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Cafeterias

3/17/2018

23 Comments

 
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​I miss cafeterias.
 
I don’t mean the ones in school lunchrooms, but those that used to be in just about every city across America in the 1950s and ‘60s.
 
I loved the food, of course.  But the next best thing was how I got the food—pointing to exactly what I wanted, with each choice then handed to me by a female worker (never a man) wearing a starched white uniform with sensible shoes. 

​The line itself was both precise and artistic.  
. 
After grabbing a tray, the first stop was looking at the tiny white bowls of salads, all propped up on a narrow island of crushed ice.  Should I get coleslaw, or cottage cheese with a maraschino cherry on top, or sliced peaches?  Usually, I’d pick my favorite—strawberry Jell-O cut in identical, sparkly cubes. 
 
Under heat lamps and in the center of the line were the entrees.  There was chicken pot pie, and roasted turkeys
and hams and roasts, all carved to order.  Alongside were steam tables, with sides including mashed potatoes,
fresh succotash and brown gravy.  Next came baked-that-day bread and rolls, and then, on a second bed of shaved
ice, juices and milk. After that were desserts—featuring tapioca and rice puddings topped with whipped cream,
and displayed in crystal cut glass parfait dishes.  Sitting alongside those were from-scratch slices of fruit pie,
and chocolate and vanilla cake, too.     
 
The last stop was the cashier’s station.  Here, my entire meal cost, at most, a few dollars.     
 
Where I grew up—in Long Beach, a coastal city about 25 miles from Los Angeles—not one of these places was part
of a chain. 
 
Instead, they were owned and managed by local families, and had names like Riley’s, Arnold’s, Crown and Royal.  Because they were not only cost efficient, but big and well-lit and noisy, lots of families ate there, too, giving off an ambiance of good cheer and wholesomeness.  
 
One exception was a small chain called Clifton’s, which in its heyday had eight locations.
 
The most famous of these was Brookdale, opened in 1935 in downtown Los Angeles.  The food was also great, and with a kitschy redwood forest theme, it was also the largest cafeteria in the world.  Here, guests could sit near a working waterfall that meandered through the entire dining area; animated toy raccoons and a giant stuffed bear holding a fishing pole sat on custom built perches above them.  During the Great Depression, and even later, customers who couldn’t afford a meal could eat at any Clifton's for free.   
 
With their homey food choices, lots of folks think that cafeterias took off in the Midwest. 

But California is where the cafeteria craze began.
 
It started in 1905, when a woman named Helen Mosher opened a small restaurant where customers selected their food at a long counter, and then carried their trays to a table.  She called her place the Cafeteria (the same name as a smorgasbord restaurant that had opened a decade earlier in Chicago); by the 1920s, there were so many similar establishments in Southern California that one writer dubbed Los Angeles “Sunny Cafeteria.”   
 
Brisk and breezy, they were marketed as the new and modern way to dine, a place where customers could choose as much, or as little, food as they wanted. And because the food sold on its looks, it was designed to be appealing.
 
As a kid, I never imagined that cafeterias might vanish by the time I became an adult.
 
In the last four decades, fast food conglomerates—big on advertising and cheap ingredients, small on fresh and healthy choices—have supplanted the mom and pop places that I had once taken for granted.  
 
Indeed, the cafeterias of today only provide food where people go to eat because they have to—schools, hospitals and prisons.   At best, the choices are bland and unappealing; at worst, they’re tasteless and made edible only because most of the food is packed with sodium and sugar.
 
I don’t know if the cafeterias I loved will ever come back.  
 
But I do know that I’ll never stop missing them.
  
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23 Comments
Beverly Praver
3/17/2018 04:40:15 pm

The Cafeterias I remember from Cleveland were both in downtown near the department stores and office buildings. We didn't get down there very often from the suburbs. The one Jerry remembers best was in the Arcade Building and his father loved to eat there. When we married and moved to West Covina ther was a Clifton's cafeteria there in the Eastland shopping center and we did like to eat there.

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HIlary
3/17/2018 07:57:52 pm

It makes sense to have them close to office buildings and department s stores, since lots of working folks could eat their lunch there. No tipping, and you knew the food was going to be fresh and consistent. And, just as today's In 'N Out Burger has most of their eateries right off the freeway, Clifton's put most (if not all) of their satellite cafeterias in shopping centers. My mom and I always ate at the Clifton's in Lakewood Center.

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Hilary Grant
3/20/2018 07:26:32 pm

And now, thanks to intrepid photo detective Susan Jordan, I've found out about another cafeteria chain... Ontra Cafeterias. As late as 1961, there were 10 locations, nearly all in Southern California, but with another branch in Phoenix, and another in Chicago. Find out more, at http://oldlarestaurants.com/ontra-cafeteria/

Susan Jordan
3/17/2018 05:00:53 pm

I love and miss them too! My grandma, who never learned to drive, and instead knew how to take public transportation like a boss, sometimes took me by bus to Clifton's when I was very, very young. There's something very communal and egalitarian about cafeterias, and homey too (just like you mentioned, Hilary!). About as close as I get now is the Souplantation, a chain of cafeteria-style soup & salad restaurants where you grab a tray, then your plate and silverware, and head down the rails, helping yourself to salad, toppings, and dressings, then over to other stations for drinks, soups, rolls, pizzas, and desserts. It's more like buffet rather than cafeteria in that no one hands your items to you, but it's still a bit close. Many years ago, just before I was to start school at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (summer 1987, to be exact), I worked in a European-owned cafeteria in Santa Monica named Cafe Casino de France. At first I was a line server, but I was soon moved to cashier. It was daunting at first, having to memorize each salad on sight (so I could ring it up correctly), but I caught on soon enough. That summer was exhausting, but it was also never a dull moment in there! I still remember my hourlynwage: $4.00! There's something rather wonderful about cafeterias, and, like you, I wish they'd make a comeback.

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Hilary
3/17/2018 08:00:33 pm

Soupplantation TRIES to be a cafeteria, but... no. It just isn't. I've always found the food rather MEH as well. Given the right branding, I think that cafeterias could make a successful comeback. There are a few at Cal Poly... but again, it's not the food that I remember.

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Susan Jordan
3/18/2018 05:40:01 pm

Oh, I like Souplantation a lot! I go mostly for the salads, though, where I usually pile on more than I should. I have what some people would consider a quirk about salad bars: I run down the line and ladle and evenly spread my dressing on my plate first, then come back up and start placing the lettuce and toppings on after that. I finish by ladling another helping of dressing all over the heap of salad. I do this so that I'll have some dressing when I get to the bottom. It probably looks screwy, but I like my 'coverage', haha.

Hilary
3/18/2018 06:11:14 pm

Over the years, I've learned to make really great chopped salads, as well as tuna salads with extras (red peppers, avocado slices on the side, Boston lettuce under, etc) and chicken salad as well. I'm lucky in that we have GREAT Farmers' Markets up here, so going to a place for salad is just sort of not my thing anymore. And I make lots of homemade soups as well. But the idea of going to a REAL old fashioned cafeteria and getting say, an open face turkey sandwich... with a little white bowl of salad and a slice of pie... oh, YUMMY-licious!

George Marshall link
3/17/2018 07:21:06 pm

I worked in a cafeteria once. Borden's Cafeteria in Tulsa Oklahoma. I was what is known as a Pearl Diver. That is, I washed pots and pans. This is distinct and perhaps a cut above a dish washer, maybe, but both are so far down the line that the distinction is no doubt lost to non cafeteria workers. The best part of the job was that I got a free meal. It was a kind of a ritual since I knew all the women and they would each have their own style of serving and way of asking your request. ~ My favorite cafeteria of all time however is one of the oldest and still going strong. In this one you don't go down the line however but one server, still in the same style uniform from the 1940's, takes your order, prepares and serves.
It is Phillipe's on Alamita next to Olvera Street and on the edge of Chinatown in Los Angeles. They are most famous for their French Dipped Sandwiches. It was founded in 1905. A union establishment with sawdust on the floors. Five generations of out family have eaten there and we all love it.

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Hilary
3/17/2018 08:05:07 pm

I love Phillipe's! LA-based former Ringling clowns, and Clown College grads, meet there once a month. I believe the place also, still, has the nickel cup of coffee, correct? Great pies, great chili, and believe it or not, great beef stew! And while it's close to being a cafeteria.... sorry, no cigar from me, because there's no line and you can't, for instance, see what a bowl of chili looks like before ordering it (although you CAN see the pies and the French dipped sandwiches being made).

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George link
3/18/2018 12:51:24 pm

The dictionary backs you up on that. Phillipe's is about the limit of my nostalgia however, so it allowed me some kind of response. Coffee is 9 cents. With tax it comes to a dime.

Hilary
3/17/2018 08:07:55 pm

Here's the web site... both of us got the spelling wrong! :) https://www.philippes.com/

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Diane Barrett link
3/18/2018 01:06:56 pm

I also remember cafeterias in 1950s in Long Beach. We went often to Arnold’s and my sister LOVED the custard! My favorite as a child was a smorgasbord that I would always choose for my birthday dinner. Can’t remember the name...think it sounded Swedish. I agree with everyone about wanting them back! My sister and I went often to Soup Plantation and we really liked it but not as well as Arnold’s and the Swedish place.

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Hilary
3/18/2018 02:10:41 pm

Arnold's seems to be the favorite of those who went to cafeterias in Long Beach. There was a Swedish smorgasbord in the old Breaker's Hotel (maybe not called the Breaker's, but nearby on Ocean and Los Alamitos) that was wonderful! I think this was in the mid-60s. And there were a few more after that, but that type of eatery is also gone. Sadly...

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Jerry Lazar link
3/19/2018 10:26:02 am

And let's not forget Andre's, across from the Grove, nestled between K-Mart and Whole Foods in a big mini-mall at 3rd & Fairfax... It's been serving the same simple Italian fare for decades, to an evolving clientele that reflects the neighborhood's shifting demographics... Once a haven for seniors, you'll now find families of every ethnicity and culture waiting in long lines every night to enjoy heaping plates of spaghetti and ravioli -- which are also generous "side dishes" to chicken parmesan and other traditional Italian entrees... Grab your tray and silverware and slide down the food line toward the old-fashioned cash register -- yes, cash only!... In an area that's seen a lot of change in the past half-century, with so many restaurants coming and going, Andre's still proudly stands as a popular "time capsule" eatery for locals and tourists alike -- the quality is still high, the prices reasonable, and the service is always warm & friendly in a way that we've come to not even expect at fancy dives... Friends often ask me to pick up bottles of their signature salad dressing for them... I still appreciate that, when my kids held fundraisers at nearby Hancock elementary school, Andre's would magnanimously contribute dozens of free pizzas that students could sell by the slice -- and I believe they still do.. Long live Andre's! ... PS Andre's also serves inexpensive ultra-delicious hand-scooped gelato - yum! ...

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Hilary
3/19/2018 12:01:52 pm

This is SO good to know; cafeterias live on! I went to Andre's years ago, when I lived in the neighborhood. At that time, the customers were mostly seniors, and while the food was good, the atmosphere was dreary. Looks like the place has been completely remodeled since then... and boy, an entire meal is UNDER $10, in LA! Wow! :) Even the plates look old school.
:) http://www.andresitalian.com/#menu

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Cathy
3/19/2018 01:10:07 pm

Wow, this brings back my memories of going to NYC to see the Ice Shows at Madison Sq. Garden or a class trip (1950/60's). While we were there we would go to the AUTOMAT to eat. It was called Horn & Hardart. No waitresses just tables and these little windows in the wall with food on plates. I think we would put the coils in a slot and the door would open to take your food out. I looked them up and they were located in PA too. It says they started in the 1800's when the tall buildings in the cities had lots of workers to feed.

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Hilary
3/19/2018 03:02:12 pm

Yes, I wrote about Horn & Hardart in an earlier blog about chicken pot pies! They were long gone by the time I lived in NYC in the late '70s, but you can still see one if you watch the Doris Day/Cary Grant film "That Touch of Mink." (This was actually the first grownup movie I was allowed to go to... I was eight!). Here's the movie trailer... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNxeoMGISGY

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Larry Grant
3/19/2018 01:30:58 pm

Fun memories! In northern and central Ohio we had cafeterias that often were called "Smorgasbords". One I remember the best was Johnny Garneau's. Going there was such a treat. The format was exactly as yiu've described.
Another was Der Dutchman in Bellville, Ohio. Right in the heart of Amish country. Need I say more! Oh the fried chicken, the pot roast and the PIES!!!

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Hilary
3/19/2018 03:07:50 pm

OH MY! That food sounds SO GOOD! :) And guess what.... it's STILL AROUND! https://www.yelp.com/biz/der-dutchman-plain-city-2 xo

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leslie spoon
3/20/2018 07:55:38 am

Hilary I remember Clifton`s when I was a kid. I really enjoyed it. I wish we had one around here now!

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Hilary
3/20/2018 07:20:38 pm

OH, me, too! Marketed correctly, and at the right location, I think it would do really well, too. : )

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Andrea
3/29/2018 10:03:12 am

Great memory, Hilary! Wow, you remember every detail. This is going to sound weird, but I think I liked the feeling of not having a waitress. Maybe I am super introverted, but the hovering feeling of an adult that you do not know has always made me a bit uncomfortable. A cafeteria gives you a sense of complete comfort--selecting food you want and no ''eyes'' or interruptions to make you question what you pick. As a kid, there was always that excitement of ''can we get more!'' Lol.

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Hilary
3/30/2018 06:43:14 pm

Makes sense to me... although I've been to restaurants where the server ends up being pretty much non-existent. :)

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    Hilary Roberts Grant

    Journalist, editor, filmmaker, foodie--and a clown! 
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