The Hotel Vernon Speakeasy

Kelley Square is not only famous for being one of the scariest places on earth to drive through as well as a place where certain cops can create imaginary stop signs and red lights where they see fit.

It is also famous for the Hotel Vernon. One of hot spots for all the Night Owls in Worcester is the Ship Room in the Vernon. But what I didn't realize about the Hotel is there was also a SPEAKEASY in the hotel.

Recently, when I was getting ready to write my next installment of Polly and Handgraves I had decided without realizing it that I would put a speakeasy in the Kelley Square area for the next story. I did this without realizing there had been a speakeasy. I just did it because the stories I'm writing with P&H take place in the late 1920's when prohibition was being heavily (if not ridiculously) enforced.

So, logically since there are quite a few bars like the Vernon, Lucky Dog and Salty Dog in the Kelley Square area, I thought that seemed like the ideal spot for such an establishment to exist in historic Worcester Massachusetts.

You can imagine my surprise and astonishment when I was looking through my Facebook friend and Telegram & Gazette Investigative Reporter Thomas Caywood's photo's to see pictures taken in a speakeasy in the Hotel Vernon.

You would have thought I found Shangri-La, The Lost City of Atlantis and Gotham City all at the same time!! Like I said, I had no knowledge of such a place existing in Kelley Square let alone Worcester itself. It just seemed like the logical location for a speakeasy.

I guess the bar downstairs is in pretty rough shape but the owner is very proud of doing tours of it. It's a great piece of history. Still, it's a shame that they don't restore it and turn it into a working bar giving it a Roaring 20's flair.

I think Madame Rhubarb's Lounge at the Hotel Vernon would be a great attraction for not only some of my candle burners friends in the Woo but also history buffs who like 1920's and 1930's culture.