Watch Modern Marvels online: Episode 23 Saloons

From a ladle and tin cup in an 1850s mining camp and Civil War tent saloons to Prohibition-era speakeasies, we investigate the history of the American saloon, and go behind-the-scenes at Billy Bob's, a 3-acre Texan saloon, and a Los Angeles sports bar with a computerized liquor-dispensing system. We see what it took to create the elaborate carved bars, the purpose of the brass foot-rail, the impact of refrigerated railroad cars on beer supply, and the transformational power of the bottle cap.

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