Golden era restaurants & cuisine of the era

[tonyb]

Perhaps one of our resident barristers can weigh in on this (provided they aren't already thoroughly soused; after all, it has after business hours everywhere but the West Coast), but I'm fairly confident you can refuse employment to smokers. I know of a few hospitals and at least one major airline that have a blanket policy against hiring tobacco users, and to the best of my knowledge such policies have not been successfully challenged.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's no federal protection for smokers, but several states -- including mine -- have laws that say you can't refuse to hire an otherwise qualified applicant *solely because* they smoke. Our law here was passed in 1991 due to heavy lobbying of our legislature by Philip Morris.

There are many health care facilities that insist on a tobacco-free staff, and I think there may be exemptions allowed even in states that have such laws for hospitals and clinics.

Our janitor is a smoker but he doesn't *smell of smoke,* or smoke anywhere on the property. By law places of public accomodations such as theatres and stores in Maine are allowed to prohibit any use of tobacco by anyone within thirty feet of the entrance, and we do so prohibit. We don't enforce this on people just walking by on the sidewalk, but we tell people smoking at the box office that they need to get rid of it before they'll be served.

 

[tonyb]

Here we go ...

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/mone...-01-03/health-care-jobs-no-smoking/52394782/1

As of 3 1/2 years ago, 29 states and the District of Columbia had laws protecting "smokers' rights." Which means 21 states did not.

Me, I'm torn. I'd rather nobody smoke. But then, I'd also rather people be free to do what they wish when they're off the clock, provided it has no perceptible effect on their work performance. The truth is, refusing employment to smokers would disproportionately affect lower-income people, seeing how they are likelier to be smokers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most of those laws were passed around the same time, if I recall correctly -- there was a big tobacco-industry push in the late '80s/early '90s to get them installed at the state level, and a lot of money was spent on "smoker's rights" front groups, especially by Philip Morris, to try and turn it into a "personal liberty" issue as opposed to a public health issue. Much of the way the issue is framed today goes directly back to that. Somewhere in one of my file boxes I still have a bunch of the press packs they sent out to radio stations and newspapers and such to promote this stuff -- full of pictures of Marlboro Men on horseback and bold craggy-faced loners gazing out over the golden horizon with carefully-placed cigarettes sticking out of their mouths. Probably all dead now from emphysema, but they were effective at the time. Whole lotta brainwashing going on.

And having been a low-income person myself for most of my life, I believe that anything that encourages the tobacco industry to contine preying on such people thru such cynical, manipulative marketing is very much not in their interests -- the more money they waste on poison, the more difficult their situations are. Addictions to tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs are factors keeping low-income people weak, disorganized, and effectively castrated. Discouraging addictions in every possible way, thru both incentives and disincentives, is in the best interest of low-income people as a class, of society in general, and yes, of the individual.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, getting back to Cuisine Of The Era, nobody ever eats hash anymore. Even the word itself has been corrupted into a slang term for a drug, instead of referring to a hearty melange of chopped up corned beef and potatoes. In the era, going to a "hash house" meant something very different than I suppose it does today.

 

[tonyb]

Low-income smokers would certainly find their circumstances improved by quitting the nasty habit (it's getting quite expensive, for one thing), but it is a form of self-medicating.

Having been a heavy smoker for decades, my sympathies are with those who just can't imagine themselves not smoking. I never ran out of smokes. I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep without knowing I had at least half a dozen cigarettes waiting for me to start the day. Seriously, I'd light a cigarette within a minute or two of awakening. I'd have three or four before I was showered and had a cup or two of coffee. Had to get that blood nicotine up to functioning levels, you understand. All those hours asleep without a cigarette had me running on empty.

I thought I would never quit. I was so committed to continuing the habit that it was a major factor in my decisions as to where I would work and whose company I would keep.

I had heard it said, many times, that a person quits when he really wants to. Most smokers will tell you they wish to quit, but it would be more accurate to say they wish they didn't wish to keep smoking.

For me, I truly wished not to smoke when it became undeniable that smoking was killing me. A cardiologist said, "we will continue treating you if you continue smoking, but know that you are just undoing all we're trying to do for you." So I quit. Dropped it like a bad habit.

I've angered more than one person I have overheard uttering some variation on "I'm trying to quit." Bull****, I say. Quit fooling yourself. You don't "try" to quit. You either quit, or you don't. Ain't no "trying" about it. So, if you continue smoking, get the best of whatever pleasures it offers you, because you will suffer the consequences. It's just a matter of how soon, and how severely.

 

[pawineguy]

Meanwhile, getting back to Cuisine Of The Era, nobody ever eats hash anymore. Even the word itself has been corrupted into a slang term for a drug, instead of referring to a hearty melange of chopped up corned beef and potatoes. In the era, going to a "hash house" meant something very different than I suppose it does today.

Living near the most unhealthy city in America (Philly) means that we still consume a fair amount of hash and its even more evil cousin, scrapple. But you're right, it's not the staple that it once was, not by a long shot. Scrapple is something that people consume more out of a sense of obligation and local pride, although I do know a few people who swear they love it. I'm indifferent and will order it if I'm feeling adventurous.

 

[tonyb]

Meanwhile, getting back to Cuisine Of The Era, nobody ever eats hash anymore. Even the word itself has been corrupted into a slang term for a drug, instead of referring to a hearty melange of chopped up corned beef and potatoes. In the era, going to a "hash house" meant something very different than I suppose it does today.

I still refer to down-market breakfast joints as "hash houses," although most of them don't actually serve hash.

My wife had never had "real" hash until I made my own variation on it for her. I shred already cooked potatoes and chop up the leftover corned beef, mix it together and cook it in a fair amount of fat (don't tell my cardiologist). Usually add onion and garlic, although some consider that sacrilege.

 

[pawineguy]

I still refer to down-market breakfast joints as "hash houses," although most of them don't actually serve hash.

My wife had never had "real" hash until I made my own variation on it for her. I shred already cooked potatoes and chop up the leftover corned beef, mix it together and cook it in a fair amount of fat (don't tell my cardiologist). Usually add onion and garlic, although some consider that sacrilege.

I'm good with onion in hash, even a little bit give a pretty bit pop in flavor.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hash here was often the remains of a good Sunday night "New England Boiled Dinner," which consisted of corned beef or ham, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and sometimes other stuff. After everybody had their fill for supper, the leftovers would be fried up in a skillet for breakfast Monday morning.

I can't eat onions at all. I'm actually allergic to them -- they cause a violent reaction in my throat to the point where I can't breathe. And if God forbid I swallow even the tiniest flake of one, watch out.

 

[tonyb]

My condolences. I just love onions.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't even be in the same room as the discarded wrapper of a sandwich containing onions. Even the fumes set me off.

I once spent several months working in a deli, where one of the products made on the premises was fresh liverwurst. When they dumped the sack of onions into the chopper, I had to go out in the alley and stay there until they were done and the fumes had dissipated.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I can't even be in the same room as the discarded wrapper of a sandwich containing onions. Even the fumes set me off.

The sight of oatmeal- or any cooked cereal- does that to me. Not an allergic reaction, but a gag reflex. Don't ask me why, but it does.

 

[green papaya]

back in the 1880's - 1898 era US Army cooks served some type of Hash every morning at Army Forts, probably made from left overs from the previous meal, beef hash, fish hash, and bread and coffee

stewed fruit , bread, and coffee was also common for the evening meal

 

[Gingerella72]

I have what may be a dense question....but for the places that painted their menus and prices on the windows....how much of a hassle would it be to change the prices?

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was usually painted in whitewash, which would come off with a wet rag. Repainting might be sloppy, but if you're the kind of place that paints your menu on the window in the first place, you're not usually all that concerned with place-product-packaging.

Many of these types of hole in the wall restaurants were really really simple inside. They were set up perpendicular to the street, with the grill and the coffee urn against one wall, behind a long counter with stools. Against the other wall there'd be a row of one-arm school desks where patrons would sit, using the chair arm as a rudimentary table. High turnover was the key to these places -- you were not meant to linger over coffee working on your latest novel. They wanted you in, fed, and out within fifteen minutes.

 

[emigran]

How nicely they were dressed...



!!

Here's my Great-Aunt and Uncle at a local watering hole for a Friday night fish fry. My best guess is late '40's

[URL=http://s130.photobucket.com/user/firestrat/media/IMG_20150701_0001_zps6ntctufw.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[Stanley Doble]

There were sign painters who made a business of painting advertisements in windows. They often had a regular route they went around, each week they would go to all the grocery stores and paint the week's "Specials" in the window, with illustrations and cartoon figures. They would also do restaurants and other businesses. If a store was holding a sale they would have the windows decorated. Car dealerships too, especially at new model introduction time.

One sign painter told me he liked doing signs for Jewish businesses, the Hebrew letters were the easiest to paint. He had no idea what they meant, the proprietor would give him a sheet of paper with writing on it and he would copy it on the window, or on a show card that went in the window.

You can usually tell if a sign was made by a trained sign painter. Many were done by the shop keeper himself, using white shoe polish. The liquid kind with the dauber in the bottle.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I'm fond of corned beef hash when I can get it but have you seen what it costs? It is not cheap anymore. The last I bought was $2.75 a can and that was on sale. As for buying corned beef and making your own, I wish I had one of those wooden bowls with the matching curved chopper that used to be in every kitchen in New England.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had a sign painter like that in town here right up until a few years ago, when the advent of those laser-cut computer generated vinyl signs put him out of business. He has a successor, who goes around painting ads for upcoming summer tourist events on downtown storefront windows, but it's not the same thing,