The Dry Squad

JERRY PERSON

The skyline of Huntington Beach changed drastically from its first

decade of small beach cottages.

In 1920, wooden oil derricks rose up to the sky while smoke and

noise from the many donkey engines filled the air around for miles in

our booming oil town.

Men poured into town looking for work from the black gold.

Working on an oil rig was not only hard work, but could be very

dangerous too. So when quitting time came for the men, it was not

unusual for these hard-working men to stop on the way home for a cold

beer or drink to wash the oil taste out of their mouths.

But all that came to a halt with the passage of the 18th

Amendment, better known as the Volstead Act, on Jan. 16, 1920 that

ended the sale of alcohol throughout the country.

But oil workers were not ready to have a soda pop after work and

so a few locals began making beer, wine and the hard stuff in their

homes to supply these men and also some patrons at some of out local

cafes.

Bootlegging in Huntington Beach also helped out some local

families supplement their meager family income.

But as time went on, bootlegging became a big business, not only

in Huntington Beach, but in a good part of Orange County. Repeated

squads of some of the finest federal lawmen failed to get evidence on

the bootlegging fraternity.

In November of 1924, two young ladies from Arizona came into our

town and began making friends. These two girls had a liking for

liquor and were soon seen at our cafes in the company of local

bootleggers.

The girls’ beauty and friendly manners soon captivated these men

and the girls were soon accompanying the bootleggers to their

supplier. The girls even bought bottles of booze and packed their

suitcases full with the stuff.

But our police officers became suspicious of these two young

ladies and arrested the girls with their suitcases full of contraband

liquor and they were taken to our jail.

The girls were locked up for several hours before Huntington Beach

Police Chief Jack Tinsley had the girls released, but not before he

gave them a talking to. A couple days later the girls left Huntington

Beach for other parts of Orange County.

By now you may have guessed that these two girls were not just

ordinary ladies out looking for booze, but were federal agents,

members of the “Dry Squad.”

They reported their findings to headquarters in Los Angeles.

On the evening of Nov. 19, 1924, 16 cars loaded with federal

agents, with their headlights blazing, entered Huntington Beach at

8:30 p.m. and were met by Chief Tinsley and our entire police force.

Under the leadership of Chief Tinsley and chief federal officer

L.E. Tyson, this dry squad fanned out Huntington Beach with 50

warrants in hand.

Six carloads of agents and our police spent the night arresting

surprised men and women of our town and local area.

Raid after raid was carried out by this dry squad until 13

violators of the federal Prohibition laws from Huntington Beach,

Sunset Beach and Fountain Valley were arrested and brought to our

jail in City Hall.

Included in that night’s arrest were N. Hudson at his small

cottage at 13th Street and Main in Huntington Beach. In Fountain

Valley C.H. Ellis and his wife were arrested at their home and in a

Sunset Beach lunch and soft drink establishment, Edwin Arnold and

E.S. Richards were taken into custody. A surprised Lawrence Fernandez

and Gus Barkus from the Golden Lion cafe, at 226 Main St. saw the

inside of our jail. A year later the Golden Lion would change its

name to the Golden Bear cafe.

Taxi driver J.C. Teeters was arrested by the dry squad while

driving in his cab. The Brown residence at 103 First St. in Huntington Beach was raided and its occupants taken into custody.

The dry squad raided a home out on Florida Street and recovered a

still that supplied local bootleggers and a Downtown cafe. This still

was operated by Tony Garcia and Hersus Fernandez who were taken into

custody.

But Johnnie Dunnigan of the Tupman cafe didn’t like being arrested

and put up a big fight, and in the end had to be taken to the county

hospital in Santa Ana.

By 4:30 a.m. it was all over and the agents departed Huntington

Beach for other parts of Orange County.

The clean-up was a total success and those arrested that night

would face trials in federal courts and would be fined or given jail

time to think over their deeds.

It would be another eight years before our oil workers could

legally enjoy a beer or two again. There would still be alcohol to be

had in Huntington Beach, but not to the extent it had been before the

dry squad came into town.

Huntington Beach would never forget that night when the town was

raided or those two young ladies who made it all possible.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.