The Story Behind the Matchbook (1936)

It’s a soggy January evening in 1936. You are just getting out of work and it’s 6:30pm. Stuck in a meeting with twelve other members of the sales team, the talk of goals and deadlines turned an afternoon into an evening. No chance you’re going to make it back to Connecticut in time for dinner.

After a quick apologetic call home you take out the last of your Lucky’s and think about another train ride home on an empty stomach.

Reaching for a match in your pocket, the city bus you were supposed to get on just misses sending a small typhoon of a puddle over your favorite suit. The bus drives off and you’re not on it. All you are left with is a soggy cigarette in one hand and a small matchbook in the other.

Tossing the filter-less coffin nail into the gutter, you hold up the matchbook and wonder where you got it. “Oh yeah. Phil said something about this place.” Funny guy, Phil, always with an off-color joke and a jab in your ribs.

Dropping the matches from your view in the glow of the street lamp, there it is. Right across the street is Leon and Eddies nightclub, 33 W 52nd Street. How many times have you walked out of the office and never even noticed the place? Looking at your watch it suddenly seems reasonable that you can take the 9:10 train home instead of the 6:55. She’ll understand…

Leon and Eddie’s was one of many speakeasy-turned-nightclubs that were popular on W 52nd in New York City, a section that was know as swing street. One author even described it as “the street that never sleeps.”

Read the rest of the story behind the matchbook by clicking here.