A Taste of a Decade: An Inside Look at American Cafeterias and Restaurants in the 1940s
During the war (1941-1945) the creation of 17 million new jobs finally pulls the economy out of the Depression. Millions of married women enter the labor force. The demand for restaurant meals escalates, increasing from a pre-war level of 20 million meals served per day to over 60 million. The combination of increased restaurant patronage with labor shortages, government-ordered price freezes, and rationing of basic foods puts restaurants in a squeeze. With gasoline rationing, many roadside cafes and hamburger stands close. For a time after the war, rationing continues and wholesale prices stay high but patronage falls off as women leave jobs and return to the kitchen. Trained restaurant personnel are in short supply. Restaurants take advantage of food service methods and materials developed for the armed services. The frozen food industry supplies restaurants with fish, French fries, and baked goods. Boil-in bags of pre-cooked entrees become available. Fast food assembly lines and serving techniques used by the military are transferred to commercial establishments. Here's a collection of 33 amazing vintage photographs that give us a glimpse inside American restaurants from the 1940s.
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Andy Wong's "Fair Famous" Mission Trails Restaurant, Harvey Lum, manager, 500 Sutter Street; it is 1942 and we are back in San Francisco for another look at one of the many beautiful places made much finer by the installation of Buckley Music System's "Music Box." |
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Cafe counter in San Francisco, ca. 1941. Another view of the "Music Box" from the Buckley Music System. |
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A soda fountain at a restaurant in Sausalito, California, June 7, 1943. |
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August 1941: Sunday meal for flying cadets at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama; chickens farmed by FSA borrowers are delicious all the way down to the bone. |
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About 1940, this captionless picture of Joe DiMaggio with a pal and a dozen or more cups of coffee was taken in San Francisco. |
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Banquet of Pontiac zone managers held at the St. Francis Hotel on April 24, 1946. |
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In April 1943, in Baltimore, Maryland, defence workers working the third shift have a bite at the corner drugstore before their shared automobile picks them up at midnight. |
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September 1943: An off-duty Greyhound bus driver in Columbus, Ohio. |
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Cafe society in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 1943. |
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April 1943, Washington, D.C. A couple at the Sea Grill who appeared to be a little tipsy. |
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December 1941: Girls in the Hot Shoppes restaurant in Washington, D.C. |
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June 1943, Randolph Henry High School, Keysville, Virginia; students bring produce from farms they receive tickets for; lunches cost about 15 cents; typical lunch fare includes candied yams, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, deviled eggs, dessert, and milk, which is free for kids to drink in excess. |
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March 1943: Truck truckers at a highway coffee break on U.S. Highway 90 in the region of Pearlington, Mississippi. |
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In May 1942, in Bakersfield, California, an Army corporal takes his girlfriend out to supper. |
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December 1941: Diners in the Washington Hot Shoppes restaurant in Washington, D.C.; a thrilling ice skating night has either ended or is about to begin. |
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The Hot Shoppe restaurant in Washington, D.C., December 1941. |
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Tableware, clothing, shoes—discuss! December 1941, Washington, D.C., Washington Hot Shoppe restaurant |
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The Hot Shoppe restaurant in Washington, D.C., December 1941. |
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In the cafeteria of a truck drivers' service station on U.S. 1 in June 1940, Washington, D.C. |
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In the cafe at a truck drivers' refueling station on U.S. 1 (New York Avenue), June 1940, Washington, D.C. |
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The Hot Shoppes restaurant in Washington, D.C., December 1941. |
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December 1941, San Francisco: 30 cents for lunch, 40 cents for dinner, and fifteen cents for a "sandwitch" |
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Chicago, Illinois's South Side tavern, April 1941. |
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Performers at a South Side bar in Chicago, Illinois, April 1941. |
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In the Woodrow Wilson High School cafeteria, October 1943, Washington, D.C. |
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In May 1943, the Randolph Henry High School cafeteria in Keysville, Virginia served a typical meal of candied yams, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, deviled eggs, dessert, and free-flowing milk for fifteen cents. |
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On a Saturday night in December 1943, in the United Nations Service Centre canteen for enlisted personnel in Washington, D.C. |
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Truck driver dining at a truck stop at Pearlington, Mississippi, in March 1943. The truck stop is located along US Highway 90. |
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"I come in here pretty often, sometimes alone, mostly with another girl. We drink beer and talk, and of course we keep our eyes open -- you would be surprised at how often nice lonesome soldiers ask Sue, the waitress, to introduce them to us," said the girl, sitting alone in the Sea Grill in Washington, D.C., in April 1943, while waiting for a pickup. |
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Marshalltown, Iowa; February 1940. Girls at beer parlour next to dancing hall.. |
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October 1941: The well-known White Tower hamburger shop in Amsterdam, New York. |
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December 1943, Washington, D.C. Hugh and Lynn Massman, with their eight-week-old son in the United Nations service centre nursery, enjoying lunch at a café following a day of sightseeing. |
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Can we remain a little bit longer? "Cold drinks on the Fourth of July" at the Red Robin Coffee Shop in Vale, Oregon, 1941. |