THE SPEAKEASY KING

Tony’s Speakeasy: A Legend in the Roaring Twenties and Beyond 1920-1979

In the heart of Prohibition-era New York, an unassuming Italian immigrant named Tony Soma rose from humble beginnings to become a hidden king of Manhattan nightlife. Tony’s Speakeasy was more than just a secret bar—it was a cultural salon where the sharpest minds, boldest artists, and most notorious characters of the Jazz Age gathered behind closed doors. From F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter to Sigmund Freud, the guest list read like a fever dream of the 1920s.

But Tony's story didn't start with fame. Arriving in Manhattan in 1906, he stumbled through a series of hotel jobs, returned briefly to Italy, and came back with his young bride, Angelica—a would-be opera singer whose dreams would echo through generations. When Prohibition hit, a fortunate tip from a liquor-rich dentist landlord sparked the creation of Tony's illicit haven, where art, politics, crime, and culture mixed with bootleg whiskey.

Behind the glamour was also heartbreak. The loss of his son and first wife sent Tony spiraling—until he discovered yoga, a then-obscure Eastern practice that grounded his grief and eventually became part of his restaurant’s mystique. Patrons gawked as he stood on his head singing Puccini, making headlines as a spiritual eccentric in a city of cynics.

After Prohibition, Tony transformed his speakeasy into a legitimate restaurant and later a cabaret hotspot that welcomed a new generation of icons—from Sinatra and Bacall to JFK and Nixon. But his heart remained tethered to Angelica, the muse he could never replace.

Tony’s legacy lived on in his daughter, Ricki Soma—a prima ballerina turned actress—and in his granddaughter, Anjelica Huston, who would finally achieve the stardom both her mother and grandmother once pursued.

Tony’s Speakeasy is a vividly told, true-life tale of grit, glamour, and generational dreams. It’s a memoir of a man who shaped—and was shaped by—the defining decades of American culture, and a family whose passion for the arts ran as deep as their resilience.