Prohibition was a law that made the production and sale of alcohol illegal in the United States. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was on the books from January 1920 to December 1933. During this time, however, despite it being illegal there were still ways for people to enjoy their favorite liquors. One of the most well-known is that of the ‘speakeasy.’ These were hidden spots where one could get a drink. Cape Cod was no stranger to speakeasies with perhaps the most famous of these standing inconspicuously in South Yarmouth until only recently. It was known as Casa Madrid and this is its story.
Sunset at South Yarmouth's appropriately nicknamed Smuggler's Beach.
Situated for nearly a century on Run
Pond Road this stucco building stood out like a sore thumb among the shingled classic Cape Cod homes. It was constructed in early
1933 for $125,000 ($3 million in 2024) and promoted as a dinner and
dancing establishment associated with the Yarmouth Beach Club. The
yellow stucco and red tiles were meant to catch the eye of passersby
as was the intention of its creator, local realtor Alex Finn, and his
partner Oscar Skinner. The Spanish style was considered entirely new
for Cape Cod at the time. There were roads leading to the areas
around Casa Madrid with the Nantucket Sound beaches merely a few
hundred yards south, yet the establishment was surrounded by trees
for the most part. Finn promised indoor and outdoor dancing with an
enclosed courtyard with early estimates of the building being able to
accommodate 3,000 people.
Casa Madrid was meant to be the
destination for dinner and dancing on the Cape with entrance via
ticket only. It was high class with proper dress required to get in
as well. The grand opening of June 30, 1933, was attended by those
sent invitations only, mainly members of the Beach Club and other
high-ranking locals. Membership had more than its share of perks.
There was access to the lockers in the bathhouse, hammocks, swings, handball and squash courts, canoes,
rowboats, speedboats, and even a seaplane. The opening was a rousing
success and it appeared that Cape Cod had its newest ‘place to
be.’
However, a mere six weeks into its run Casa Madrid had
its most famous night of all. On the night of Sunday, August 13,
1933, a group of thirty-five law enforcement officers under the
direction of Lt. James Hughes and Assistant Attorney General George
B. Lourie crashed the festivities at Casa Madrid after being tipped
off about potential laws being broken there. Although some of the 300
guests present were eating and dancing when the officers arrived a
great many more were found to be drinking at one of three bars inside
the building while others were illegally gambling.
News of the raid on Casa Madrid in the Boston Globe, August 14, 1933
The raid was
a week in planning and carried out with pinpoint precision. The
troopers assembled in Norwell and made their way to the Cape
accompanied by several Boston-based newspaper reporters who had been
tipped off. Upon entering the establishment some of the patrons at
Casa Madrid mistook the uniform-clad troopers as performers, this was
obviously not the case. In a clean sweep, the raid seized a truckload
of liquor, gambling equipment, and furnishings including a roulette
wheel. There was also $7,360 ($176,827 in 2024) in cash on gambling
tables, and the raid resulted in the arrest of thirty-four people
including owners Finn and Skinner. In addition to those developments,
rumors had it that many prominent citizens including Boston Mayor
James Curley were in attendance that night, with him escaping through
a window before being caught.
By pleading not guilty the club
was allowed to remain open. On August 29th Assistant Attorney General
Lourie personally led a second raid on Casa Madrid. The police used a
sledgehammer to break down the door to a room that they said had
previously housed gambling equipment yet found nothing this time. The
club was operating within the law with more than a hundred guests
eating and dancing. Before leaving the establishment Lourie and his
troopers were offered dinner by Alex Finn which they declined. The
club remained open through Labor Day when it closed for the
season.
On September 6, 1933, the cases against those arrested
at Casa Madrid were heard at the Barnstable Court House. Most of the
charges were dropped or continued although both Finn and Skinner were
fined $50 ($1,201 in 2024) for maintaining a gaming house and selling
alcohol. Massachusetts Attorney General Joseph Warner pressured
Yarmouth selectmen to shut down the controversial establishment. The
charter of the Yarmouth Beach Club was revoked due to its connection
with Casa Madrid, as a copy of its charter was found on the club wall during the initial police raid. Near the end of October
1933, the Casa Madrid case was closed with the gambling paraphernalia
being destroyed but the money seized being returned to the claimants.
A postcard of Casa Madrid in the 1930s.(Historical Society of Old Yarmouth)
Before the start of the 1934 season, Prohibition was repealed which was seemingly good news for Casa Madrid. However, due to the problems it caused while alcohol was still illegal Yarmouth selectmen initially refused to give a liquor license to the club. They relented in May 1934 when Alex Finn sold his property to Alphonse Rossini. Finn liquidated all of his other holdings on Cape Cod shortly thereafter. Residents pushed to have the liquor license revoked and after a fire destroyed two cottages and damaged two others on the Casa Madrid property in April 1935 it appeared as though the club was doomed to fail.
The property as it appeared in 1998
Casa Madrid was again sold, to Peter Panesis, for the
1935 season. It opened July 3rd to a raucous crowd of over 500 with
NBC recording artist Betty Bryant on hand to sing. Despite the
first-night success, the 1935 season was a relative loss for Panesis
and the property was sold once again. New ownership saw modest
success in opening the club up for banquets and dances throughout the
remainder of the 1930s. It remained a steady albeit unspectacular
presence in South Yarmouth until its initial closing in 1962. Three
years later it was reopened by Frank Thompson, of the legendary Thompson’s Clam Bar, as a respectable restaurant with no live
entertainment and a 9pm closing time. 1965 went as well as
possible, however, Casa Madrid only lasted half of the 1966 summer
and in 1967 was opened only one day. By 1969 stringent conditions put
on the restaurant by the Board of Appeals on their liquor license
renewal, along with general changes to the neighborhood surrounding
it, led to Casa Madrid throwing in the towel in 1969.
In the
mid-1970s new owners tried and failed to convert Casa Madrid into a
musical museum. It saw new life as a teen crisis center beginning in
1989. Despite being a relatively unsuspecting establishment for
nearly all of its thirty-plus years in operation the legend of Casa
Madrid will always be tied to the infamous raid on it during its days
as a Prohibition speakeasy.
The
Casa Madrid building itself stood on Run Pond Road until April 2024.
It was finally torn down with the fate of the spot where it stood
currently unknown.
The former site of Casa Madrid in April 2024.
