California Tea Rooms

Copper Kettle Tea Room, 23 Mercantile Place, Los Angeles, California, postcard front, circa 1909. The hand-lettered caption on the black and white photo that was the basis for this card reads "Copper Kettle Inn," but that is an error, because all advertising ephemera and references to the establishment in contemporary newspapers and magazines identify it as the Copper Kettle Tea Room. The Copper Kettle opened in 1908 under the proprietorship of two sisters, Smith college alumna Harriet Morris (1880 - 1961) and Barnard College alumna Mildred Morris, helped by their friend Beatrice Wigmore. In addition to tea and light lunches, The Copper Kettle sold Japanese and Chinese basketry and gift wares; by 1915 they were also marketing confections or candies that were sold along the Southern Pacific Railroad route. The building that housed The Copper Kettle -- and, in fact, every shop on both sides of the street, and the entirety of Mercantile Place itself -- was demolished in 1923 as part of a large urban high-rise building program.

Copper Kettle Tea Room, 23 Mercantile Place, Los Angeles, California, postcard back, circa 1909.

Mary Louise Tea Room Foyer, Los Angeles, postcard front. The Mary Louise Tea Room complex occupied a medium-sized building opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. Within its boxy stucco exterior there were rooms furnished according to certain themes. The foyer, which also housed a gift shop, was in lush art deco style. Women used this space not only for casual lunches, but they could reserve rooms for club meetings or organized gaming, including bridge and mah-jong. The gift shop therefor carried supplies and components for those games, as well as fancy dolls and statuary.

Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard front.

Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard back

The Mah Jong Room at the Mary Louise Tea Room complex opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. This flower-bedecked and East Asian accented room was reserved for parties of women who wanted to play the Chinese game of mah-jong, which requires four players. Other rooms within the Mary Louise Tea Rooms were Colonial American in decor. Note the woven rattan furnishings here, which are similar to those at the Copper Kettle Tea Room in Los Angeles, California, and at the Sun Parlor Tea Room at the Young Women's Christian Association in Dallas, Texas.