From Mystic Tea Room

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

England

English tea rooms are among the oldest found outside of Asia. Their popularity predated the great Tea Room craze of 1895 to 1945, but like their American counterparts, they were often retrofitted into historical buildings, including cottages, houses, barns, granaries, mills, inns, taverns, and hotels. Because England is a region of cold and damp winters, these older buildings were often outfitted with fireplaces in every room, and thus, in England at least, a fireplace was to be found in almost every tea room.

The word most often used to describe such tea rooms is "cozy" -- and cozy is a word whose literal meaning is "warm." When postcards were made to publicize such local tea rooms, it was quite natural for the photographer to focus on the fireplace or to feature it prominently in the composition.

Not all of the tea room postcards in this lot are interior views, but those that are often contain fireplaces. Many of these cards are also RPPCs -- real photo postcards.

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 developent 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 routes of the Southern Pacific line.

Pasadena

The Rose Tree Tea House, Pasadena, California. 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 shows us Pasadena at its best. The tea room either occupies the entire structure or is situated in an enclosed verandah attached to the main structure.

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