1946 Silk City Diner For Sale

If you are interested in a career change, Hemmings may have a deal for you.  An upcoming Sotheby's auction on June 23-24 will offer this 1946 Silk City Diner at no reserve, complete with all the appliances, fixtures and furniture necessary for you to hang out your own "Eat at Joe's" sign.  You will have to move it yourself, and Sotheby's estimates the sale price will be between $200,000 and $300,000. 

The Unofficial Start Of Summer Break

I don't know if I'll be manning a grill at a picnic like these folks in Georgia from 1939 (from the Library of Congress Farm Security Administration collection), but I will be taking an extended Memorial Day break next week.  I'll be back in June. 

Rationed Canned Goods

Sarah Sundin posted another item in her "Make It Do" series of life on the home front in World War II.  Processed food was rationed during WWII not only because the military needed the food, it needed the tin in which the food was stored.  As a result, canning was an important way for households to preserve food they had grown in their Victory Gardens, and thus save tin and ration points.  I've always wondered why it is called "canning," when I have never seen cans used.  Home preserved food is kept in jars.  Perhaps it sounded weird to say that one was "jarring." 

Mel's Drive-In

Retro Planet's Planet Retro Blog posted this article about Mel's Drive-In, the first drive-in restaurant in San Francisco, which opened in 1947.  This photo shows the second location opened in SF, but the franchise eventually covered Northern California.  In the early 1970's, the diner became famous as the set for American Graffiti.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We here at the SSS wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving!  I'll be taking my annual leave for a week or so, but I'll be back in December. 

Drive In Deco

A nighttime photo of Simon's drive-in, Los Angeles, California, circa 1940, courtesy of Vintage Everyday.  This is some serious style. 

World War II Homefront Muffins

I have a milk bottle from World War II with the slogan "Food Fights Too!  Use It Wisely!" emblazoned on it.  During the war, rationing permeated practically every facet of daily life, including food.  Once a person ran out of their allotted ration book stamps, they could not obtain any more of that commodity (milk, sugar, flour, etc.) until they received their next monthly ration book.  This circumstance led to creativity on the home front, with meal plans and recipes designed to make the most out of available ingredients, and avoid waste.  The National World War II Museum posted this recipe for corn-meal muffins from a wartime cook book.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We here at the SSS wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving, and a very safe holiday season.  This November 1942 image from the Library of Congress shows a family in Silver Spring, Maryland beginning their holiday feast. 

With the start of the holidays, I will be reducing SSS operations for a week or so.  Full posting will resume on Monday, December 7.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Bacon Grease For Freedom

Back in World War II, conserving resources and recycling was a big deal.  Rubber, paper and metal were all in high demand for recycling into products for the war effort.  The National World War II Museum posted this item about another highly sought after household product at the time:  bacon grease.  Fat from meats was recycled into explosives, so people saved their waste fat, put it in a can, and sent to make munitions. 

Majestic Grille Sunday Supper & A Movie Holiday Series

Now that the holiday season is essentially upon us, here is a reminder about The Majestic Grille's annual holiday "Sunday Supper & A Movie" series.  You can enjoy a dinner and your favorite holiday classic films starting on November 29 with Miracle On 34th Street.  On December 6, Holiday Inn will be the featured film, and the series will wind up with It's A Wonderful Life on December 20.  Seating starts at 6:00 p.m., with the films starting at 6:30 p.m.  Reservations required.

Honor System Restaurant

Prior to reading this posting on Ask Vance, I did not realize that Toddle House had a Memphis connection.  Although the chain began in Houston, it moved to Memphis, where Fred Smith (father of FedEx founder Fred Smith) grew the business to national proportions in the 1940's.  One of the unique things about the Toddle House restaurants is that they worked on the honor system.  The waiter/waitress gave you a receipt, and you dropped your money into a steel and glass box like the one pictured above. 

Dorothy Lamour And V-8

I just thought this was a fun little ad from the late 1940's, posted on Vintage Ads.  Movie star Dorothy Lamour flashes the "V for Victory," or in this case, "V for V-8 sign;" while the ad promotes the health benefits of the beverage and mentions Ms. Lamour's latest picture.   

Multipurpose Breakfaster

This post on the Retro Planet blog features the latest in late 1930's cooking technology, the Calkins Breakfaster Model T2.  It could toast bread in its inner compartment while also heating oatmeal or cooking an egg on its top hot plate.  It apparently never caught on, one possible reason being it had no power switch, so the only way to turn it off was to unplug it.

Teddy, The Firestone Champion Steer

Ask Vance posted this item from the old Memphis Press-Scimitar about Teddy, the 1944 Firestone Grand Champion Steer.  I was particularly interested in the van, and what a tire company wanted with champion bulls, so I did a little research.  It appears Firestone had a history of buying champion steers going back to 1938. The company would send them on tours to agricultural colleges around the country to show what a champion steer should look like, and what America's 4-H youth could produce. The fact that Firestone produced tractor tires might explain the connection, especially since both food and rubber were strictly rationed during WWII, and tractor tires might have been considered a vital civilian use, so farmers might have been one of the few non-governmental markets left to tire companies. Even if that was not the case, many manufacturers kept advertising throughout the war to keep their name in front of the public, even if the public could not buy the rationed product easily. Unfortunately, I have found little information about the van, other than it (or similar vehicles) transported other champion steers. 

Preserved 1940's Diner In Berwick, PA

If you are in the mood for a little time traveling in Berwick, Pennsylvania, Retro Roadmap suggests you stop by The White Horse grill, a 1940 diner still sporting all of its original charm and furnishings, including original 1940's table-top juke boxes.

Victory Gardens

The National World War II Museum posted this article about Victory Gardens on the first day of Spring.  I'm a bit late in reposting, but maybe you can still get something in the ground for your Victory Garden, and this post has some tips.  I knew civilians planted Victory Gardens during the war, but I did not know the impact they had.  See below:

These provided over a third of the vegetables consumed in the United States! By 1943, 18 million victory gardens were flourishing – 12 million in cities and 6 million on farms. Wherever there was space (roofs, window boxes, backyards), a garden became a great way to save money and put food on the table.

What's On The Menu?

I've been meaning to post this site for some time.  The New York Public Library has collected and scanned hundreds of menus dating from the 1850s to the 2000s.  The collection includes menus from restaurants, cafes, hotels, events, and the transportation industry.  This 1939 menu is from the Southern Pacific Railroad, so you can see how passengers on its trains dined, as well as what they paid.  There is a lot of interesting history in this collection, not only in the food, but also in the artwork. 

Eat At A Vintage Diner With 1938 Prices!

Here is an interesting item posted on Retro Roadmap.  On Saturday, April 11, the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles (in Boyertown, MA) will host its fourth annual Diner Day, during which you can buy homemade pie and coffee in its vintage diner at 1938 prices; and explore the museums collection of classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, wagons, etc. 

This Week In History

The anniversaries of some notable historic events during the Swing Era occur this week, and the Planet Retro blog listed a few in its This Week In History post. 

World News & the American Experience:
1937 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on the date of January 20th, per the 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

1943 – A ban stops U.S. bakers from selling sliced bread. Until the end of World War II, only whole loaves were sold. This was to reduce demand for metal parts.

Movies & TV:
1948 – The Original Amateur Hour debuts on the DuMont network, hosted by Ted Mack.

Music & Radio:
1930 – The Lone Ranger is broadcast for the first time on WXYZ-Detroit.

1944 – The first jazz concert is held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, starring Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.

1946 – The Fat Man debuts on ABC radio, starring J. Scott Smart.

Happy Thanksgiving! And A Holiday Break

We here at the SSS wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving, and a very safe holiday season.  This November 1942 image from the Library of Congress shows a family in Neffsville, Pennsylvania beginning their holiday feast. 

With the start of the holidays, I will be reducing SSS operations for a week or so.  Full posting will resume on Monday, December 8.  Happy Thanksgiving!