The American Menu

Marin County, California 1928-1940 One of the most intriguing things about old menus from San Quentin State Prison is that they were...

London,  2005  In the previous post, a menu from Wiltons in 2001 was shown with reflections by journalist R. W. Apple, Jr. who ranked ...

London,  2001  While cleaning out the attic this weekend, I came across a box of  forgotten newspaper  clippings . One of the articles...

1924-19 38 “The American seaplanes are in Calcutta,” the papers in India reported on June 27, 1924. Four U.S. Army planes had arrived a...

San Francisco,  1918  This gathering in San Francisco in 1918 celebrated the 6oth birthday of Jean Baptiste Pon, one of the founders ...

San Francisco,  1881  The Occidental in San Francisco was “Heaven on the half shell,” according to Mark Twain who described the daily ...

New York City,  1882  The mislabeling of food was a conventional practice in the nineteenth century when imagination often trumped s...

San Francisco, 1862 Christmas in San Francisco in 1862 was “a most lovely day,” according to botanist William Brewer. 1 “The city see...

1883-1908 E xplorers like Lewis and Clark ventured into the vast Dakotas after the lands were obtained as part of the Louisiana Purch...

New York City,  1907-1909  This comic postcard from about 1912 promotes an Italian restaurant named The Carlos to New Jerseyites by cl...