This thesis explores the origins, impacts, and decline of Prohibition in the city and county of San Diego, California. Beginning with San Diego’s relationship with alcohol and alcohol-control in the nineteenth century and ending with the repeal of national Prohibition in 1933, this thesis explores the relationship between efforts at alcohol control, Prohibition, and life in the growing city of San Diego. This thesis argues that Prohibition was a critical chapter in San Diego history that was linked to San Diego’s development and emerging identity. In the years leading up to Prohibition, debates over alcohol were linked to broader arguments concerning the city’s future prosperity and local notions of “respectability.” Once Prohibition was implemented, the Prohibition experience of San Diegans continued to be defined by these concerns, with working class and ethnic minority San Diegans facing an inordinate share of the consequences of Prohibition laws. Ultimately, Prohibition was untenable in the long term in San Diego, due to the challenges of enforcement linked to its geographic location and the dysfunctional administration of Prohibition enforcement in that locality.
