Happy Hour

M

mass88

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
2,531
Reaction score
1,013
Why is it that a lot of other cities in this country have happy hours that involve drink specials and Boston doesn't? I know Boston used to allow it and then changed the laws.
 
A number of states have laws against Happy Hour drinks specials - thank the latter-day prohibitionists. If you like the way your quality of life is diminished because of the irresponsibility of a few drivers, then you should write a letter to MADD telling them so and thanking them.

(Actually, it isn't "just" a quality of life issue. Young firms, startups, young talent, etc do actually relocate on the basis of being able to enjoy themselves. Imagine that.)

Personally, I wonder why MADD worries about drinks specials while ignoring the suburban bars up and down Route 1 with more parking spaces than bar stools.

My proposal (a backhanded way of encouraging TOD and dense walking enviornments) would be to offer exemptions on the drinks specials laws to any watering hole within a half-mile walk of rapid transit. Drinks specials must end a half hour before the last train/SL.
 
Massachusetts increased the legal drinking age to 20 in 1979 and 21 in 1985. Drink specials were outlawed in 1985, must have been, since I was drinking 35-cent beers at The Pub and Barsie's in Amherst in 1984. (I wish I still had those mugs!)

Although I wax nostalgic about that, I've been pretty happy that we've kept that part of the law intact. Bars and restaurants haven't seemed to have suffered at all.

Yeah, it's a police state, but in this case, why mess with it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._history_of_alcohol_minimum_purchase_age_by_state
 
Sort of OT but if we do some road dieting, we can lower our drinking age without a burden on our state finances. A drinking age below 21 means something like 15% of our highway funding is removed. So if we shave 15% of our highways out, we'll break even. And it somewhat discourages driving, so that means less drunk driving. Do it! Do it!
 
Perhaps your initial question was prompted by this article in Stuff magazine?

Legally drunk: A look at the curious laws that govern how we guzzle
By Luke ONeil, Stuff magazine

It's funny: nationally, Massachusetts has a reputation of being the bluest of "blue states," thanks to our progressive politics. But not a single local has grown up here without encountering "blue laws," antiquated regulations (often related to alcohol) that are anything but liberal - more like straight out of our buttoned-up, buckle-shoed Puritan past. The origin of the colorful term is subject to speculation: it's a reference to either an old definition of "blue" (which meant "rigidly moral" during Colonial times), the color of the paper that legal documents were once printed on, or the color of everyone's balls at the time, since these folks were definitely as repressed in the bedroom as they were at the bar.

Such laws are hardly ancient history, as anyone who has tried to buy booze before noon on Sunday (you know, the day when God pays attention), attempted to restock during a Memorial Day barbecue, or run out of wine during Thanksgiving dinner can attest. But there are even less obvious and more egregious prohibitions on the books that are a pain in our collective alcohol-loving ass. So I asked a few sin purveyors for their thoughts on Massachusetts's most annoying, curious, or downright weird laws regarding the sale of alcohol - laws that can impact exactly what, how, and when we drink in unexpected ways.
Click to expand...

Article continues: http://stuffboston.com/stuffboston/...e-curious-laws-that-govern-how-we-guzzle.aspx
 
My initial question came after visiting several cities that offer drink specials and how funny it is that Boston, with a good transit system, won't allow it. The government has no problems taxing the hell out of booze and tobacco, and then restricts where it can be sold, how old you need to be to buy it and how it can be consumed.

For example, when a male is 18, he can be drafted and sent to fight a war for the U.S. But he cannot legally enjoy a beer. All supermarkets in this state cannot sell beer and wine. In other states, CVS can sell beer and wine.
 
Supermarkets and pharmacies can sell booze. However, any one person or corporation can own at most three package-store (take-out) liquor licenses statewide. If you are a big chain such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or Shaw's, that means only three of your Massachusetts stores can sell alcohol.
 
Hey, I'm all for lowering the drinking age to 18.

There must be a great book about temperance and prohibition of alcohol in the US. It's been a part of our country since before it even existed.

In May of 1657, the General Court of Massachusetts made the sale of strong liquor "whether known by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc." illegal.
 
blade_bltz said:
@ massp - CVS sells hard liquor here in California.
Click to expand...

I know and it's great. Every time I am out there I always buy a Cope Codder from CVS. Has the change from Save On causes the selection to decrease at all?
 
By far the single most egregious and offensive blue law in this state is the ban on selling alcohol on Memorial Day. On MEMORIAL DAY. You know, the day that we kick back, have friends over for a barbecue, and bask in the freedoms that our military has worked to protect.

Most of those freedoms anyway. To truly enjoy american adulthood you'll have to go to another state....

Riyadh on the Charles--we do things differently here
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top