Click and type in a question or commentMorrison Community Hospital Foundation has a yearly fundraiser called "the Big Squeeze" to raise funds for Women's help. The money stays local. Last year we had a "High Tea" and sold out almost immediately with 90 participants at once. We had two ladies from Peoria IL area that came and gave a very nice presentation. Our problem is that they are not available again this year and we are in need of a "tea" presenter for Oct 1. Does anybody know of a person or group that would be good for our High Tea Fundraiser that is in IL? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Responses for the tea presenters may be sent to wkschmidt@mchsi.com thank you!
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Would love to have the recipe for the Terrace Tea Room "Chicken Salad." It was the best. msh3@cox.net
Now that two people have asked for this recipe, I want it too! If anyone has it, please post it on this page so everyone can have it. Thanks!
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I am searching for a couple of recipes from the Terrace Tea Room that was located in the William H. Block Co. department store in downtown Indianapolis. They had "the best" chicken salad served with a warm cinnamon bun. I would like to find the recipes for both items, and I would appreciate any help you or any of your readers may be able to provide. Thank you. rfarr@HTONLINE.NET
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I love anything to do with tea, i.e. vintage tea rooms, vintage advertising tea tins, tea ephemera, tea pots, etc., etc. Wish someone would open an authentic "vintage" tea shop in Moline IL. I know of one in Davenport IA and have never been there. I've ordered Jan's book and can't wait to receive it. I'm just short of being old enough to have visited one in the 1940's. A number of years ago I had tea at the Ritz in London and also at Brown's, a small hotel in London. If I had the money and ability to take a tea shop tour in England, it would be a dream. I "hunger" for old tea shops. DO YOU HAVE AN OLDER WEBSITE. I TRIED TO E-MAIL YOU AND IT DIDN'T GO THROUGH. --
Hi, Thanks for your message. Yes, I do have an older website out there that just won't disappear for some odd reason even though I haven't had that email account for years. If you click on the last item in the right hand column on this site you will reach me. -- JW
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This is such an awesome website. A treasure trove of information on an interesting topic! I certainly do remember department store tearooms. I can remember being 6 or 7 and going with my mother back in the late 60s when ladies STILL didn't wear pants downtown..at least not in Cleveland, they didn't! I even remember doing fashion show 'tea room' modeling as a teen in the '70s and as a young woman in San Diego in the early 1980s. One of the cool things? How my mom would order us girls a "shirley temple" while she had a champagne cocktail! I did the same in the 90s when I took my then-teenaged daughter up to Portland, Oregon to the old Georgian Room at the now defunct dept. store Meier & Frank. To me mall food courts just don't compare.
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Jan, I have a copy of your tearoom book, and have learned a great deal from it. We have named our Victorian tearoom The Blue Parrot, after the Blue Parrot Tea House that was in Missoula, MT, 27 miles from us in Stevensville, from 1923 - 1925. We have a picture of the interior on our web site, www.BlueParrotTeaHouse.webs.com. I will encourage the family who now lives there to add her comments on this site. It has been in that family since 1940, I believe. We offer many Victorian related tea events. Please check out our web site above and web store within. Our contact email is Victorian7Rose@aol.com. Kindly, Joyce
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In researching my family genealogy, I discovered my Uncle and his wife owned the Palm Garden Tearoom on the lower east side in New York City round 1920. How "important" were Tea Rooms in the social fabric of communities at the turn of the century? Also, in searching the Internet for the Palm Gardens Tea Room, I came upon many contemporary Tea Rooms with the same name. Can you explain the popularity of Tearoom names including the words, "Palm" and "Garden?" By the way, I just ordered a copy of your book. Thanks in advance. Dave Rafky Miami, FL --
Hi Dave -- The whole idea of palm gardens had associations of elite society, the kind of associations that tea rooms loved to claim, rightfully or not. I believe hotels were the first to create palm garden tea rooms. The custom of afternoon tea started among women of leisure in the 19th century. The public tea room "democratized" this privilege, but part of the allure of many tea rooms remained their genteel and refined atmosphere. The peak of the palm garden theme was before WWI. By the 1920s many tea rooms had become more playful in their themes and decor. Your aunt and uncle may have been on the verge of redecorating their tea room in 1920. -- JW
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I love your book, Jan, and would just like to put in a fond word for my happy memories of The Green Parrot in Fort Bragg, California. It was as colourful as a flock of parrots, but, alas, i cannot recall the name of the wonderful woman who used to run it. It's all gone now -- but i'd give a hundred bucks to travel back in time and see it once again. --
Thank you! I just did a little search for your Green Parrot, but came up empty handed, darn! -- JW
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Anyone have any info on "The Little Green Light Tearoom" that was in Marshfield, Ma? I am putting together some fun family history, my grandma was the niece of the owner, and subsequently my grandma raised her entire family in that teahouse until her death in 2001. Rumor has it that before it was a teahouse, it was something else far more interesting. any help would be appreciated. mmick8@yahoo.com
I looked through my tea room notes and old postcards and I found three tea rooms in Marshfield, but none of them The Little Green Light. They are: the Winslow House Tea Room, run by the Historic Winslow House Assn; the Willow Tea House; and the Gretchen McMullen Tea House. I'll keep looking. The Marshfield Historical Society might be a place to look. -- JW
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Does anyone have any information on a place in Minneapolis called Miss Unger's Tea Room? My grandmother worked there in the 1930's for about one year. I believe it was on or near the U of M campus.
Just a wild guess but there was a sculptor named Edith Unger who ran a tea room in Greenwich Village in the WWI era. It was called the Mad Hatter and was a popular gathering spot. She sold out after encountering hostility from neighbors who thought tea rooms such as hers were corrupting their sons and daughters. Combining the facts that so many of the Villagers were from the Midwest, and that Unger is not a common name, it's just possible she moved back to MN and ran a tea room there. You might check old University publications to see if there are any ads. -- JW
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Hi there. I am with the GFWC Hollywood Women's Club in Hollywood,FL. We are holding a Vintage old Florida Tea Party, just as the ladies who started our club in 1922 would have done it. The will be fund raiser to restore our old clubhouse. I am responsible for the table set-up/decorating and finding the appropriate props,dishes and linens etc.. used in Florida at that time. Can anyone direct me to what was used and where I can obtain the items needed to pull this off without breaking the bank? Nanette S. nanettesw@comcast.net
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What a wonderful website! The tea rooms featured on this web site have been the inspiration for my tea room. My tea room, Camellia Rose, is located in Plant City, Florida in the downtown historic district. We completely renovated the historic building. The building was originally the Bank of Plant City and built in 1919. This building holds many memories for the native Plant City residents. After the bank closed, many other businesses occupied the building. One of which was White's Central Pharmacy, which had a soda fountain. Many of our guests have memories of drinking their Cherry Smash at that fountain. I want our guests to feel like they are stepping back in time to the era of the bank building. Our decor is a reflection of that period. My servers dress in period attire. Our menu features the homemade soups, garden fresh salads, sandwiches, desserts, and of course the traditional afternoon tea. Our guests have described my tea room in many wonderful words. One of my favorite descriptions is from a lady battling cancer, we are her "Haven of Rest". We celebrate Friendship, Fine Teas, and the traditional English Tea time with a southern flair! Please visit us sometime. Camellia Rose Tea Room & Gifts 120 N. Collins Street Plant City, Florida 33563 813.659.TCUP(8287) Or visit us on the web at www.CamelliaRose.com Sincerely, Ellen & Staff
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HI. I REMEMBER THE FAMOUS SKYLINE RESTAURANT OVERLOOKING THE ILLINOIS RIVER ON THE 7TH FLOOR OF THE BLOCK & KUHL DEPARTMENT STORE HEADQUARTERED IN PEORIA ILLINOIS. BLOCK & KUHL WAS THE LARGEST DEPARTMENT STORE CHAIN (21 STORES)IN ILLINOIS OUTSIDE OF CHICAGO.
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Oh these places are heavenly, the old tearooms. I can't express how miserable I would be when I'd go to places that called themselves "tearooms" only to find horribly prissy, fussy furniture and ornaments of the "teddy bear in a scratchy synthetic lace dress" type. Ugh! How twee! I was looking for the fun tearooms of Nancy Drew fame. The places where the wild girls of 1902 hung out while comparing the height of their pompadours and chewing sen-sen. Real tearooms. If I had one of my own I think I'd decorate it with old Ouija boards, and Edwardian Halloween---from the days when it was spelled Hallowe'en---decorations and have the servers wear smocks of various colors. There'd be fortune telling cups for tea and coffee and fun pastries (good ones---not that run of the mill stuff every bookstore coffee shop carries) and meat pasties, and croque monsieur, and roast tom turkey and all the trimmings! Ooooh, and we could have seance nights, and host ghost hunter lectures, and all the music would be from the early 20th century.
A big hooray to someone who really "gets" what the tea rooms from the teens and 1920s were all about! -- JW
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I opened my Tearoom - Tea At 1024 in Hawaii in 1999 as an addition to my clothing boutique. The place exploded with excitment. It is now my primary source of business. The journey in establising my tearoom has been great. I have the best customers and their loyalty in sharing my dream place with the friends and family is great. Visit our website is www.teaat1024.net
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Until I read your book (Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn), I didn't realize the former restaurant I most miss in the town where I live was a kind of tea room. It was run by two women, one of whom trained many of the good bakers still working around here. You can still get good coffee and baked goods, since it's a college town, but the new places lack what the tea room had: salads that add up to an elegant, light, main course. There's also just something rare these days about a simple chicken salad, tuna salad stuffed in a fresh tomato on a bed of lettuce, or a great, nutty Waldorf salad. Plus, this place had a restful atmosphere, access to outdoor dining, a beautiful view instead of a busy street -- all of which is missing in the coffee shops that replaced it. -- MBB
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I love the old 1920s multi-color look, so I would buy old tables and chairs and paint them all different colors. I would decorate the walls with the hooked rugs I've made (that are currently stuffed into a closet). I would feature delicious little sandwiches and salads, but would never use lettuce out of a bag. Everything would be homemade. I would try to attract all kinds of people, men as well as women, oddball characters. I might make a sideline of baked goods but I don't think I would sell gifts. I'd want it to be a very lively place, sort of a coffee house atmosphere. Maybe I'd host poetry readings, jazz combos. -- JW
