Skip to main content

Where Shall We Eat?

J.H. Ireland Oyster House at 632-8 Clark Street.
Published by American Colortype of Chicago & New York.


Patrons visiting J.H. Ireland Oyster House might eat in the marine dining room, the banquet room or the lobster grotto room, which like the vintage postcard of the restaurant shows a painting of a giant red lobster on the ceiling.

A description on the back of the Ireland postcard raves that the restaurant is the largest exclusive seafood restaurant in the United States. Now that’s an astonishing feat to consider when the closest ocean to Chicago is almost a thousand miles away.

But it was pretty common for postcards that promote restaurants at the time to declare they were the best. Postcard collectors often find humor in this. They also enjoy the images of the sleek old-fashioned restaurants. Some postcards also show images of people at the restaurants with interesting expressions and wearing clothing from the time.

The Palmer House Empire Room restaurant.
Published by Genuine Curteich of Chicago.

At the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, there were 600 restaurants in the city, with new ones opening up every day, according to the book Chicago by Day and Night: The Pleasure Seeker’s Guide to the Paris of America. The book indicates that there were restaurants of all grades back then, including a place where you could get a meal for 10 cents or have a full dining experience for a dollar. Some of the best restaurants in the city were located inside hotels, like the Empire Room restaurant in the Palmer House Hotel. The remainder of the restaurants were scattered around the city.

It wasn’t uncommon for restaurants at the time to provide dancing, musical performances and other types of shows. There were also at least three restaurants in 1893 that provided its customers private dining rooms. The rooms were converted from small apartments to eating areas.

By far the most popular dishes at the time were meat-based meals. Many postcards describe serving chops, steaks, seafood and even wild game like deer venison. Math Igler’s Casino restaurant on Melrose St. served German cuisine. The restaurant was also the home to singing waiters, and an image on the postcard shows them dressed in German entire.

The last postcard displayed on this blog is the New Forum Cafeteria at 60 W. Madison St. According to the description on the back of the postcard, the New Forum is “one of the most beautiful cafeterias in America.” The descriptions adds, “Dine in an atmosphere of salon luxury at reasonable prices.” The only other thing I wonder is if this cafeteria served tater tots.



Math Igler's Casino restaurant on Melrose St.
Published by Genuine Curteich of Chicago.


New Forum Cafeteria, 64 W. Madison St.
Published by Genuine Curteich of Chicago


Comments

  1. If you win one of the progressive jackpots you will be be} paid in a single payment irrespective of how huge the jackpot is. All of the pokies at Spin Casino have extensive betting choices which suggests you can be half in} for as little as 로스트아크 a number of} cents per spin. If you want excessive restrict video games then Spin Casino additionally be|can be} a fantastic alternative as they've variety of the} highest betting limits you'll find at a Microgaming on line casino.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marshall Field's at Christmas

  The aisle on the first floor of the State Street store is 358 feet long. Postcard publisher is unknown.  Many Chicagoans continue to miss visiting Marshall Field’s during the holiday season. Just talking about the famed Christmas windows and holiday decorations brings about memories of the department store’s glory days. Many of us can recall the strong smell of perfume that would greet visitors upon entering the flagship State Street store, along with the huge white Romanesque columns decorated with Christmas fare on the first floor. The real fun, however, was taking the elevator to the 7 th floor to get a glimpse of the giant Christmas tree inside the Walnut Room restaurant. The best place to view the tree was one floor up on a balcony area. Christmas decorations on the first floor. Postcard publisher is unknown.  Frango mint chocolates were piled high in various areas throughout the store, and many visitors couldn’t resist buying a box. Frango chocolates were once made in a kitc

Postcard Spotlight: Marina City in 3-D

A 3-D image of the Marina City towers on State Street and the Chicago River at night. The back of the postcard indicates that the towers are 60 stories tall and boast 896 apartments. The buildings also have 20 floors of auto parking and a 600-boat parking area. At the time of the printing of this postcard in the 1960s, Marina City also had a movie theater, shops, restaurants, a swimming pool, a skating rink, and a 3-acre park. The total cost of construction was $36 million.  Postcard published by Aero Distributing Co., Inc., of Chicago. Photo by Bill Engdahl with Hedrich Blessing Photographers.  The postcard is a Curteichcolor 3-D natural color reproduction.

Chicago's Christmas Characters

Marshall Field & Company's State Street store decorated for the Christmas Holiday. Postcard publisher is unknown.           The Christmas characters known as the Cinnamon Bear, Uncle Mistletoe, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer can all be traced back to Chicago department stores.  The Cinnamon Bear radio program first aired in the weeks leading up to Christmas in 1937. The program was produced in Hollywood and aired around the country but was sponsored by Wieboldt’s department store in Chicago and the Oregon-based department store Lipman-Wolfe and Co. Wieboldt’s sold stuffed Cinnamon Bear toys for $2.98 a piece and gave out Cinnamon Bear buttons to children who visited the store to see Santa Claus.                Cinnamon Bear’s official name was Paddy O’Cinnamon, and he spoke with an Irish brogue. The show consisted of 26 15-minutes episodes and told the story of how the bear helps lead a pair of twins to Maybe Land to search for a silver star. Cinnamon Bear also had a shor