Buzz
After a long, tough day at work, there’s nothing better than unwinding with friends and enjoying a few drinks. For bars, pubs, and restaurants, offering happy hour deals—usually between 4pm and 8pm—has become a go-to strategy to boost business on slower weekdays, while helping customers relax before dinner. But the idea of "Happy Hour" isn’t just a clever marketing tactic; it has a surprisingly deep, though sometimes overlooked, connection to American history.
Today, happy hour is synonymous with enjoying drinks on a budget, but the term itself actually traces back to American Naval slang in the 1920s, shortly after World War I. On a ship, a "Happy Hour" was a designated time for sailors to partake in various forms of entertainment to break the monotony of life at sea. While this usually meant wrestling or boxing matches, it also included other activities meant to lift spirits.
Meanwhile, the United States was experiencing one of its most challenging and dry periods in history: Prohibition. The 18th Amendment, enforced by the notorious Volstead Act, made it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell intoxicating beverages from 1920 to 1933. (Exceptions were made for sacramental wines and farm-fermented cider.)
Rather than following the newly established prohibition, Americans continued to drink as much as ever, gathering in hidden speakeasies or at home to enjoy illicit cocktails and "wet their whistle" before dinner. The phrase "Happy Hour" soon emerged, likely borrowed from the Naval slang, and was used to describe these forbidden get-togethers.
Although Prohibition was eventually repealed, the concept of happy hour persisted. Some believe that a 1959 article in the Saturday Evening Post mentioning happy hour in a military context introduced it to the public, but other references, such as a 1961 Providence Journal article describing Newport policemen 'deprived of their happy hour at the cocktail bar,' show how the term spread informally over time. By the 1970s and 1980s, the service industry had embraced the term, using it for the food and drink specials we know today.
Happy hour isn't universally practiced, however. At present, 23 states have outlawed the sale of "alcoholic beverages during a fixed period for a fixed price," including Massachusetts, which was the first state to impose such a ban in 1984—a bold move considering that Boston was recently dubbed the drunkest city in America. On the other hand, states like Pennsylvania, which extended happy hour to four hours in 2011, allow restaurants to set their own schedules for specials. Internationally, Ireland has banned happy hour, and the UK has placed strict limits to curb binge drinking. In Canada, Ontario has banned the term "Happy Hour" for drink specials, while Alberta enforces strict regulations on drink prices and happy hours, capping them at 8pm.
