“Today, there are more speakeasies in the Valley than ever… to feed that delicious illusion of transgression [we] all love so much.”
We have a long-standing debate here at the magazine: Do speakeasies actually exist?
Our more dogmatic, literal-minded staffers hold to the classic definition of a speakeasy: an illegal, underground business that sells alcohol. And since alcohol consumption has been legal in the U.S. since 1933, when the 21st Amendment terminated a certain misguided social experiment, it seems a self-defeating business model in today’s world. (Full disclosure: In my much-younger days, I went to an after-hours drinking club run out of a three-bedroom tract home in Tempe by a bunch of college kids who charged a $10 cover, so maybe that was a speakeasy? Hard to say.)
Other PHOENIX staffers are lenient. They will freely apply the speakeasy label to the growing community of Valley bars that merely cosplay as illegal drinking clubs. The modern speakeasy trend started in the early 2010s and hasn’t really abated – today, there are more speakeasies in the Valley than ever, with evermore elaborate systems of concealment and subterfuge (password chains, secret telephones, etc.) to feed that delicious illusion of transgression that we scarcity-deprived Americans all love so much.
So it’s more like performative secrecy than real secrecy – nonetheless, a Valley speakeasy roundup struck us as a great way to lead off associate editor Madison Rutherford’s fun-filled cover story about The 25 Best-Kept Secrets in Phoenix. Driving her pickaxe into all corners of the Valley, Maddie unearths hidden hiking trails, off-beat museums, pop-up restaurants and ruin-porn aplenty. She reveals the Valley’s most elaborate escape room, its best star-watching spot and its uncanny connection to a certain children’s TV show. And, of course, nine essential speakeasies. Your secret password for this one is “page 146.”
People are still frequently amazed that Arizona has a thriving wine industry, and I’m amazed by their amazement. We’ve only been covering the darn thing on a near-monthly basis for 15 years. Still, this issue’s Arizona Wine Adventures for the Fall feature squares nicely with our “secret” theme – if only because it covers a lot of brand-new stuff in wine country, including some terrific lodging options and tasting rooms, plus a pair of exciting new culinary experiences from two Arizona wine OGs.
And that only scratches the surface of this September/October issue of PHOENIX, which also includes a 15-page Eat Beat food section, a reader-supplied photo essay tailor-made for Halloween, a Top Lawyers list and a history travelogue about Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov, who evidently loved Arizona and spent a lot of time here. Did you know that? I didn’t. The secrets never cease.
