Many here in the Twin Cities can remember back in the 1970s and early 1980s when the liquor laws were even stranger than they are now.

The Texas side was dry and the Arkansas side was wet. The Texas side allowed private clubs, though, that operated under the inconvenient “locker law,” requiring members to purchase a bottle from the club and keep it at the bar. The Arkansas side had beer taverns, but if you wanted hard liquor you had to join a private club.

There was also the age difference. In Arkansas the drinking age was 21. In Texas it was 18. That meant teens had on...