The following story was published June , 1994 in the Downey Eagle as part of John Adams’s “Time Traveler” series:

Have you ever heard of the illegal whisky still that federal agents raided in the thick brush off Florence Avenue near the Rio Hondo River? Or how the corner of Florence and Paramount Boulevard was once called the “Dago Red” intersection because that’s where you could buy a bottle of stron gwine during the dry days of prohibition?

John Sims, Downey dentist and fountain of local history that the blue noses would just as soon forget, recalls it all.

Sims actually heard the story of the still from security personnel in Las Vegas, who had once known the players on both sides in the catch-me-if-you-can game of tag between the feds and those who peddled alcohol illegally.

The raid came down in the late 1920s. The bootleggers were actually undone by the owner of a nearby orange grove who wondered why his trees didn’t produce like they should. He called the Department of Agriculture who sadly informed him the trees weren’t producing because there was too much malt mixed with their soil.

The feds were subsequently notified and the still was uncovered and raided in a matter of days. If you don’t know, malt is used in the brewing of strong drinki. The still operators had been dumping it in the nearby orchard for years.

And then comes the Dago Red story. Downey had a number of Italian residents in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, the height of prohibition. They found an easy way to make money was to make homemade wine, just like their fathers before them. They then took it to Florence and Paramount and sold it by the bottle. That innocent fellow by curbside had a bottle under his coat for you if you wanted it.

A car pulled up, in went the bottle, out came the cash and the intersection was known as “Dago Red” for years thereafter.

Sims also recalls the old Mexican town where Downey Community Hospital stands today. If you know the residents, you could get a free meal and a glass of homebrew anytime there. Many of the residents worked at the old EMSCO asbestos company that manufactured items such as brake shoes.

EMSCO was famous for resisting all efforts to incorporate the city. Management felt it didn’t need a city government nosing around in its corporate affairs. Workers were allegedly told to vote against incorporation “or else.”

The company finally accepted the inevitable and moved on, said Sims, as did most of the workers.

Bobbi Bruce is a docent with the Downey Historical Society.