Life — September 28, 1928 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This comic strip satirizes Prohibition-era life, specifically the annoyance of living adjacent to an illegal alcohol establishment. The numbered panels (12:45 a.m. through 2 a.m.) show a man repeatedly trying to sleep while his neighbor's speakeasy operates noisily next door. He encounters drunken patrons, hears loud noise and music, and experiences escalating disruption throughout the night. The humor targets two aspects of 1920s Prohibition: the widespread prevalence of illegal speakeasies despite the alcohol ban, and the social disruption they caused to ordinary citizens. The "Anti-Saloon League" sign in the final panel appears ironic—suggesting that Prohibition advocates' goals (eliminating alcohol establishments) clearly failed in practice. The strip mocks how Prohibition created more problems than it solved.