The following listing of requested items have already been mailed to a number of Chipboard readers already. I am posting here for those that may have missed my emails and for those that I haven't reached out to yet.

PLEASE READ the entire post so that you do not overlook something that you might be able to help with.

The Mob Museum is now focused on the museum renovation project, which involves substantial new exhibit work on the first floor and basement level. On the basement level, they are planning to create a speakeasy exhibit and a bootlegging exhibit. So the time period that they are focused on is Prohibition: 1920-1933.

It seems like we might be able to help if anyone collects objects from the speakeasy culture. They are looking for a few objects, especially from some of the better-known speakeasies, such as the Stork Club, Cotton Club, 300 Club and Club 21 in New York City. Other cities to consider would be Chicago, Detroit and New Orleans.

Also:

Any kind of whiskey flasks disguised as something else.

Some kind of marketing piece for Coca-Cola that includes its slogan from that era: "The Drink That Cheers But Does Not Inebriate."

Anything related to bootlegger George Remus of Cincinnati.

Anything related to the Canadian bootlegger Samuel Bronfman.

Anything related to Seattle bootlegger/rum-runner Roy Olmstead.

Objects related to Eliot Ness' busting of breweries operated by Al Capone.

On a different note, they are interested in tracking down some unique/interesting items related to Benny Binion and Binion's Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas. They are particularly interested in items related to Binion's gambling days in Dallas/Fort Worth in the 1930s and 1940s. Hopefully we have a collector or two that have the market cornered on these items!

They are also looking for items related to the numbers racket, which was the primary form of gambling in urban African American neighborhoods from the 1920s to 1950s.

Here are some other topics and exhibits that were discussed:

Riviera Hotel during mob era – 1955-70 – especially anything related to Gus Greenbaum

Moulin Rouge – 1955 – its first and most famous incarnation

Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva Lodge at Lake Tahoe – late 1950s, early 1960s

Distilleries of Prohibition era – this is pretty far off the track for our group - but you never know

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Please let me know if you have any of the above items that you could loan to the MoGH. If you do, please send scans of the items directly to me at the email address below. If you don’t have any of these items but you can think of others that might be able to help, please provide their names and email addresses.

Thank you ALL for your time and assistance in this matter.

Q
(Mike Quinlivan)
mqprod54@gmail.com