurants in Moorhead.
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In the late 1950s and early '60s when I was coming into my majority, I visited a number of bars lining Broadway and spilling over into the intersecting avenues in Fargo and those that heavily dotted the downtown areas of Moorhead.
We spent time at the Empire, the Flame, where they had a piano bar, and the Five Spot, where I had my first schooner of beer. It cost a quarter and I could barely lift it.
In Moorhead, we'd go to Rudy's, where I was told women could not sit at the bar because of a city ordinance. I didn't argue. We also went to the Blackhawk, Diemert's, the Comstock and the Skol Room in the Frederick Martin Hotel when they had jazz. Diemert's became Kirby's and the last time I was there a rock band from the Twin Cities was playing. It wasn't much like the time before.
It was pretty easy to buy booze in those days and the police weren't as vigilant as they are now. In Fargo, stores that sold nothing but off-sale beer weren't always careful about whom they sold it to. But I looked older than I was and was rarely carded.
The first time was at the Five Spot when I was 18 and by then I had a fake ID. I was carded the last time when I was 28, also at the Five Spot.
One time I went to Todd's on Front Street with a friend who was driving truck. They usually had country-western music and it was a lively place.
I noticed that they had the same draperies on their stage that my mother had just purchased from a fancy downtown shop. I didn't tell her.
In Moorhead and Dilworth restaurants, no one bothered to check if you wanted a cocktail or a beer with your meal, but Minnesota had some weird laws, too.
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Supper clubs, restaurants usually with dancing, sold 3.2 percent beer -- which was not what we called it -- and setups. You brought your own liquor into the place and paid for the mixers.
I have good memories of those evenings. I also have some bad ones. It took me a long time to learn that booze isn't required to celebrate and that it can cause pain rather than relieve it.
Perhaps if our culture did not view getting drunk on one's 21st birthday as a rite of passage, we could deal with the issue more rationally. What about setting an example? What about being sensible?
And these days, as they hide advertisements for alcoholic beverages from young eyes at sports events in one place, at another sports facility, they ask dispensation to sell mixed drinks in an uncontrolled environment.
Andrea Hunter Halgrimson is The Forum's librarian. Her history column will appear monthly in Valley R&R. Readers with memories to share or questions can contact her at ahalgrimson@forumcomm.com
