A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from April 01, 2012
“Liquor in front, poker in rear” (bar sign)

“Liquor in/up (the) front, poker in (the) rear/back” is a bar sign saying that has been put in T-shirts and other gift items. The joke plays upon the words “liquor” (“lick her”) and “poker” (“poke her”).
   
“Liquor in front, poker in back” and “liquor in the front and poker in the rear” have both been cited in print from 1984.
 
   
Yahoo! Answers
Where did “liquor in the front, poker in the back” come from?
2 years ago
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Actually it’s ” liquor in the front, poker in the rear”. It’s an old double entendre probably from the old american west. It’s an obvious double meaning play on words bit describing both a saloon and how to best pleasure a woman sexually.
 
Back in Time Trading Post
SIGN a nice reprint of an old saloon sign. The sign is a heavy paper stock and reads “Brass Rail Saloon”,  “Liquor In Front Poker In Rear” and “El Paso Texas”. It also has “Ace Printing Co.” and “14 JUL 31”. The sign measures about 9 1/2 inches across and is about 6 1/4 inches wide. The paper has browning for an aged appearance. El Paso officially became part of the USA in 1845 when Texas joined the Union and was orginally known as Franklin.
     
Google Books
Texas Crude:
The how-to on talkin’ Texan

By Ken Weaver
New York, NY: E. P. Dutton
1984
Pg. ?:
LIQUOR IN FRONT, POKER IN BACK.
 
Google Books
The Complete Book of Drinking Games
By Chugger Downs and E. Z. Buz
New York, NY: Tribeca Communications
1984
Pg. ?:
We witnessed this issue of variety most appropriately when we visited a bar whose welcoming sign read: “Liquor in the Front and Poker in the Rear.”
           
Google Books
Happy Hours
By Gary Smith
New York, NY: Harmony Books
1987
Pg. 68:
Taped to the cash register behind the bar was a magazine photo of a bare-bottomed playmate holding a sign that read “Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear.”
 
Google Books
Dirty Work
By Rob Kantner
New York, NY: Bantam Books
1988
Pg. ?:
The T-shirt read “Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Back.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Liquor in the front : poker in the rear
Author: Reverend Horton Heat; WEA Europe.; Carrè€re music.; Sub Pop ltd.; et al
Publisher: London : WEA Europe ; Le Blanc Mesnil : distrib. Carrè€re music, 1994 (P)
Edition/Format:  Music CD : CD audio : English
 
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Humor
By Geoff Tibballs
New York, NY: Carroll & Graf
2000
Pg. 242:
A good woman is like a good bar—liquor in the front and poker in the rear.

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New York CityRestaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores • Sunday, April 01, 2012 • Permalink


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