CA also says when you’re turning left on a green arrow, you can turn into any free lane. In IL we had to turn into the first lane on the left. We used to get mad at all those drivers turning anywhere they wanted until we learned it was legal.
Our twins were born in MN, but I’d spent most of my previous years in MD and VA. The first time my wife and
I went out for a nice meal with them was to a casual steakhouse. The waiter mentioned happy hour was ongoing and was buy one get one free - we both thought that sounded good, as a cold beer was just what we needed. A minute later he brings out four large drafts - apparently we were each buying one and getting one free (not even allowed in VA at the time). Nothing like a couple of new parents with twins in matching car seats next to the table, along with more beer than we needed or wanted. Imagined or not, we could feel all the disapproving eyes upon us - I guess we were automatically disqualified for parents of the year.
We live in Mississippi. There are two large towns in the county. The northern town is wet. The southern town is dry. It drives us nuts. Unfortunately ours is the dry half. (Hopefully, this will change with the next elections.) It is actually illegal for a beer distributer to drive through our town with advertising on his truck. We won’t mention how many beer cans we find on our road on a weekly basis.
We can’t buy cars on Sundays and I think the general consensus is that’s ok. It’s very nice to look around without salesmen accosting you.
This is also the first year our state can buy liquor on Sundays. I think from 12-8 and I’m not sure if it’s beer or all liquor. Previously, cold beer also had to be purchased at liquor stores, and was not available at the groceries. I’ve witnessed a few temper tantrums from out-of-staters 
Not sure if this changed, or not.
People in the left lane can be ticketed for moving too slowly and having others behind them. Great law. Too bad law enforcement doesn’t have enough manpower to enforce it more stringently.
In Maryland it was (still is?) illegal for any store with more than 10 employees on duty to be open on Sundays, so no department stores. For a long time, for the 4 Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the stores either ignored the law and just paid the fine, or had 10 employees work and just run cash registers. I know they changed the law for those 4 Sundays but not sure about the rest of the year.
I’ve been shopping at some large stores in Maryland…on Sundays. So I’m guessing those restrictions are no longer happening…I mean really…places like Macy’s and Target…all open on Sunday.
Car dealerships are allowed to be open in CT, but there are none near us that are open on Sundays.
Looks like it was 1987.
It’s funny - your post made me remember the MD malls of my youth where the cornerstone department stores were closed on Sunday. But it seemed like so long ago - 30+ years I guess. This thread is bringing back a lot of memories, mostly positive. Thanks OP!
I remember the big anchor stores having only the 10 employees, and just having one entrance unlocked on those holiday Sundays. Don’t remember ever going to a mall on a Sunday other than just before Christmas.
Having hung around in both MD and VA, they have some funny “reverse” laws. In MD, even at the Renaissance, evan fake weapons are not allowed, unless you have a permit. If you buy a traditional Japanese sword, they will wrap it for you (completely swathing it) and you pick it up when you exit. But, you can buy all the beer you want and carry it anywhere. I guess those two make sense together.
In VA, it is the opposite. Swords everywhere, but only one beer per person at a time, and you can’t take it out of the tavern. Even if you’re buying non-alcoholic beer, you can only get one at a time!
New Jersey: Very few restaurants have liquor licenses. You have to BYO when you go out to eat. Restaurants will uncork and pour your wine, and will cool your white wine or champagne in a bucket. Most Mexican restaurants will mix a daiquiri for you if you bring your own rum, or a margarita if you bring tequila. If you forget to BYO, many restaurants have arrangements with nearby liquor stores that will deliver to you in the restaurant.
Liquor licenses are capped at a certain number per county (depending on population). They are bought and sold at top dollar. Oddly enough, almost all diners have liquor licenses because they’ve been in operation way longer than the trendy restaurants.
Utah’s liquor laws changed before the Winter Olympics in 2002, and have changed a few times sinc, but back in the day there were bars that offered beer but no wine or liquor, but also allowed patrons to bring bottles of liquor and then order “set ups”, which might be a glass of tonic water, a glass of cola, a glass of ice, or just an empty glass.
So you could go into a beer bar with a fifth of whiskey, pay two bucks for them to bring you a glass, and proceed to drink until you were ready to drive home. Which led to more than one instance of people thinking: wait, there’s an open container law, so we’d better polish off this bottle before we do something stupid!
@sherpa, I remember back in the 80’s staying at the Marriott downtown in SLC. There was a liquor store in the hotel where you would buy your bottle, then literally 10 feet across the hall was the bar where you would take your bottle, then pay for your set up. Smh.
NYC
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You can make right on red if posted. I’m aware of one of these signs by the Throgs Neck Bridge.
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Only NYPD, NYS Troopers (maybe other NYS police types?), and the Feds can carry pistols in the city. If you are a LEO from another jurisdiction, the NYPD holds your gun.
In NYS you can own an antique pistol (think something like Hamilton/Burr or Wyatt Earp) without a permit. If you have ammo for it, then you need a permit. By ammo I’m talking black powder and lead balls, not modern cartridge ammo. IMHO, they are too valuable to shoot or may have a fatal defect. They look way better a glass case anyway, especially the old Colts.
@Brantly --I’ve lived in NJ all my life and I’ve never been to a diner with a liquor license. I must be hanging out in the wrong places, lol.
In NYC all the diners sold drinks - in NJ I have only run across one or two. NJ weapons laws are very strict - that BB Gun you had as a child is now illegal to own without a firearms license.
@twoinanddone I was about to chime in and correct you about shopping in MD on Sundays but saw that you now know it hasn’t been that way for 30 years!
Unfortunately in most parts of MD, you still cannot buy beer, wine and alcohol anywhere other than in what we call a “liquor” store. It is regulated by county but with few exceptions, it has been that way for as long as I can remember. Kind of stinks when you want a nice bottle of wine with dinner but can’t get it at the grocery store while you are shopping and instead have to get back in the car and drive to the liquor store. I do recall that in my youth, in my county, liquor stores were closed on Sundays. Fortunately we lived a mile from the county line, and the adjacent county allowed liquor stores to be open on Sundays. I remember my father, forgetting he needed wine for a recipe, or deciding to have an impromptu Sunday cookout, rather than run up to the local liquor store, he had to head to the next town over the county line. That law changed at some point but not sure how long ago.
I think in MD that a stand alone grocery store can apply to sell liquor. And chain grocery stores can sell liquor, but only at one location per county (the Giant in White Oak, which I remember for some reason). Maybe there’s an app where you can find these grocery stores, lol.
That phrase triggered memories of 20 year old me for some reason.
@greenwitch Montgomery County, where White Oak is, grandfathered in a handful of places. Other than that, unless the county allows beer/wine in grocery stores, which only a few do and they are mostly on the Eastern Shore, you have to buy in liquor stores.
Until about 5-6 years ago, you couldn’t even ship wine to MD from another state. So, if you wanted to be in a Wine of the Month club. for instance, you could not legally ship to MD. For the couple of years we were in one way back when, we had the wine shipped to my father’s DC office.