Tea Room Postcard #1 - The Colonial Tea Room (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)

As I was cooking out of my tea room cookbooks in 2013, I often found myself wondering what the tea rooms of yesteryear looked like. I began to search for old tea room postcards online, and I decided this bit of history would give a focus to my tea research and collecting for 2014! I view these old tea rooms as the "ancestors" of the tea rooms of today, and I thought it would be fun to see what, if anything, I could find out about some of them. First up: The Colonial Tea Room at 39 Falls St. in Niagara Falls, N.Y. First off, is that really pink vinyl seating I'm seeing? I believe so. And mercy, have you ever seen so many flowers outside a hospital room or a funeral parlor? It's also interesting to observe what appear to be booths at left and right. Wooden, dark upholstery ... not exactly what I would have chosen to go with the bubblegum pink seating, but it obviously worked for them. I also love that this postcard says "AIR CONDITIONED" up top.

Here's the back of the postcard, where I learned this was not only a tea room but also a "Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge." Now that's a multi-purpose building indeed! Since the postcard was postally unused, as collectors say, I had no clue about the date of this tea room, only a general impression of forties or fifties era decor. An online search for the street address did turn up an October 1933 newspaper, The Niagara Falls Gazette, which listed The Colonial Tea Room as one of the local businesses participating in Greater Niagara's New Deal days. So the tea room was in business at least by 1933, and it was great fun to learn a little about such a colorful place!