Author: Sarah Laskow / Source: Atlas Obscura
J.B. Leonis stored his whiskey in exactly the fashion you’d want a pre-Prohibition booze magnate and land developer to keep his liquor: in a secret vault, secured by a bank door, hidden behind a bookshelf.
Leonis came to California in the late 19th century, after his uncle Miguel, a fearsome French-speaking immigrant rancher, with questionable allegiance to the law, beckoned him to the quickly developing area around Los Angeles. Miguel would dominate the western part of the San Fernando Valley; J.B. helped found his own city. Vernon started as an industrial zone, just south of the L.
A. city limits. Soon, it would be known as one of the wildest places for entertainment in southern California.In Vernon, men could find boxing, baseball, and all manner of other diversions. But booze was one of the main draws. The Vernon Country Club was one of the city’s first night clubs, where the new stars of Hollywood would misbehave. Jack Doyle’s Center Bar boasted of having the longest bar in the world—100 feet of counter space manned by 37 bartenders. When Los Angeles…
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