During Prohibition (1920-33) when the consumption of alcohol was banned across the United States, many people crossed the border to Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, Mexico, where they could drink freely. At that time, Mexico was also a popular gambling destination with elegant resorts like Agua Caliente.

One of the most elegant cantinas was the Café Gambrinus – Gambrinus is the name of the legendary king of beer. Photographs show a pink-walled building, shutters closed against the sun, with luxury cars like Dusenberg Js, Cadillacs and Lincolns parked outside.

The building looks modest but inside there was a long, polished mahogany bar with beveled mirrors and white-aproned bartenders where tequilas, cocktails, fizzes and punches were served to well-dressed patrons. A high-end restaurant served American, Mexican and Chinese food and a nightclub featured top entertainers and an in-house orchestra and dancing girls.

In January 1933, Café Gambrinus was destroyed in a fire and was reopened near the original site as The New Gambrinus Café, which is where this lovely menu cover showing a Mexican woman comes from.

However, in December of that same year, Prohibition was repealed and in 1935 Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas outlawed gambling. Fewer Americans made the short trip to Mexicali and the New Gambrinus closed.

Note: there was a large community of Chinese immigrants in Mexicali – many were cooks at places like Gambrinus. They operated a system of 40 underground tunnels used by bootleggers to smuggle liquor and provide access to gambling dens, bordellos and other places of entertainment.