California Tea Rooms
From Mystic Tea Room
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[[File:Copper-Kettle-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-1909-Postcard-Back.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Copper Kettle Tea Room, 23 Mercantile Place, Los Angeles, California, postcard back, circa 1909.]] | [[File:Copper-Kettle-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-1909-Postcard-Back.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Copper Kettle Tea Room, 23 Mercantile Place, Los Angeles, California, postcard back, circa 1909.]] | ||
- | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Foyer-Los-Angeles-postcard-front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room Foyer, Los Angeles, postcard front. The Mary Louise Tea Room complex occupied a medium-sized building opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. Within its boxy stucco exterior there were rooms furnished according to certain themes. The foyer, which also housed a gift shop, was in lush art deco style. Women used this space not only for casual lunches, but they could reserve rooms for club meetings or | + | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Foyer-Los-Angeles-postcard-front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room Foyer, Los Angeles, postcard front. The Mary Louise Tea Room complex occupied a medium-sized building opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. Within its boxy stucco exterior there were rooms furnished according to certain themes. The foyer, which also housed a gift shop, was in lush art deco style. Women used this space not only for casual lunches, but they could reserve rooms for club meetings or private parties, and would therefore meet in the foyer. In addition to some statuary, The Mary Louise gift shop carried quite an amazing array of fine porcelain boudoir half-dolls, as can be seen. (To those who are either curious or enthusiastic about porcelain half-dolls, all i can say is that this site is half-doll friendly, and i may write a page on half-doll tea cozies at a later date, but for the true half-doll experience, you will need to do an internet search on your own to find the motherlode of half-doll imagery and the nexi of half-doll collector conversations.)]] |
- | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-Interior-Postcard-Front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard front.]] | + | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-Interior-Postcard-Front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard front. The main tea room within the Mary Louise complex was rococo or late Baroque French in decor, with a hyper-feminine colour palette of white, pale pink, and warm grey, accented with potted plants. Fabric was used extensively to enhance the decor. Not only is there elaborate drapery, but the backs of the simple bentwood cafe chairs are outfitted with grey slip-covers in a subtle heart pattern. This place is what we used to call "Fahn-Say" (with a fake French accent) when i was a kid.]] |
[[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-Interior-Postcard-Back.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard back]] | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Los-Angeles-Interior-Postcard-Back.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Mary Louise Tea Room, Los Angeles, Interior, postcard back]] | ||
- | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Mah-Jong-Room-Los-Angeles-Postcard-Front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|The Mah Jong Room at the Mary Louise Tea Room complex opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. This flower-bedecked | + | [[File:Mary-Louise-Tea-Room-Mah-Jong-Room-Los-Angeles-Postcard-Front.jpg|center|thumb|600px|The Mah Jong Room at the Mary Louise Tea Room complex opposite Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) in Los Angeles, California. This flower-bedecked Chinoisserie room was reserved for parties of women who wanted to play the Chinese game of mah-jong, which was very popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Note the harmonious colour scheme of muted blues and yellows, the gilded curio niche with enshrined Orientalia, the lovely carpets, and the woven rattan furnishings, which are similar to those at the Copper Kettle Tea Room in Los Angeles, California, and at the Sun Parlor Tea Room at the Young Women's Christian Association in Dallas, [[Texas Tea Rooms|Texas]]. Tea came from China, and there were many importers of Asian goods located on the West Coast, so outfitting a tea room as a Chinoisserie was not difficult to accomplish prior to World War Two.]] |
<i><b>catherine yronwode</b><br>curator, historian, and docent | <i><b>catherine yronwode</b><br>curator, historian, and docent |
Revision as of 18:44, 7 September 2020
catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room