From Mystic Tea Room

Revision as of 07:12, 30 November 2022

From the Land of Tea

In this installment of "From the Land of Tea," we take a sneak-peek look at an upcoming page that will eventually be on display to the public. As a Patreon supporter, you have access to the page one full year before the public does.

• Patreon Release Date: November 28th, 2022.
• Public Release Date: November 28th, 2023.

Please tell your friends that they can subscribe to my Patreon stream for $2.00 per week:

• "It's All Ephemera with Cat Yronwode"

Old California Tea Rooms!

We return again to Rooms by Location. These are old postcards, and each one has a caption explaining it, and some have additional text. These images will eventually be on display at the Mystic Tea Room web site. As a Patreon supporter, you have access to them one full year before the public does.

To place this work in context, please read the following introductory pages

• The Mystic Tea Room
• Tea Room History
• Tea Room Postcards
• How To Read Tea Leaves

California

The Tea Rooms of California vary greatly in style, but two aesthetic themes stand out from the rest: The Craftsman or Mission Style Tea Room and the Cantonese Tea Room. California had no Colonial tea room history to exploit, and no great connection to Jolly Old England, but at the height of the tea room craze, Mission style oak furniture, which had first become popular in California, could be found all up and down the coast, and lent itself well to the conversion of small homes, lodges, hotels, and shops into tea room spaces. The influx of immigrants from China, began during the Gold Rush of the early 1850s and continued on as Cantonese workers came to provide labour on West Coast railroads during the late 19th century. When the development of the railroads was completed and families settled down, this wave of immigration left in its wake hundreds of Chinese tea rooms, restaurants, and gift stores, all along the Southern Pacific line, "On the Road of a Thousand Wonders."

Pasadena

The Rose Tree Tea House, Pasadena, California, exterior. The town of Pasadena was incorporated in 1886 and was known as somewhat of a suburban artist's colony. It was developed with an eye for beauty, and most of the residential streets were lined with trees and flowering gardens. The widespread use of Craftsman style bungalow architecture gave the town a unified look, with all of its parts in human scale, very homey and welcoming. This real photo postcard of the Rose Tree Tea House from around 1905-1915 shows us Pasadena at its best.

The Rose Tree Tea House, Pasadena, California, interior. This real photo postcard shows us the Mission Style interior of the Rose Tree Tea House, circa 1905-1915, with tables situated before a cozy fireplace.

San Francisco

George Haas established his first candy factory and store in San Fracisco in 1868. In 1882 the George Haas and Sons candy company opened a shop in the triangular Phelan Building at the corners of Market Street, O’Farrell Street, and Grant Avenue. The building and its beaux-arts interiors were designed by William Curlett. After the great earthquake and fire of 1906, the Phelan Building was reconstructed on the same lot, again under the direction of William Curlett, and reopened to the public in 1908. It is this second incarnation of the Geo. Haas and Sons tea room, the New Tea Room on the second floor, that we see on this postcard: "A Lovely Place to Lunch -- Rich and Restful in Tones of Old Ivory and Wedgewood Blue." The text on the back of the card reads, "New Tea Room of Geo. Haas and Sons, Phelan Building Candy Store. Entrance 51 O'Farrell Street, near Grant Avenue, opposite Kohler and Chase."

The New Tea Room of Geo. Haas and Sons was part of a complex within the Phelan Building that also included a shop selling fancy boxed candies, shown at left, and a combination ice cream parlour and soda fountain, at right. The Haas candy company ceased operations in 1940 but the original Haas candy factory and the Phelan Building still stand, and both have been designated as Historic Landmarks.

Hale Bros. Inc. Cafe and Tea Room, San Francisco, California. Hale Bros. was a department store chain that originated in Sacramento, California and spread throughout the region. After the great earthquake and fire destroyed much of San Francisco in 1906, Hale Bros. boasted that their new building, completed and opened in 1912, was the "First Store rehabilitated since the great fire.". The tea room and cafe is done up in the popular Craftsman style of the period, complete with potted palms. The Hale Brothers Department Store building still stands at the corner of Market Street and Fifth, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Hee Jan and Co. Chinese Restaurant and Tea Garden, San Francisco, California. One of many elaborate Cantonese-style buildings in San Francisco, this building also boasted a rather unexpected moving picture house on the ground floor. The advertised Kinetoscope was a one-person peep-hole viewer, not a projector. Introduced to the public in 1895, Kinetoscope Parlours were rooms filled with these machines, in which operators stood by to assist the customers in viewing short films that were accompanied by sounds played on synchronized photograph disks. The advent of film projection brought an end to the Kinetoscope in 1914, this giving us a date-range for this postcard. The text on the back identifies the card identifies it as part of the Southern Pacific Railroad series "On the Road of a Thousand Wonders."

Santa Rosa

The Tudor Rose English Tea Room in Santa Rosa, California, from an online photo taken in 2020. The Tudor Rose Tea Room founded in 2013 by Angela Grant. Grant was born and raised in Wallasey, Merseyside England, across the Mersey River from Liverpool. The ambience and menus were British, with an emphasis on high tea and themed tea parties for special occasions.

Another View of the The Tudor Rose English Tea Room in Santa Rosa, California, from an online photo taken in 2020. Alas, the Tudor Rose English Tea Room was hard-hit by the Covid pandemic, and although it pivoted to dinners to go and re-opened once indoor dining restrictions were lifted, it did not survive. The final closing, after almost ten years, came in January 2023. We will miss it!

catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room

See Also

• Tea Rooms
• Tea Room History
• Vintage Tea Room Postcards
• Vintage Tea Room Business Cards
• Vintage Tea Room Matchbook Covers
• Dating Tea Room Postcards