restaurants of the Swing Era
Swanky Restaurants of the Swing Era
(and a Few Dives)
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Cover of the Stork Club menu
A Tour of the Famous Restaurants of the Swing Era
Free menu downloads as well

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After a whole lot of organizing and scanning, I'd like to share my menu collection with you. The principal criteria for listing a restaurant are: (a) I actually ate there; (b) I was able to beg, buy or steal the menu; and (c) the restaurant had to be part of the glamour of the Swing Era or be located in an Art Deco building

Before we move on (and to accomodate folks coming in from Search Engines with a specific purpose), here is a list of the establishments covered on this page. Each restaurant has a brief description illustrated by pictures, graphics, etc. After that, you'll have the opportunity to download a full-size copy of the menu.

After the presentation of the restaurants, I have included a Glossary of my experience with Menu French, something that may help you if you ever get stuck in a snooty tourist trap.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

For your pleasure, I offer my Handy-Dandy Inflation Adjuster which should help put some of those prices from the 1950s into perspective.

Here are Your Options

Those with a general interest should just scroll down and enjoy the show.




Aragon Ballroom summary page


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




slide for Arbaugh's restaurant


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Clift Hotel Slide


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for the Copacabana

Here are some artifacts from the "Copa".

Matchbook and Ash Tray from the Copacabana
Matchbook and Ash Tray from the Copacabana
Click to Enlarge



INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for the Dearborn Inn


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Jack Dempsey's restaurant
xxx

Jack Dempsey was certainly not averse to publicity! Below, you'll find him willing to take on any "Boxing Robot." He is responding to an article in the January 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics which reports a boxing match (to the death, apparently) between two "short-wave controlled robots". In the April 1934 issue of the same magazine, Dempsey offered to take on any and all robot comers.


IN THIS CORNER, THE BOXING ROBOTS!

Modern Mechanix Jan 1931 cover   Modern Mechanix Article on Boxing Robots

IN THIS CORNER, THE MANASSA MAULER!

Modern Mechanix Apr 1934 cover   Jack Dempsey Takes on the Robots

A Critical Issue During the Depression...
From the January 1931 and April 1934 Issues of Modern Mechanix
Read the whole article
Click on Any Photo to Enlarge it



INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for Eddys Restaurant


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Empire State Building Slide


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




GUGGY'S COFFEE SHOP, Phoenix, Arizona



WE are indebted to our good friend "Acme Ron" Heberlee for sending us a scan of the menu from Guggy's Coffee Shop in the old Chris Town Mall. Apparently, there was a slightly more upscale branch located in the Scottsdale Fashion Mall. (Both malls have definitely seen better days, we are informed...)

Guggy's Exterior

Exterior of one of the Guggy's Coffee Shops
Click Photo to Enlarge It

The flagship restaurant of local chain Goog’s opened on 18th Street and Camelback Road in 1962. Goog’s and its sister chain, Guggy’s, were renowned for their Pink Champagne Cake (which lives on at Victorian Cake Company), but the restaurant on Camelback closed in 1990; it’s now an Arriba Mexican Grill

Guggys Menu - cover   Guggys Menu - interior   Guggys Menu - insertr

Click to Enlarge Photos




xxx


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




The Mayflower Donut Shops
Slide 1 for Mayflower Donut shops

Slide 2 for Mayflower Donut shops

Slide 3 for Mayflower Donut shops

Here are some links to expand on a few of these concepts:

Here are some Patent Diagrams from the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, and its east coast sister, the New York World's Fair. Note that the official emblem of the San Francisco fair uses images that are reminiscent of the Trylon and Persiphere of the New York Fair. Also, we show a design patent for a weathervane, one of the many gee-gaws from the time. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

Golden gate Exposition Logo design patent D110016   Trylon and Perisphere design patent D107425   Golden gate Exposition weathervane design patent D110257

Golden Gate Exposition Logo design patent D-110,016 Trylon and Perisphere, Design Patent D-107,425
Weathervane Design Patent D-110,257
Click to Enlarge
Click here if you want to learn how to get Free Patent Drawings



INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Newberry's
Phoenix, Arizona

Thanks to our friend "Acme Ron" from Phoenix, we are now able to take you to Newberry's, a general merchandise store akin to the 5 and 10 stores with a block long soda fountain. Before the days of fast food chains, you could find several of these on Main Street in every town in the US. Here is a photo of the Newberry Store. Eventually, the J.J. Newberry company was taken over by McCrory's (a 5&10 chain) The last Newberry store closed in 1997.

Newberry's - cover
Newberry's - inside
Click Photo to Enlarge It



Woolworth Five and Ten

The Five and Ten soda fountain was such an entrenched part of American life that the Modern Civil Rights movement got started at a Woolworth soda fountain, not a fancy black tie restaurant. This really was America, warts and all. Thanks to our friend Cheryl, we also have a menu from a Woolworth's store, probably from the mid-to-late 1960s. It was the principle, not the food that was in contention.

Woolworth menu
Click Photo to Enlarge It





Slide for the Pig n Whistle


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide 1 for the Pump Room
Slide 2 for the Pump Room

This ad ---from the October 17, 1955 issue of TIME Magazine --- shows that the turban-clad coffeee server (note the use of "boy" in the non-PC 1950s) had become a very recognizable icon of the Pump Room.

1955 Ad for the Pump Room
Click Photo to Enlarge It

I am looking for photos of the College Inn Porterhouse and especially the Indian Chief (another non-PC icon) serving coffee. By way of reference, the Hotel Sherman was one of Chicago's premier night spots attracting celebrities, tourists, and members of high society. It was during this period that the College Inn restaurant (later, the College Inn Porterhouse), with the help of band leader Isham Jones, became a notable jazz venue. Jones broke with the genteel tradition of violin-based hotel performance when he replaced many of his orchestra's waltz-oriented numbers with new, jazz-inspired tunes. Though the tunes played by Isham Jones and his all-white jazz orchestra were tame in comparison to those heard in the racially mixed cabarets of the South Side, they nonetheless gave many white Chicagoans their first taste of jazz. To be sure, the College Inn was an especially important fixture in Chicago's growing jazz scene. There, amid the refined surroundings of the Hotel Sherman, jazz sounds migrated from the city's African-American neighborhoods into the center of white society.



INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for Ritters Diner Pittsburgh


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for Sams Restaurant, SF


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for Simpsons, London


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for the Stork Club, New York

We also have a special treat -- we have obtained the typescript for Dorothy Kilgallen's Voice of Broadway column for September 9, 1945 in which she sings the praises of the Stork Club. You will find this in ".pdf" form in the dropdown menu below.



INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for the Tadich Grill, San Francisco


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for Toots Shor Restaurant


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Slide for the Waldorf-Astoria New York


INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Can't read the menus?

We have picked an 8 x 10 size, but some people cannot read the menus. SO, we also have placed them in ".pdf" files that you can enlarge to your heart's content. Each collection is pretty big and some browsers may block the download because the website does not respond in a reasonable amount of time. In that case, you'll have to affirm the download. We are not trying to pull any fast ones here. (Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.) There are Six Collections:

MENUS
 




Glossary of Menu French

Those unusual items that appear on menus -- especially in tourist traps -- can be mighty intimidating. Below, you will be able to download our Glossary of Menu Franch that will help you out of those embarassing moments. You need no longer be afraid of Potatoes Alumette or Pampelmousse. You'll also be able to download our authentic recipes for some of the dishes that were prepared "tableside" during the Swing Era. (We also refer to this as Culinary Gymnastics..). These are:

  • Caesar Salad
  • Bananas Foster
  • Cafe Diablo

Enjoy!

INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 




Inflation Adjustments

In this section, we offer a spreadsheet that will help you track inflation from 1913 to 2007. Of interest are the cases where we have menus from the same restaurant for multiple years. In this case, we track the price of the same item over the span of years. In general, menu prices track the Consumer Price Index: From 1946 to 1981, menu prices increased by a factor of 4.5 (i.e. 1981 price is about 1946 price multiplied by 4.5 -- or 450%) In the same period, the CPI increased by a factor of 4.8, so for this period, there was slightly less inflation in menu prices than in the rest of the economy. From 1966 to 1979, menu prices increased by 180% while the CPI increased by 210% -- once again, restaurant prices experienced less inflation than typical goods. From 1981 to 1996, restaurant prices increased by 210% while the CPI increased by 180% -- in this case, menu prices rose faster than general inflation. Among the individual food items, staples like bacon and eggs increased the least, while add-on items like coffee increased faster than average.

INSTRUCTIONS
Select a Menu page from the dropdown list below, then click the GO button. The items are XLS, PDF or JPG files; some are quite large, so please consider file size before downloading. Occasionally, files held on the server may be corrupted-- if you find that this is the case with your download, please contact me and I'll send you the correct file.

MENUS
 

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