Legal Tender, longstanding bar of yesteryear, was home to booze, cards, 'happy ... - Arizona Daily Star
The same could probably be said for a few reporters, judging from the florid postmortems that ran in the local papers after the Legal Tender fell to urban renewal in the waning days of 1969. By its final "last call," more than 100 "happy... "At one time, the Legal Tender had the longest bar in Tucson," says Eddie Jacobs, whose father, the late Eduardo Jacobs, bought the place in the 1930s, soon as Prohibition ended. Born Downtown in what is now the Sosa-Carrillo-Frémont House, the elder Jacobs was a third-generation descendant of Tucson pioneer Leopoldo Carrillo. Soon after, the original Legal Tender went in a few doors to the west on Congress Street. Then around the turn of the century, the Davis home was remodeled for commercial use, and the Legal Tender moved in for good at 80 W. Congress St. Rooms were let on the second floor to women described as "happy girls. Later on, those rooms became rentals and apartments, says Jacobs, renting from $6 to $8 a week for a room, $45 to $55 a month for an apartment. "People who liked to drink," says Bella Bowerman, Eduardo Jacobs' daughter and sister to Eddie. Besides the long bar, the Legal Tender also had tables and booths, remembers. Source: tucson.com
