Sunday Morning Blue Law

Sunday Morning Blue Law

Yesterday was Sunday and for me during Lent "Fleischtag". I had a craving for good German pork products and headed northward to Lincoln Square and Meyer's delikatessen for some Schwarzw�lderschinken and such. I also thought I'd grab a bottle of German wine and a bottle or two of one of the less common German beers they carry.

Now, I thought the stupid law that prohibited the sale of alcohol on Sundays before 11 a.m. had been changed but apparently the change in the law only affects restaurants: I arrived as the second customer at Meyer's when they opened sharp at 10 a.m. (other commitments made it impossible for me to go any later), and when they saw me looking over the wine, they informed me that they were still bound by that law and told me that the change had only affected places that serve. I would have to wait till 11 .a.m., they said, but I simply couldn't.

I despise this law. I resent it deeply. I find it a completely unwarranted infringement of the personal freedom of some on account of the benighted religious notions of others.

Anybody who would begrudge another his Sunday morning goccia or stop him from buying a bottle of beer to go with Sunday afternoon's Stullen and a bottle of Riesling to go with Sunday evening's Spatzle and pork is friend neither to Mankind nor God and should be burnt at the stake.



Antonius

It is a dispicable law, not least for its role in preserving (in some places) 3.2 beer.

If it's any consolation, in Massachusetts liquor stores may open on Sundays only between Thanksgiving and Christmas (or maybe New Year's?), and the town I grew up in just outside Boston, Arlington, is still largely dry. (The town is stingier with its liquor licenses than Chicago is; a very few restaurants may serve alcohol but there are absolutely no liquor stores.)

I can say that one advantage of the system is the development of some forethought. You also learn distances, as bordering towns honor Arlington's choice by exactly one-half mile...

Antonius wrote:I despise this law. I resent it deeply. I find it a completely unwarranted infringement of the personal freedom of some on account of the benighted religious notions of others.

...should be burnt at the stake.

This may not have been quite the argument for pluralist tolerance that you intended when you started it....

Bob S. wrote:If it's any consolation, in Massachusetts liquor stores may open on Sundays only between Thanksgiving and Christmas (or maybe New Year's?), and the town I grew up in just outside Boston, Arlington, is still largely dry. (The town is stingier with its liquor licenses than Chicago is; a very few restaurants may serve alcohol but there are absolutely no liquor stores.)

I can say that one advantage of the system is the development of some forethought. You also learn distances, as bordering towns honor Arlington's choice by exactly one-half mile...

Bob,

I fell victim to this law once on a Superbowl Sunday in Boston. I was there with a crew of 10 and we had a day off. I invited everyone up to my hotel room for a Superbowl party. When I went to the liquor store to stock up on beer, etc. I was shut down (Shouldn't there be a special dispensation of this law for Superbowl Sunday...like they do on St. Patrick's day?). The only solution was to order all of the beer from hotel room service. Talk about an expensive bar tab. It still hurts every time I think about it.

Mike G wrote:

Antonius wrote:I despise this law. I resent it deeply. I find it a completely unwarranted infringement of the personal freedom of some on account of the benighted religious notions of others.

...should be burnt at the stake.

This may not have been quite the argument for pluralist tolerance that you intended when you started it....

One of the strangest liquor laws I've ever encountered was when we lived in Tarrant County, TX. This area is just west of Dallas and includes the towns of Arlington and Ft. Worth. While the grocery stores sold both 3.2 beer and malt-based wine coolers, you would have to make a pilrimage to a state run store to buy regular beer, wine or any other liquor. Of course, you could always drive around with an open container and a loaded gun and there were no problems there.

If you're willing to make the trek to Forest Park, there's a liquor store on... Harlem & Madison? Something like that. It's on the west side of Harlem on the south side of the intersection that it sits on - just a couple blocks at most north of 290. It has obvious signage visible from Harlem. I want to say it's U.S. Liquors or somesuch, but that doesn't sound right.

They open at 7am and don't have to obey any city liquor laws, as they aren't in Chicago.

We found it while in a similar bind one Sunday morning - using local.google.com and a phone. It's not a place I visit often, but when you need it, it's a godsend.

Edit - I went and found the full info.

USA Beverage Inc
(708) 209-1984
7200 Madison St
Forest Park, IL 60130

Pete,

I've been to USA a few times, and you're right to suggest it's not the kind of place you'd want to visit often. Its one advantage: hours of operation (plus, for thrill seekers, it has in back the Midwest's worst parking lot).

Hammond

I think the hypocrisy of this law is best illustrated by recalling how the no-sale time used to be until noon on Sundays. When the NFL standardized starting times and rolled back what had been a 1 PM Bears start to noon the law was quickly amended to also drop back an hour from noon to 11 AM.

Still, this is nothing when compared to states I've lived like Alabama and South Carolina. I don't know the current situation but back in college Alabama was NO sales on Sundays and I know South Carolina still has their stupid mini-bottle law.

I have another Texas reference. When I was dining in Del Frisco's steakhouse in or around Dallas some years ago they couldn't sell you liquor unless you had a "club" membership. They were quite willing to sell you a membership good for, I think, 90 days that would allow them to then sell you liquor. The membership was good at any other establishment that sold liquor as well. It was some type of county ordinance. Rather strange.

Kman, I too remember the business about having to buy a "membership"
at a club or restaurant in order to purchase liquor.

North Carolina's draconian liquor laws were reason enough for me to leave...

Grocery and convenience stores were allowed to sell beer and wine only. The sale of "spiritous liquors" was the exclusive province of the state and all purchases of such were to be made at the state-run ABC stores. And, as N.C. law makes quite clear,

(a) No ABC store shall be open, and no ABC store employee shall sell alcoholic beverages, between 9:00 P.M. and 9:00 A.M. The local board shall otherwise determine opening and closing hours of its stores.

(b) No ABC store shall be open, and no ABC store employee shall sell alcoholic beverages, on any Sunday, New Year's Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas Day. A local board may otherwise determine the days on which its stores shall be closed.

Now, it is important to note the bit about "local boards," and what they may "otherwise determine," as the laws varied greatly from county to county and, to this day, some counties remain bone dry.

One Saturday evening, while on line at the local ABC store in Winston-Salem, the cashier suddenly announced, "No more sales will be permitted. If you have not yet made your purchase, you must leave the store immediately." It took me a second, but I quickly returned my misplaced frustration to its proper place, i.e., with the state. This was not some matter left to her or any other employee's discretion, as the registers themselves locked up precisely on the hour.

Erik M.

Kman wrote:
Still, this is nothing when compared to states I've lived like Alabama and South Carolina. I don't know the current situation but back in college Alabama was NO sales on Sundays and I know South Carolina still has their stupid mini-bottle law.

When I was in S.C. last November 2, there was a ballot initiative to change this. I don't recall whether it passed. I had a hard time reading labels to choose what I wanted in a dark bar.

Kansas used to be real screwy. 18 to buy 3.2% beer. Bars only served 3.2 beer. 21 to buy regular beer or liquor. I'm sure they have changed some in a Darwinian sort of way.

On the other side of the government regulated liquor sales trade is Ontario, Canada's "The Beer Store" (and the liquor store, et cetera). All retail alcohol sales, as far as I know, have to be made at the government-run stores. Grocery stores carry "cooking wines" which are all <1% alcohol..

The problem with these places is they've generally got a pretty limited selection. Some government-run beer stores in canada only have six beers on hand. They've got a line of stores under the name "Vintages" which is the "fine wines and premium spirits" division, but they don't have those in every city.

The good: almost all are open on sundays.

-ed

gleam wrote:On the other side of the government regulated liquor sales trade is Ontario, Canada's "The Beer Store" ...

The good: almost all are open on sundays.

-ed

Ed:

Geez, sounds like Pennsylvania... but better... At least they're open Sundays...


Lots of emoticons needed for that shit...
A

Kman wrote:I think the hypocrisy of this law is best illustrated by recalling how the no-sale time used to be until noon on Sundays. When the NFL standardized starting times and rolled back what had been a 1 PM Bears start to noon the law was quickly amended to also drop back an hour from noon to 11 AM.

Along similar lines, I just heard today on the news that Rhode Island has banned smoking from all indoor public spaces, including all bars and restaurants, which have fought the total ban without success...

One exception... Casinos.

I wonder why they're exempt?



A

Antonius wrote:
Along similar lines, I just heard today on the news that Rhode Island has banned smoking from all indoor public spaces, including all bars and restaurants, which have fought the total ban without success...

One exception... Casinos.

I wonder why they're exempt?

A

Time away from the machine to smoke is lost revenue ... Less revenue to the casinos equals less tax dollars.

If smoking is so bad that it has to be banned in public, why not outlaw it completely?

jlawrence01 wrote:Time away from the machine to smoke is lost revenue ... Less revenue to the casinos equals less tax dollars.

If smoking is so bad that it has to be banned in public, why not outlaw it completely?

That is what the little rolling-eyes fellow was thinking... The devilish fellow next to him was also wondering whether any of the State's legislators or other public figures were, how shall we say, encouraged to see things in a way most advantageous to the noble gambling industry.

In any event, the hypocrisy is quite amazing.

A