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

Burlesque Dancer Sally Rand Took the Chicago World's Fair by Storm

Sally Rand danced at the Streets of Paris exhibit. Postcard printed by Curt Teich & Co, Chicago. Sally Rand was never supposed to perform her iconic “fan dance” at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. The dancer’s requests to perform inside the Streets of Paris exhibit had been turned down several times. But Rand decided to take matters into her own hands by riding into a pre-opening party on the fairgrounds, uninvited, on a white horse wearing nothing but a velvet cape. The crowd loved it. Rand was arrested but released the next day, when she promptly accepted an offer to perform as the headliner in the Café de la Paix’s floor show for $90 per week. While her dancing broke boundaries and city decency ordinances at the time, her legacy was born and Rand made her cultural mark on the world. According to The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair by Cheryl Ganz, 29-year-old Sally Rand had previously worked as an acrobatic circus performer and film stuntwoman. She had also alread...

Sleeping and Bathing in Douglas Park

Young Bathers in Douglas Park. Postcard published by Acmegraph Co. of Chicago. Trying to sleep on hot and humid summer nights in the 1920s and 1930s was unbearable at times for my grandfather and his eight siblings who resided in a tenement house in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood. While some nights the family would sleep on the floor to cool down, other nights they would head to Douglas Park to sleep under the stars.  This wasn’t an uncommon practice at the time, as many other people would gather in the park on hot nights. It also offered an opportunity to have a little fun and play games outdoors before going to sleep.  My grandfather would also talk about a bathhouse at the park. At the time, I really didn’t understand what a bathhouse was, nor was I interested in learning more about it. I did, however, recently find some beautiful postcards of a Roman-style bathing area in the park. The first postcard here shows the bath and people bathing in the water...

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 ...