The repeal of federal prohibition in 1933 was not the end of laws controlling the sale and consumption of liquor in Seattle. Public support for prohibition had waned as liquor-related crime continued to increase and enforcement efforts continued to strain staff and budgets. However, regulating the manufacture and consumption of alcohol remained a regular part of the business of Seattle city government, spurned on in part by some Seattleites—particularly upper-class whites—who disapproved of the abundance of vice and racial mixing in bars, and police raids increased during the Depression. In 1934 the Washington State Liquor Control Board was created to establish strict controls over how alcohol could be sold and consumed, including limiting the sale of wine and hard liquor to state-run liquor stores, a move that was highly controversial during the state legislature's debate over the bill.

The image here of the Stork Club in 1945 was taken to identify it as one of the "numerous 'night spots' that continue Seattle operations despite frequent arrests on the premises for violation of state liquor laws," according to then-Mayor William F. Devin. At the time there were "at least a dozen all-night speakeasies where patrons may drink and dance after the curfew closes the city's legitimate night spots."

Caption information source: "Prohibition in Seattle," Seattle Municipal Archives, https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/prohibition-in-seattle
Caption information source: "Prohibition in Washington State," by Paula Becker, HistoryLink.org Essay 9630.
Caption information source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Drink, Dance Joints Thrive After Curfew," by Sidney Copeland, April 30, 1945, p.1; “Many liquor ‘repeaters’” by Stub Nelson, May 4, 1945, p. 1.