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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.

Here are some artifacts from the "Copa".

Matchbook and Ash Tray from the Copacabana
Click to Enlarge

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INSTRUCTIONS
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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!

  

IN THIS CORNER, THE MANASSA MAULER!

  

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
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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.

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.

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.

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

• Golden Gate Exposition of 1939
• Leon Henderson
• New York World's Fair of 1939

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 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
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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.

Click Photo to Enlarge It

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.

Click Photo to Enlarge It

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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.

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
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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.