The exact origin of the cocktails listed below isn’t known and there are many stories for each from which to choose. These are the most plausible and interesting.
BLOODY MARY
Fernand “Pete” Petiot was an American bartender working at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris during the 1920s. He typically experimented with new drink combinations and one day mixed vodka and tomato juice. A bar patron suggested the name Bloody Mary because it reminded him of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago and a girl there named Mary. When Petiot became bartender at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City in the 1940s he introduced the drink there. New Yorkers found the taste too bland so he added black pepper, cayenne pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, lemon, and Tabasco sauce. The Bloody Mary became a national sensation in the US in the 1950s.
MARGARITA
In 1938 Danny Herrera, bartender at Rancho LaGloria Hotel near Rosarita Beach, Mexico, was in love with Marjorie King, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer. She was allergic to every kind of alcohol except tequila and she couldn’t drink that straight. After many experiments, Herrera blended three parts tequila, two parts Cointreau, and one part fresh lemon juice, rimmed the glass with salt and poured the mixture over shaved ice. When Ms. King approved of his creation, he named it Margarita, Spanish equivalent of Marjorie, in her honor. It’s also said that the Margarita, Spanish for “daisy,” is simply the American Daisy cocktail made with tequila instead of sherry, but what fun is that?
TOM COLLINS
Tom Collins was the most despised and sought-after person of the times in New York City in 1874. He was a loud and boisterous man known to sit in taverns and talk harshly of nearly everyone he’d met, or in many cases, those he hadn’t. Friends of those whom Collins criticized would seek them out and ask “Have you seen Tom Collins?” When the person said he didn’t know who Tom Collins was, the friend would say “He’s saying hateful and libelous things about you in a bar just up the street. You should go confront him.” Arriving at the specified location, the person was told Collins had just left and was headed for a bar several blocks away. There he would find Collins had gone to another bar across town. The “friends” would laugh as the person chased all over town looking for Tom Collins. In reality, Tom Collins was never there, nor had he ever been. Known as The Great Tom Collins Hoax of 1874, newspapers even printed stories containing false sightings to keep the prank going. A Tom Collins cocktail contains gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water.
HARVEY WALLBANGER
The Harvey Wallbanger is made with vodka, orange juice, and Galliano and tastes like a Screwdriver with a hint of licorice. It is told that California bartender “Duke” Antone invented it in 1952 expressly for champion surfer Tom Harvey. Harvey liked to make the rounds of shoreline bars in the evening and usually hit Duke’s Blackwatch Bar last to wrap things up. After a bad day on the waves, having lost an important surfing competition, he had one or more too many. His legendary surfer’s balance deserted him as he departed and he stumbled into both the furniture and the walls. Being a regular at this bar, he became known to all patrons as the Wallbanger. This cocktail became the rage of the 1970s and, in fact, November 5 is Harvey Wallbanger Day.