Vintage Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

From Mystic Tea Room

Revision as of 08:14, 8 February 2023

start page with Patreon additions, 02/07/2023

This page hosts vintage Tea Room business cards and clipped newspaper and magazine advertisements. Some offer a free or paid reading with every meal and some merely present as public tea rooms. They are listed on one page, alphabetically first by state and then by tea room name. Some of these tea rooms may also appear in the following sets of images:

• Vintage Tea Room Postcards: These are sorted by state or nation; one page per state or non-USA nation.
• Vintage Tea Room Matchbook Covers: These are listed on one page, alphabetical first by state and then by tea room name

You can use the site's search function (at left, in the directory bar, to search for tea room (and tea cup) names.

USA Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Alabama Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Alaska Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Arizona Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Arkansas Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

California Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Colorado Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Connecticut Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Olympia Tea Room, 235 State Street, New London, Connecticut, business card. "The Store of Friendly Service" offered candy, soda, and luncheon, with "steaks and salads our specialty."

Delaware Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Florida Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Georgia Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Hawaii Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Idaho Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Illinois Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Ann Sauer offered the Scientific Interpretation of Tea Leaves at the 1933 World's Fair, held in Chicago, Illinois. Oddly, she did so in the German Pavilion. Germany had just passed it's first anti-Jewish laws and was beginning its rapid descent into fascist aggression, a world war, and crushing defeat, but there sat Ann Sauer, snuggled up with the Nazis, engaging in the gentle art of tasseography.

Indiana Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

The Robinson Tea Shoppe Tourist Rooms, Gary, Indiana, business card with blotter back.

Iowa Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Mad Hatters Tea Room

Kansas Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Kentucky Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Ko-Z Tea Room, Smiths Grove, Kentucky, newspaper ad, 1939.

Louisiana Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Maine Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Maryland Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Massachusetts Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

The Wishing Cup Tea Room, Boston, Massachusetts, business card. Tea Leaf Readings 50 cents by Ross, formerly of the Gypsy Tea Shop, he also offered card readings.

The Original Tremont Tea Room, Boston, Massachusetts, business card. Tea Leaf Readings 75 cents.

Michigan Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Newspaper advertisement for the Bohemian Cave Tea Room in Detroit, Michigan, which offered tea leaf readings with meals.

While not strictly a business card or magazine ad, this glass ashtray from the Devon Gables Tea Room in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, qualifies as a nice piece of tea room advertising ephemera.

Private-labeled sugar cube for the Devon Gables Tea Room in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1930s.

Minnesota Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Mississippi Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Missouri Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Egyptian Tea Room, Kansas City, Missouri, where Don Luis, "the Boy Who Sees Tomorrow," provides free readings.

Montana Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Nebraska Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Nevada Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

New Hampshire Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

The Gables Lunch and Tea Room

New Jersey Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

New Mexico Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

New York Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Gypsy Tea Kettle, New York City, New York, business card. Prof. Punditjee offers a free palmistry reading with meal. The Gypsy Tea Kettle had three locations in New York at this time.

North Carolina Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

North Dakota Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Ohio Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Oklahoma Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Oregon Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Pennsylvania Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

A business card blotter advertising the Blue and Gray Tea Room, 441 7th Street, North, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "The Home of Good Eats, Famous for Home Cooking" was open as early as 1936, according to local newspaper ads, and the proprietor was Miss Emma Eshleman. The name "Blue and Gray" refers to the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, at which the blue-uniformed Union troops fought and prevailed against the gray-uniformed Confederate troops. Many tourists from both the North and the South visit the battlefield, making the tea room's name appear open and friendly to all.

Rhode Island Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

South Carolina Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

South Dakota Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Tennessee Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Texas Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Utah Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Vermont Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

The Mars Sweets and Tea Room, 59 Church Street, Burlington Vermont. A confectionary-turned-tea-room, the versatile Mars was the place to go "for a bite or a meal ... special luncheon served ... soda fountain service."

The Teacup Tea Room and Cake Shop, 17 Center Street, Burlington, Vermont. The business card blotter for this up-to-date establishment offered a "telephone connection," the equivalent of 21st century wi-fi, and also promised "good things to eat."

Virginia Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Washington Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

West Virginia Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Wisconsin Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Wyoming Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Unknown Location, USA

Madame Evelyn, Scientific Numerologist and Tea-ologist, reads tea leaves at the Spanish Court Tea Room, location unknown, newspaper advertisement. Tea Leaf readings free with meal.

British Commonwealth Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Australia Business Cards and Advertisements

Canada Business Cards and Advertisements

Devon Tea Room, front.

Devon Tea Room, back.

Professor York offered free tea cup readings at the Hotel York Coffee Shop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Calgary Herald newspaper ad, May 19th, 1934. Thanks to Dixie M. Ford for bringing Professor Usher to my attention. For more information about Professor George Usher, see the page on Having Your Fortune Told At a Tea Room.

England Business Cards and Advertisements

The Ellikan Tea Rooms, 7 Crawford Street, W. 1, London, England; magazine advertisement. Mrs. Ellen Kreuger, proprietress offered All kinds of Swedish Bread, Cakes, and other specialties and served "Morning Coffee, Delicious Shopping Lunches, and dainty Teas." Her slogan was, "Meet your friends at Ellikans."

Fuller's Tea Rooms magazine advertisement, 1921. This chain of "Most Comfortable Tea Rooms" grew out of Fuller's Ltd., a company that provided in Sweets, Cakes, and Chocolates with "agents in all principal towns." At the time that this advertisement was published, the Fuller's outlets that featured tea room service numbered 28 in London, 5 in Liverpool, and 1 each in another 16 cities in England and Scotland, for a total of 49 locations.

The Jap Tea Rooms, 35, Northgate, Gloucester, England; A. M. Latter, proprietor; 1907 magazine advertisement. Like quite a few early 20th century tea rooms, this one began its existence as a confectionary or sweets shop which sold ices during the summer months and added sit-down tea service during the tea room craze. The window signage advertises Cadbury Chocolates, with a large display. The name "Jap," now considered offensive, derogatory, and disrespectful, was in 1907 little more than a shortened reference to Japan, the provenance of the type of tea being served, the other types being Chinese and Indian.

Norman Palace Tea Rooms, High Street, Winchester, England, magazine advertisement, 1913. This establishment offered Teas, Light Luncheons, and Home-made Cakes of all kinds, as well as Scones and Shortbread. For those so inclined, there was a Smoke Room attached.

The Saxon Bridge Luncheon and Tea Rooms, Polperro, Cornwall, England,was located near the Bus Terminus. The proprietress, D. Ede, offered modest prices, catered for parties, and specialized in morning coffee, hot and cold luncheons, Cornish cream teas, suppers, and Cornish cream ices." Cornish cream, also known as Devonshire cream and clotted cream, is a thick dairy product made by heating full-cream cow's milk with steam heat or in a water bath and placing it in shallow pans to slowly cool. It combines the velvety texture of crème Fraiche or Greak yoghurt with the fatty richness of butter or whipped cream.

Ireland Business Cards and Advertisements

The Suffrage Tea Room, Dublin, Ireland, advertisement.

Scotland Business Cards and Advertisements

Europe Tea Room Business Cards and Advertisements

Switzerland Business Cards and Advertisements

Kunzi Cafe Tea Room, Locarno, Switzerland, oversized linen business card, 1940s. Printed like a oversized linen-finish postcard, this is non-mailable, so it must be considered a very large business card.

Kunzi Cafe Tea Room, Locarno, Switzerland, oversized business card, back.

If the number of business cards grows too great for one page, they will be broken out into individual state lists, as with the Vintage Tea Room Postcards.

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

See Also

• Tea Rooms
• Tea Room History
• Having Your Fortune Told At a Tea Room
• Vintage Tea Room Postcards
• Vintage Tea Room Business Cards
• Vintage Tea Room Matchbook Covers
• Dating Tea Room Postcards