Tea Room Postcard #52 -- Oakland Tea House (Oakland, Calif.)

So we end the year of tea room postcards with a very different looking tea room, the Oakland, Calif. Tea House at Piedmont  Springs.

The date is unreadable, but the card was sent to Capt. H. N. Timmerman in Honolulu and reads, "Piedmont Springs. We are in the house in the middle of the maze. Jessie and I had to climb over to get in. We are going now. Are having a good time. It is almost time to eat. Adios. S.W. (?)" So was there a corn maze in Oakland way back when? I find this "tea house" most intriguing, and it reminds me of something from "Gilligan's Island." If nothing else, this year of researching tea rooms of yesteryear has taught me that tea rooms come in all shapes, forms and sizes. There were elegant tea rooms in hotels and department stores, tea rooms in repurposed buildings (a hardware store, a grist mill), and finally, a thatched-roof tea room like this one. I hope you've enjoyed these nostalgic trips to the tea rooms of the past. Lord willing, I'll be back next Saturday with an all-new Saturday series that's a very different sort of project. Hope to see you then!

Tea Room Postcard #51 -- Old Carriage House Tea Room (Natchez, Mississippi)

I thought it was probably too much to hope I could find a tea room postcard showing some Christmas decorations, but I think I've come close. Check out the colorful strand of Christmas lights hanging from the tree in front of the Old Carriage House Tea Room in Natchez, Mississippi. Does that count? I hope so!

This card was postally unused, but the price was right so I got it anyway. And I was glad I did, because I learned that, happily, this place is still in business. According to their website, "Long famous for its Southern cuisine, The Carriage House Restaurant has been the site of many memorable weddings, rehearsal dinners, receptions, and parties since 1946. In days past, folks clamored for the fried chicken and buttery silver dollar-sized biscuits. Fried chicken and biscuits are still favorites at The Carriage House, but thanks to Chef Bingo Starr, our menu is delightfully varied. The Carriage House offers a Blue Plate Special Wednesday through Friday. The specials themselves vary from month to month and include soup, salad, and sandwich specials, Southern comfort food, and fresh Gulf seafood." Now first, do you not LOVE the chef's name, Bingo Starr? But I also love knowing this former tea room is still serving customers. Go here if you want to see what it looks like today!

Tea Room Postcard #50 -- Maple Cabin Tea Room (St. Johnsbury, Vt.)

I've been to all kinds of tea rooms in all kinds of places, but I've never been to one that looks as if it were made of Lincoln logs! Still, I think this Maple Cabin Tea Room looks quite fitting for a town in Vermont in 1941.

At least I *think* that date says 1941. Do you agree? This card is interesting to me because it was apparently some sort of postcard exchange. It was addressed to Miss Theresa Zimmerman of Huron, Ohio, and reads, "Dear Theresa, Thanks for the swell card. Am willing to exchange postcards with you. You are the only one in Oho who I exchange cards with. Sincerely, Alvin W. Gold," and it includes his address in St. Johnsbury, Vt., site of the tea room pictured on the postcard. So, how did Theresa and Alvin become postcard-exchanging pen pals pre-Internet? (Perhaps there were ads in some national magazine.) And is it just me or do you think this handwriting looks like a female's? I'm wondering if Alvin's mother penned this postcard and sent it for him. I think a postcard exchange sounds like a fun idea, and I'm a little surprised I've never heard of one before now. Have you?

Tea Room Postcard #49 -- Strawbridge & Clothier (Philadelphia, Pa.)

It was while I was writing a book about department store tea rooms in 2011 that I first learned about the Strawbridge & Clothier department store in Philadelphia, Pa. I later acquired a teacup and a soup bowl from the old store, which was in business from 1868 to 2006 in the northeastern U.S., with headquarters in Philadelphia. That's the site of this vintage department store tea room postcard that I was happy to add to my collection.

The card is postally unused, but I liked it anyway because of not only the image of the tea room but also the old-timey telephone pictured on the back. When I was a little girl (which means the late sixties and early seventies), my mom was into the whole Early American decorating theme, and I remember having a wooden box telephone with a receiver that looked like the ones pictured here. In my lifetime I've seen a lot of changes in telephone equipment, including the switch from rotary phones to push-button phones (so exotic!), Princess phones, cordless phones, the first clunky "car phones," clamshell phones and now smartphones. I couldn't help chuckling the other day when I read a post on Facebook where some young mom was lamenting the misplacement of her cell phone and said, "Somebody ought to make one of these with a cord on it that you can hang on the wall." I think it was a joke, but I wouldn't bet on it!

Tea Room Postcard #48 - Pier Tea Room Restaurant (Asbury Park, N.J.)

This week's vintage tea room postcard is from the Boardwalk and New Casino in Asbury Park, N.J., but I was most intrigued by the sign visible at upper left: Pier Tea Room Restaurant

The card was mailed in July of 1938 from Ocean Grove, N.J. to a Miss Ettie Bunn of Warnerville, New York. The message is quite intriguing: "Dear Ettie and Mary, Thanks for your (printed?) letter, Ettie, it was much appreciated. You need not worry, Mary about my goodness. I have learned that I'm very small and weak, much more so than I ever realized. Surely I shall think of you folks as always. With love, Leta - Sorry about Mr. R." Now if that's not a mystery just waiting to be unraveled, I don't know what is!

Tea Room Postcard #47 - Donaldson's Glass Block Department Store Japanese Tea Room (Minneapolis, MN)

Donaldson's Glass Block Department Store in Minneapolis, Minnesota is a vintage department store I initially found interesting because of the name. The store was so named because of all the glass used in its design (there are lots of photos of the exterior in postcards on eBay if you're curious, as I was). But of course what I really enjoyed learning about was the store's Japanese Tea Room, which is shown here in this postcard mailed in 1908.

This card was mailed to Miss Mary Brown of what I believe is Mora, Minnesota. It was mailed from Osseo, Minnesota on Oct. 5, 1908 and reads, "Dear Aunt, I see you are still OK these days and playing (music?). How did you survive the cool spell? I guess there was a heavy fire in Foley the other day and the forest fires are all out now I hope. I guess I will have to draw this to a close. Your loving nephew Bill." It continues to amaze me that occasionally I am sitting here reading someone's correspondence from more than a hundred years ago. A hundred years from now, how will folks know what we were up to back in 2014? Will they go back and read our Twitter feeds, blogs, Facebook pages or e-mails? Somehow I doubt it, but I can't yet imagine what will take the place of the old handwritten letters and postcards. Can you?

Tea Room Postcard #46 - Waioli Tea Room (Honolulu, Hawaii)

When I spent a year cooking old tea room recipes in 2013, one of the tea room cookbooks I acquired for this project was from the Waioli Tea Room in Honolulu, Hawaii, a tea room owned and operated by the Salvation Army. When I saw this vintage postcard from that tea room, I naturally was interested. (Click here to see what "tropical" food I prepared from the tea room's cookbook.)

Although this postcard doesn't contain a message, it does contain some information that I found useful, that someone ate there on May 20 and ate a "Buffet Lunch." Now I don't have any official research for this, but my sense is that older postcards were purchased more for mailing and communication purposes, and more modern-era postcards (say, fifties on) were just as likely to be purchased as souvenirs. This is not the first time I've seen a postcard whose purchaser used it for journaling purposes, and I must say I rather like this idea. When you purchase postcards during your travels, do you send them or use them as keepsakes?

Tea Room Postcard #45 - Laurel Court Tea Room at the Fairmont Hotel (San Francisco, Calif.)

Isn't this a pretty scene from the Laurel Court Tea Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco? I've seen this postcard for sale online many times, but usually the card's back was blank so I was holding out for one with some sort of message.

And here's the message: "Well Hello Laura am having a good time and will be home soon With Love Lee." This was sent to Miss Laura Davidson of Forest Grove, Oregon on Aug. 3, 1913, and I am completely charmed by its simplicity and sweetness. I have to believe Lee was Laura's suitor, don't you? One thing concerns me, though, and it's that upside-down stamp in the upper right corner. I thought perhaps it was part of the "Language of Stamps" meaning "I love you" or something, but it turns out that the upside-down position in the upper right corner means "Write no more," whereas if it had been upside down in the upper left corner that would have meant "I love you." But I have never seen a postcard with a stamp in the upper left corner, have you? Here is one of the many articles available online that explains the secret language of stamps. I do hope poor Lee didn't get his wires crossed!

Oh, and you'll be happy to hear the Laurel Court is still serving tea at the Fairmont Hotel today, and you can click here to see it for yourself and here to read about their Afternoon Tea!

Tea Room Postcard #44 - Old Grist Mill Tearoom (Kennebunkport, Maine)

It's always fun to find a vintage postcard featuring a tea room that has an unusual exterior, and this one definitely is not the typical tea room.

The back of the postcard, as you can see, tells me nothing, so I almost passed on this postcard, but I did love the fact it showed a tea room in an old grist mill. Was there anything I could learn about the place? Indeed yes! A little online searching led me to the website of The Captain Lord Mansion, an inn and spa in Kennebunkport, where the innkeeper, Rick Litchfield, recalled the old tea room. He said the restaurant opened in the forties and was owned by two generations of the Lombard Family, and it was an actual working grist mill that had been converted to a restaurant. "As you entered the restaurant, you could see the old grinding wheel and other machinery," he writes. "The dining room was bright and cheery and overlooked the river, providing a great view during the summer and fall. Of course, the restaurant was closed during the winter and early spring; there was no insulation or heat!" As I suspected, the tea room is no longer open, but it's apparently because it burned down in 1994 "under suspicious circumstances." Wow! Click here to read more about the Old Grist Mill Tearoom and see a more modern photo of it.

Tea Room Postcard #43 -- The William Cullen Bryant Tea Room (Great Barrington, Mass.)

Now here's a name that is no doubt a familiar one to many of you. William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a poet, journalist, and at one time the editor of the New York Evening Post. He moved in some fine circles, as he was an early supporter of Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York Medical College, and he also had ties to the Hudson River School of art.

The back of the postcard didn't tell me very much except for noting the address of the Maynard Workshop in Waban, Mass., which also happens to be the photographer for the postcard. The name "John B. Maynard" appears along with the notation "10 o'clock 11/18/37." So naturally I went online to do a search for "William Cullen Bryant Tea Room," and that led me to Google Books where I found an excerpt from the 1937 book "Massachusetts: a Guide to the Bay State." It says this: "The William Cullen Bryant House, now a summer tearoom, is in the garden behind the Berkshire Inn. The house (1739) is a two-and-a-half-story dwelling with a two-leaf door of the early Connecticut Valley type and with two interior chimneys. The interior is handsomely paneled, particularly the 'marriage room.' Here Bryant was married at the time he was practicing law and serving as town clerk (1815-25) of Great Barrington." It was fun to learn about one of the country's early literary lights, and I'm happy to know a little about the tea room that bore his name.

Tea Room Postcard #42 -- The Menger, San Antonio, Texas

This week's tea room postcard features an establishment that is actually still in business, the Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. The caption on the postcard refers to the hotel's "tea rooms," plural, and I think they are quite lovely. I like their upholstered furniture, the wicker basket of roses on the bamboo table, and the pretty garlands over the archways. This would have been my kind of tea room back in the day!

The back of the card was postally unused, so I turned to the Internet to tell me a little more about this place. It turns out the hotel was built in 1858 by a German immigrant, and by the 1870s it was one of the best-known hotels in the southwest. Notable guests have included Robert E. Lee, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde, Lillie Langtry, Cornelius Vanderbilt and William McKinley. Their website doesn't mention any tea service today, alas, but it does say that their Colonial Room Restaurant's "famous mango ice cream" was served at both of President Bill Clinton's inaugurations. If I'm ever in San Antonio, I think I might just enjoy a stay at the Menger Hotel!

Tea Room Postcard #41 - Carson Pirie Scott & Co. Tea Room (Chicago, Ill.)

I don't often come across a tea room postcard with text written on the front, but that's the case with this one written on December 28, 1906. It shows the eighth floor restaurant at Carson Pirie Scott & Co. in Chicago, and what an elegant place it was! The card reads, "Dear Meta, Do you see me at one of these tables lunching? I hope you had a fine Xmas. With regards, Dr. Patrick." I don't know about you, but I've never had a doctor send me a postcard! Perhaps Dr. Patrick was Meta's neighbor, friend or suitor. (But a suitor wouldn't have signed it "Dr. Patrick," would he?)

The back of the card shows it was sent to Miss Meta Pillsbury at 515 E. Wash. St. (Washington Street?), in Macomb, Illinois. Do you suppose she was related to the famous Pillsbury family we know today? This was a fun postcard with more questions than answers!

Tea Room Postcard #40 -- The Russian Tea Room (New York, N.Y.)

The Russian Tea Room is perhaps one of the most legendary tea rooms in the country, so I was quite intrigued when I came across a vintage postcard showing this tea room as it looked in years past!

"Next Door to Carnegie Hall," the postcard proudly notes, and it is said to offer "Exquisite RUSSIAN and FRENCH CUISINE. Lunch - Afternoon Tea - Dinner - After-Theatre Supper - Vodka - Cocktails - Wines - Liquors." I love the look of this postcard, the typography of this postcard — and if only someone had actually *mailed* this postcard! Even so, I decided I needed a Russian Tea Room postcard in my collection. I know my friend Linda has visited this tea room. Have any of you?

Tea Room Postcard #39 -- Emery, Bird, Thayer Co. Tea Room (Kansas City, Mo.)

When I started researching old department store tea rooms several years ago, my goal was to obtain a vintage postcard and a recipe from each one. Most of the stores seem to have shared at least a recipe or two, but I have yet to find one I can trace with any certainty to Emery, Bird, Thayer Co. in Kansas City, Missouri. Still, I was happy to find this lovely old department store tea room's postcard, which was written on Jan. 24, 1907: "Dear Grace, Your Letter also, the nice photo rec’d. Many thanks and I shall soon answer. Hope you are well and happy. Love to all. Your Aunt Marie." I also liked the information printed below the photo: "Showing a Portion of the Tea Room, the Scene of Many a Wedding Breakfast, Luncheon Party, Afternoon Tea and Reception.---Third Floor."

And here's the back of the card showing it was mailed to Miss Grace Guthrie in Lehigh, Iowa. While the Emery, Bird, Thayer Co. is no more, a piece of it lives on thanks to the EBT Restaurant operating in Kansas City today. According to their website, "EBT Restaurant was opened to honor that department store, which has ties to Kansas City history dating back to the late 1800′s. The stained glass, much of the masonry, wrought iron archways and most notably, the two brass elevator cages were all salvaged when the EBT Department Store was demolished in 1971. As many of our guests are aware, you can reserve a table in one of the two elevator cages, thus feeling somewhat transported to another time and place! Each ‘Elevator’ can accommodate up to 4 guests." Now wouldn't that be fun? You can see a picture of one of these elevator cage dining areas here on this fun-to-read "dining summary" about one woman's experience at EBT Restaurant.

Tea Room Postcard #38 -- Sweetheart Tea Room (Shelburne Falls, MA)

Lately I've had a bit of a challenge finding *mailed* postcards with messages I wanted to share. Bladder problems? Kidney ailments? Two tea room postcard senders had all the details out there for all the world to see! Now I've thought for years that there's a lot of "oversharing" going on with Facebook, but the vintage postcards I've seen lately have reminded me that whining and complaining is nothing new. I read somewhere recently, though, that people who post negative messages on Facebook reinforce those negative emotions, and people who post positive messages multiply their happiness. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which is the better method, does it? For that reason, I decided not to buy the quaint postcards whose senders were discussing physical ailments and chose this one instead, an RPPC ("Real Photo Post Card") sent from the Sweetheart Tea Room in Shelburne Falls, Mass. in 1918. Do you suppose this was the entrance to the tea room? Is that a little money box, perhaps, sitting on the table with the vase holding a flower?

The anonymous sender writes to Miss Helen P. Lane of Medford, Mass., "Do you remember this Rose Arbor Tea Room at the end of Board Walk? Received your letter today. Thank you for kind words. Sorry not to see you before you leave for New Bedford. Glad you obtained a desirable position." That "desirable position" makes me think Helen got a teaching job. What do you think?

Tea Room Postcard #37 -- Oribe Tea Room (Jaffrey, N.H.)

Sometimes I find a vintage tea room postcard online and purchase it not knowing what the message on the back says. In such cases, it's always interesting when the card arrives so I can see what story it tells. That was certainly the case with this card mailed to Miss Grace Norris in Massachusetts in 1910.

“A sad thing happened here this morning early. The P.O. and store burned entirely down. Mrs. S. & I walked down to see the debris, and there (?) our joy this new Tea House. It is very attractively furnished & they also offer beautiful little (fusion?) of handicraft. Come up & see it for yourself. If you can come on the seventeenth do - There is lots of room for you. Lovingly, Grace." I was so sorry to hear the local post office and store burned down, but at least there was a nice new tea house in town!

Tea Room Postcard #36 -- Studio Tea Room (Camden, S.C.)

I love the pretty, almost watercolor looking image on this week's tea room postcard, which features the Studio Tea Room in Camden, S.C. This card was mailed in 1924, and indeed this quaint tea room doesn't at all look like one we'd see here 90 years later, does it?

This card was mailed to a Mrs. Ralph Bristol of Montclair, New Jersey, and it reads, "Love it here, although I can't say I agree with Ralph, I don't think it compares with Bermuda. Play golf in the morning and drive in the afternoons - Weather yesterday a little chill - Today perfect -- Love to you, Elizabeth Child (?). " Odd things strike me about all of these cards, it seems, and on this one I'm wondering if two female friends both had a husband named Ralph. What do you think?

Tea Room Postcard #35 -- Japanese Tea Room, Congress Hotel (Chicago, Illinois)

It's not often I come across vintage postcards for old hotel tea rooms, so I was especially pleased to find this week's tea room postcard from the Japanese Tea Room of the Congress Hotel and Annex in Chicago.

Happily, this hotel is still in business today, long after someone sent this postcard to Scott Graham of West Buxton, Maine in 1909! According to the hotel's website, the Congress Plaza Hotel was originally constructed in 1893 and "featured cobbled streets, gaslights, and horse drawn carriages. The hotel was originally called the Auditorium Annex when it opened to house the throngs of visitors to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The original conception was an annex with a facade designed to complement Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building across the street, at the time housing a remarkable hotel, theater and office complex." They don't mention serving afternoon tea today, but perhaps the hotel should consider a few special teatimes honoring its tea room of yesteryear!

Tea Room Postcard #34 -- Ella Cinders Tea Room (Ashland, Virginia)

For this week's featured tea room postcard, I found another of those vintage linen postcards I so enjoy, this one from Ella Cinders Tea Room in Ashland, Va. near Richmond. I just love the look of this place, from the pretty trellis and flowers at left to the white picket fence and the red and white striped awnings out front. Kind of has an ice cream parlor look to it, doesn't it?

This card was sent to Mrs. O.S. Moore of Greenville, Texas in September 1947 and reads, "We are having a Virginia 'Ham' dinner here to night, on our way to Williamsburg - I've seen so much, I'm confused with it all. Bess." Perhaps because I write and edit for a living, I always seem to be critiquing someone's writing, and with this postcard, I wondered why Bess put "ham" in quotes. Also, how did seeing so much on her trip confuse her? Sometimes I'm overwhelmed or tired by all I've seen on a trip, but I'm rarely confused by it. (If my husband reads this, he will tell me, as he so often does, "You need to take off your editor's hat.") Also on the back of this card, it reads, "Recommended by AAA for past nineteen years. Delicious balanced meals served in an atmosphere of quiet refinement. Ultra modern Guest rooms, Private baths." Definitely sounds like an interesting tea room and one I would have enjoyed visiting!

Tea Room Postcard #33 - Big Tree Inn Tea Room (Geneseo, N.Y.)

Don't you just love seeing those old cars parked in front of the Big Tree Inn in Geneseo, N.Y.? When I first found this circa 1957 postcard online, I wasn't sure whether or not I believed there was a tea room here, but then upon closer inspection I could see that at the far left the sign reads "Tea Room." There's actually a word above the "Tea Room" sign, but I can't read it.

The back of the card tells us that the inn was "Built in 1833, A Famous Old Landmark of the Genesee Valley." Unlike many of my old tea room postcards, which appear to have been mailed as souvenirs from a trip, this one seems more like a diary entry: "Ate dinner here to night - Thursday Aug 19 - 1957 6.30 PM 'Thursday night' Lima N.Y. (Sheenan? Is that what it says?)" In pencil in the lower right corner, it reads, "Friday 12 noon ate Lunch in Itiata, N.Y." Do you think the person meant "Ithaca," N.Y. instead? For some reason, I am thinking that perhaps a man made these notes while he stayed at the inn and ate at the tea room while he was away from home on business. Do you agree? Or do you have a theory of your own?