Hi folks, long time no post! I have just uploaded about 25 new restaurant postcards. Most of them are in the newer chrome section, but a few are older. I also moved a couple chromes from the upper part to the newer section. I had missed them earlier. Here is the list:

Bamboo Inn Restaurant
Burger Bar & Others Across from Chicago Theatre
Camelia House in the Drake Hotel
Club El Bianco
Fireplace Inn Restaurant
Golden Ox Restaurant
Johnnys Prime Steaks
La Margerita Café
Le Chateaubriand at La Salle Hotel
Mandarin Inn Restaurant
Marinique Restaurant - 2 New Views
Naka-no-ya Tea House
Presto Restaurant & Barcelona Lounge
Red Dog Palace Saloon in the Blackhawk Restaurant
Shangri-la Restaurant
Su Casa Restaurant
The Gibraltar Room, Prudential Building
The Pickle Barrel Restaurant
The Traders - the Palmer House
Top of the Rock, Prudential Building
Villa Sweden Restaurant
William Tell Restaurant - 2 Diff. Views
Wrigley Building Restaurant, New View

The card listed above as Burgerbar is a card showing several restaurants across from the Chicago Theatre in 1964. Due to the loss of quality from the real card to the computer, I will attempt to give you the names as best I can tell. Would love it if someone can help with more info.

The Burgerbar is the one with the barn type roof on the front. The next one to the right is The Flame - Sirloin Steak House. To its right is one I can't quite make out. It appears to say MIEHEEDS, or something similar. The first "E" may not be an "E". Anyway, if anyone knows that one, let me know.

Just for further interest, the State-Lake Theatre in the background is showing "Dr. No", with James Bond, and the Chicago Theatre in front has "Mondo Cane".

It might also be interesting to know how many, if any, of these restaurants are still open, and in the same locations.

Hope the new cards bring back pleasant memories for everyone. Just after I uploaded these, I got 2 more in the mail. It will be a few days until I get these up. Lately I have been checking this site only about once a week, so be patient if you have questions. Enjoy!!

Hello, all-
At the Newberry Library, we have a online historical map project, http://www.ChicagoAncestors.org, where we've been plotting historical information about Chicago. Recently, we plotted a bunch of information about old restaurants in Chicago, including links to the cards at ChicagoPC.info and entries from the 1931 book Dining in Chicago http://www.archive.org/details/dininginchicago00drur.

To browse entries about restaurants, go to the Browse Tags page and type in "restaurant."
http://www.chicagoancestors.org/#browse_tags_summary

You can also search by address or intersection from the main page to find data about a particular area of the city.

So far, some of my favorite historical restaurants are:

King Tut's Tomb (4711 S. Michigan)

Truck Driver's Social Club (18th and Wabash)

Russian Workers' Co-operative Restaurant
(1628 W. Division St.)


Jack Simpson

jsimpson wrote:Hello, all-
At the Newberry Library, we have a online historical map project, http://www.ChicagoAncestors.org, where we've been plotting historical information about Chicago. Recently, we plotted a bunch of information about old restaurants in Chicago, including links to the cards at ChicagoPC.info and entries from the 1931 book Dining in Chicago http://www.archive.org/details/dininginchicago00drur.

To browse entries about restaurants, go to the Browse Tags page and type in "restaurant."
http://www.chicagoancestors.org/#browse_tags_summary

You can also search by address or intersection from the main page to find data about a particular area of the city.

So far, some of my favorite historical restaurants are:

King Tut's Tomb (4711 S. Michigan)

Truck Driver's Social Club (18th and Wabash)

Russian Workers' Co-operative Restaurant
(1628 W. Division St.)


Jack Simpson

Thanks for posting. This is a great resource. I love the description from Drury's Dining in Chicago about the Russian Worker's Co-op Restaurant:
RUSSIAN WORKERS' CO-OPERATIVE RESTAURANT, 162S [sic] West Division Street

Situated in the Russian quarter on the northwest side, this dining place has a menu that would certainly make an underfed comrade over in Soviet Russia green with envy. For not only do you find here a comprehensive line of ordinary American foods but all the standard Russian dishes are on the menu — borscht, that tasty thick red soup consisting of beets and milk; kasha, made of buckwheat grits with a sauce of bacon and mushrooms, and goluptse, which is rolled cabbage stuffed with various meats. A tumbler of amber-tinted Russian tea, some fruit, and a cigarette finishes off the meal nicely. Now that you are at leisure, look about you and observe the comrades reading The Daily Worker, for this is a dining place for communists as well as for old conservative White Russians. It is spotlessly clean and the prices are reasonable. And don't be afraid — nobody will toss a bomb.

There was at least one other "co-operative" restaurant I saw listed, Leighton Co-operative Dairy Restaurant, 40 South Clark St. Here's the description, again from Drury:

As its name indicates, the Leighton features dairy dishes. A clean attractive place, serving a good 40 cent luncheon, which includes other typical American dishes than those made of dairy products. Southern hash with poached egg for example. This is very good here.

Does anyone know how these co-ops worked? Did co-op members eat at a reduced price?

I don't know anything about the co-op restaurants, but there is a bit of information about the Russian Workers Cooperative Restaurant in the Encyclopedia of Chicago entry on Russians:


The Russian Orthodox community organized around such institutions as Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral on North Leavitt, completed in 1903 after a $4,000 donation from the tsar. Between 1920 and 1924, many of those forced to flee in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution settled in Chicago. At the same time, a number of those who supported the new Soviet system returned to Russia to join the revolution. Still, many “reds” and “whites” continued to live side by side in Chicago. The “whites” gathered in Holy Trinity Cathedral while the “reds” met on North Western Avenue for mass, or in the Russian Workers Co-Operative Restaurant on West Division.

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1104.html

I think there are Swedish and women's co-ops in there, too. Not sure how they worked, apart from what "co-op" implies, as you suggest.

Did anyone catch the link to the digitized version of Drury's book? Mike Sula found it and linked it in my Reader post on Operetta. Lots of fun to read through, though so far as Rene G and I have determined, the only remaining place mentioned in it is Won Kow in Chinatown (assuming you consider the Berghoff to be no more).

Mike G wrote:I think there are Swedish and women's co-ops in there, too. Not sure how they worked, apart from what "co-op" implies, as you suggest.

Did anyone catch the link to the digitized version of Drury's book? Mike Sula found it and linked it in my Reader post on Operetta. Lots of fun to read through, though so far as Rene G and I have determined, the only remaining place mentioned in it is Won Kow in Chinatown (assuming you consider the Berghoff to be no more).

I did see the digitized Drury. It's clearly one of those things that could eat up my whole day.

Sorry to make everyone wait so long for the next installment of new restaurant postcards, but they are here! Here is a list -

Adolphs Italian Restaurant
Allgauers Fireside Restaurant
Allgauers Restaurant
Antonios Steak House
Barneys Market Club
Black Bull Restaurant
Café Azteca
Café Bellini
Carusos Theatre Restaurant
Chances Are / Across the Street
Charlottes Restaurant
Chiam Restaurant
Club El Bianco
Eddie Korosas Baby Doll Polka Club
Edinburgh Castle Inn
Fritzels Restaurant
Gejas Café
Gibraltar Room, Prudential Building
Gold Lion Restaurant
Grandmas Receipts Restaurant
Gus Good Food Restaurant
Hardings Erin Room
House of Eng
Johnny Kroks Cardinal House
Johnstones Restaurant
Kungsholm Restaurant
La Stanza Del Arte at Armandos
Lowenbrau Inn
Macao / Kon-tiki Ports / Sheraton-chicago Hotel
Million Dollar Rainbo Gardens Exterior
Mortons Restaurant
Mrs. Olearys Restaurant
Ron of Japan Restaurant
Ronnys Steak Palace
Salzburger Hof Restaurant
Scheherazade Restaurant
Shangri-la Restaurant
Tai Dong Restaurant
The Beverly Woods Restaurant
The Black Forest Restaurant
The Diplomat Restaurant
The Gallery Restaurant / Country Club Hotel
The Lime House, Knickerbocker Hotel
The Red Star Inn
The Wishing Well Restaurant
Toppers Beef & Bourbon Restaurant

If you are new to my website, just go to chicagopc.info, and click on the restaurant button on the left side of the front page. Newer restaurants are at the bottom of the page of thumbnails. Restaurant postcards printed before 1950 are at the top. Enjoy!!

I will enjoy when people share memories of their favorites, so I will check back once in a while.

It's good to see the postcard of Johnstones, which was a great fried chicken restaurant. Somehow, I mis-remembered it being in the building that presently stands at the corner of Peterson and Cicero (kiddie corner from Whole Foods). Evidently, it was a stand alone building at that location.

Hello again all,

I just loaded a bunch of new cards onto my website, including lots of new restaurants! Here is a list. Some that may be hard to find have the categories listed behind. I included all my cards in case you want to see the non-restaurant ones also. If you don't find a restaurant in the bottom, chrome section, don't forget to check higher up.

Armour Sheep Killing Floor - stockyards
Atwood Building Café
Bismarck Hotel, Main Restaurant
Bismarck Hotel, Winter Garden
Bismarck Inn, Bismarck Hotel
Blossom Room, Palmolive Building
Boston Oyster House Foyer
Bratskellar Restaurant
Chicago Service Men Center
Drakes Restaurant
El Grifon Restaurant
Illinois Athletic Club Main Dining Room - Clubs
Indian Room - Don Roths Blackhawk Restaurant
Italian Village Restaurant
Jennies Restaurant
Johnnys Prime Steaks
Lake Shore Club of Chicago - the Mediterranean
Lake Shore Club of Chicago - Cocktail Lounge
Liberty Life Insurance Co - 2 Cards
Lions Catering - Regal Room - Small Businesses
Lions Catering Service Crystal Room
Marina City Restaurant
Mr. Madison Restaurant
Normandy House Restaurant
North American Restaurant
Oakland Rest Room - Misc Cards
Old Frontier - Don Roths Blackhawk Restaurant
Paradise Restaurant
Pekin House Restaurant
Pla-Mor Café - Entertainment-Music/Dancing
Sherman Hotel - Porterhouse Room
Shirleys Tropical Banquet Hall
Silver Forest Room, Drake Hotel
St Nicholas Hotel
States Restaurant
Su Casa Restaurant
Sutherland Hotel
Swiss Chalet, Bismarck Hotel
The Black Forest Restaurant
The Diplomat Restaurant
The Jolly Chef on Wabash Restaurant
The Nantucket Restaurant
The Sphinx Restaurant
Tommys Steer & Stein - Crystal Banquet Room
Tracys Restaurant
Wagtayles Restaurant
Warsaw Restaurant
Wellington Hotel - Italian Room
Wilson Co Roof Garden Restaurant - Worlds Fair

Hope you enjoy these cards!

Just a note to anyone who has tried over the last month or so to go on my website and look at postcards. I had a very unreliable web hosting "friend" who was having life issues and let their server crash, and has not repaired it yet. My website has now been moved to a new company and should be back to stay. At least these people will talk to me. Very sorry for the inconvenience. If you think you were annoyed when you couldn't find it, try to imagine how upset I was, knowing why it was down and not having any luck getting it back up! Thanks for your patience!! The website is still at chicagopc.info.

npchicago wrote:Just a note to anyone who has tried over the last month or so to go on my website and look at postcards. I had a very unreliable web hosting "friend" who was having life issues and let their server crash, and has not repaired it yet. My website has now been moved to a new company and should be back to stay. At least these people will talk to me. Very sorry for the inconvenience. If you think you were annoyed when you couldn't find it, try to imagine how upset I was, knowing why it was down and not having any luck getting it back up! Thanks for your patience!! The website is still at chicagopc.info.

Hi,

I had noticed. I'm very glad you are back up and running.

Happy New Year!

Regards,

Thanks, Cathy2.

My advice to anyone wanting to have a website hosted is to choose someone who is in that business exclusively, has a good reputation, and perhaps most important, is in your immediate area, so you can visit the location, when problems occur.

Finally have a couple new postcards on my site. Since they are few, I will list them all, only a couple restaurants there. Due to bad weather, wasn't able to get too many new ones last time.

Bismarck Garden, Concert Hall & Winter Veranda
George Diamond Steaks
Great Northern Bldg
Himmel Furs
Klas’ Restaurant (not technically in Chicago, but didn't notice until I owned the card!)
Lilienfeld Bros. Co.
McGraw-Hill Bldg, Kiwanis offices
Northmere Hotel
Our Lady Of Good Counsel School
Polish Women’s Alliance of America
South Chicago Ship Yards
St. Peter’s Church
State & Randolph Sts.

Hope to have more in a couple months.

Added a very old, new card - German Restuarant, on Dearborn. Kind of a strange name for it, does anyone have a better one?

Here are a bunch of new cards. A couple are in the suburbs, didn't notice until I had them! I guess you guys will benefit from that mistake!

Alex Moni Buffet
Allegrettis Restaurant
American Restaurant
Café La Margarita
Ciros Restaurant
Congress Hotel and Annex - Pompeian Grill
Country Pancake House
Granatos Pizzeria
Gus Good Food Restaurant - Green Room
Hill’s Summer Garden Co.
Jacques French Restaurant - Ritz Bar
Joe and Jeans Lounge
Latin Quarter Restaurant
Le Colonial Restaurant
Lindas Margaritas Restaurant
Lions Catering Service Grand Ballroom
Lions Catering Service Lobby
Mandarin Inn
Marshall Fields Cloud Room Restaurant Midway Airport
Martinique Restaurant, older
Parkway Hotel Café
Russian Tea Room and Art Shop
Sayat Nova Restaurant
Skooglunds Cafeteria
That Steak Joynt
The Rustic Manor Restaurant
Tip Top Inn - Colonial Room
Ye Baltimore Inn

Enjoy!

Hi!

Thank you! Your cards are always interesting to look through.

Regards,

Hello folks,

Picked up just a few more postcards. I would have waited but I thought you would want to see the "new" room at the Devils Rendezvous.

Athens Restaurant
Camelia House Restaurant, Drake Hotel
Devils Rendezvous Resturant Casket Room
Pub & Prow Restaurant
Round Table Restaurant
Sauganash Inn

Enjoy!!

npchicago wrote:Hello folks,

Picked up just a few more postcards. I would have waited but I thought you would want to see the "new" room at

Hi,

I read your list before reading your introduction, I already checked out the casket room because I just had to. Here's a quick link to it.

Click to see thumbnails of all restaurant postcards.

Regards,

Picked up a couple more restaurant postcards the other day.

Gene Kamp’s Island Home Restaurant
H & H Restaurant
Little Heidelbrg Restaurant
Martinique Restaurant - 2 different ones

All that purple/lavender color at the Martinique - not sure how conducive to eating that color would be! Seems like it might be an appetite killer.

Enjoy! Hope to have more soon, but only working part time still, so money is tight, and Christmas is just around the corner!

A couple new postcards to look at, wish I had more.

Flukies

Viking Smorgasbord - sorry, this one isn't technically in Chicago, but the person I got the card from represented it as being ON Dundee, instead of IN Dundee. Thought you might want to see it anyway!

Hopefully soon I will be able to add more, but the employment situation is still tight!

npchicago wrote:
Viking Smorgasbord - sorry, this one isn't technically in Chicago, but the person I got the card from represented it as being ON Dundee, instead of IN Dundee. Thought you might want to see it anyway!

I appreciated seeing this one! I used to eat there a lot with my parents as a kid, I went to Dundee High School in the 1960's.

Yikes! I cleaned off part of my desk and found several more cards I had forgotten! They will be up later tonite, for sure tomorrow morning.

Palmer House Red Lacquer Room
Howey's Old World Inn
Bamboo Inn, another view
Morton's interior, c.1955
Schmitt Bakeries - kind of food related, this one was located in the Northwestern Station, early 60's

npchicago,

Thank you, it is always a pleasure to look through your postcards.

Regards,

Thanks, Cathy2, only wish I could afford hundreds more, but then we none of us have money enough for our hobbies, do we?!

Here is my latest installment of cards, a few restaurants included. Enjoy!

Aerial view looking toward Navy Pier from Board of Trade RPPC
Bridges Spanning Chicago River
Central Plaza Hotel
Civic Opera House
Cool retreat in new section of Humboldt Park
Douglas Park gymnasium grounds
Edgewater Beach Hotel beach promenade
Elevated Loop Wabash Ave
Elks War Memorial
King Joy Lo Restaurant
Grand Hotel
Great Northern Hotel Cafe
Illinois Tunnel (trains-misc)
Infantry marching near Grant Park (govt-military)
Julian Theatre
La Strada Restaurant
Manhattan Bathing Beach
McKinely Park Swedish M E Church
Municipal Airport Terminal
Perkins Bass public school
Ravenswood Apartments, Sunnyside & Paulina
Roosevelt Restaurant
R.R. Donnelley & Sons (factories)
Saratoga Hotel main dining room
Sherman Hotel - "The Dome" (restaurant?)
Tom Brown's Coach Light Restaurant
Union Stock Yards - End of their route
YMCA Hotel lunch room

Here is my latest set of new restaurant. Hope to have more in about 4 weeks. Enjoy!

Beverly Woods Rest. Exterior
Chef Alberto’s Restaurant
Club El Bianco Restaurant
Country Club Hotel - Bamboo Room Restaurant
Edgewater Beach Hotel Marine Room
Gus Good Food Restaurant - English Room
Hellas Café
Old Heidelberg Inn Restaurant
Ricketts Restaurant - the Amber Room
Sheraton-chicago Hotel - Singapore Joes Tavern
St Andrew Home Dining Room (in Hotels - P-Z)
The Atlantic Restaurant
The Rustic Manor Restaurant

Here are my latest additions to my postcard website, chicagopc.info.

Chez Paree Restaurant Lobby and Foyer
Chicago Beach Hotel American Dining Room
Irelands Oyster House
Jacques French Restaurant - Chrome
King Wah Restaurant
Mckowns Restaurant Exterior
Miss Lindquist Café
Nielsens French Fried Chicken
Papa Milano Restaurant
Papeete Restaurant, Kon-tiki Ports, Sheraton Chicago Hotel
Rotunda of Mens Grill Room Marshall Field
The Bakery Restaurant
Town & Country Xpressway Restaurant

Hope these bring back many happy memories.

Here are my latest additions to the website. I have included any food related cards, see the LINKS page for more cards.

Anna Held Fountain Café
Bismarck Garden - Dutch Wind Mill (This must have been quite a place)
Bismarck Garden - Entrance from Garden to Marigold Room
Bismarck Garden Marigold Room
Bismarck Garden - Swiss Chateau, Electric Fountain
Corner of Tip Top Inn, Pullman Building
Graemere Hotel Banquet Hall
John M Powell Café (note electric fans for cooling)
Mi Casa Su Casa Mexican Restaurant
Mirabell Restaurant & Lounge
Mitchell’s Coffee Shop
Planters Hotel Merrie Garden Restaurant
R.M. Jones Restaurant (6 light bulbs to light the whole place)
Singapore Steak & Chop House
Subway Café Exterior
Woodwards Fine Candy Factory
Worlds Fair 1933
North Midway Luncheonette

As always, hope you enjoy these!

Finally a decent set of new restaurant postcards. Most are newer, a couple are very old.

Agostinos Restaurant
Atros Restaurant
Cartablanca Restaurant
Como Inn
Davis Hotel - Oriental Room
Fritzel Restaurant
Fultons Steamboat
Gazebo Pancake House
Harvest House Cafeteria
Highlander Restaurant - Holiday Inn North
Honolulu Harrys Waikiki
Kenmore Hotel
Isbells Famous Chicken - not a building, but check out the free gift by the “plate”
Jackson Jolly Chef Restaurant
Lions Catering - French Room
Lions Catering - Lions Restaurant
Luigis
McKinlock Court at Art Institute, Lunch Court
Lutzs Continental Pastry Shop & Cafe
Rienzi Café Main Dining Room
Manns Million Dollar Rainbo Summer Garden
Micheli
Milans Restaurant
Mister Mikes Steak House
Oriental Room - Hotel Davis
Pickwick Restaurant & others in the Chicago & NW RR terminal
Roditys Restaurant
Shoreland Hotel - Atros Restaurant
Southwest Inn
Stouffers Top of the Rock
Zum Deutschen Eck

Hope these bring back lots of memories!

More new restaurant postcards for your perusal.

Edelweiss restaurant
fountain lunch at west side professional schools, YMCA
Henrici’s O’Hare restaurant
Lincoln Turner Hall café, 1005 diversey parkway
Monadnock Restaurant
Showboat Sari-s...
Tropical Hut Restaurant