Vintage/Retro themed bars, clubs, hotels? Share pictures and reviews!

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

The Maritime Hotel in New York City: insanely, unforgivably expensive for a room BUT certainly worth a visit for cocktail-drinking purposes.
<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/screening_keyImage.jpg">
<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/amenities_keyImage.jpg">
<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/hiroLounge_keyImage.jpg">
<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/hiroBallroom_keyImage.jpg">

The Friendly Toast in Portsmouth, NH: delicious, delicious food and 50s decor. In fact they have the same melmac dishes and bowls that I have. My favorite dish is the peasant's breakfast, which is an egg&tofu scramble on one side of the plate and spinach/feta on the other side. SO YUMMY
<img src="http://images.phantomgourmet.com/phantomImage737-normal.jpg">
<img src="http://www.seacoastnow.org/images/friendlytoast.gif">

Your turn! Share!

 

[jake_fink]

I want to like the Laurentian Room, a bar that opened in 1935 then closed in the fifties for fifty years before being reopened! But it's got a hipster thing that I can't get into, the music sucks and it's far too loud, and nobody, but nobody goes there for a retro vibe.

http://www.thelaurentianroom.com/

 

[AtomicBlonde]

There arent many retro bars or anything in my neck of the woods... so here are my favorite local diners and other places to eat.

First, in my hometown of Culpeper Virginia, Baby Jims Snack Bar. It opened in the late 1940's, my grandparents went on dates there, so did my parents. I have yet to go on a date there, mostly because about 6 years ago it started closing at 2:00 due to the influx of chains in the area, so it couldnt keep up with the competition. It used to be open til midnight, and I can remember being a kid and driving by in the evening and seeing all the cars parked in front. When I go home to visit family, its nice to have a baby jims burger with the works and an RC cola. Baby Jims was featured once in an episode of Zippy the pinhead:

Then, here in Fredericksburg is Carls Icecream. Carls opened in 1947, continues to be family owned and operated, and still uses the same 1940s Electro-Freeze ice cream machines to make 120 gallon batches of frozen custard. Carls icecream is THE BEST.... it opens in February and closes in November. On opening day there is usually a line around the building. Carls was also featured in Zippy.

And then finally, also in Fredericksburg, there is Goolricks pharmacy and soda fountain, which makes pretty good milkshakes and sandwiches. yummy!

I'm interested in seeing what places others like to go.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Oh my gosh!

It was completely silly of me not to mention Lucky's here in Boston, which is one of my favorite haunts. Well known for their "Sinatra Sundays". Unfortunately the crowd can be slightly cheesy so it's much better to go there when it's likely to be dead or when their fabulous jazz band is playing. (My boyfriend, a very talented drummer, has a man-crush on the drummer of the jazz band.)

I can't find a picture right now though! Sigh

 

[fortworthgal]

I'll bite.

The Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas. It was built to resemble a WWII hangar. The exterior has a Pacific theme, and the interior of the hotel is done entirely in 1940s-inspired decor - belt-driven ceiling fans, green OD wool "army blankets" on the beds, leather furniture, etc. The hotel features a 1940s diner and "Officer's Club" bar for cocktails. The best part is that the rates are very reasonable. They host hangar dances 2-3 times per year.

http://www.hangarhotel.com/

 

[Lauren]

I stayed in this hotel when I went to New Orleans a few years ago and loved it!
http://www.hotelmonteleone.com/

"The Hotel Monteleone has long been the home to some of the city's, and the world's, most famous and colorful characters. Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and Truman Capote called it home as well as countless movie stars, dignitaries and royalty"

"Antonio Monteleone was an industrious nobleman who was operating a very successful shoe factory in Sicily when he heard great things about America. The call of adventure motivated him to pack the tools of his trade and head for “the land of opportunity.” Antonio arrived in New Orleans circa 1880 and opened a cobbler shop on Royal Street, the busy thoroughfare of commerce and banking in America’s most European city. At the time Royal Street was indeed the grand street of the “Vieux Carre”, as the French Colonial’s sometimes called the new town.

In 1886, Mr. Monteleone bought a 64-room hotel on the corner of Royal and Iberville streets in New Orleans’ world famous French Quarter. The setting was ripe for Antonio to spread his entrepreneurial wings when the nearby Commercial Hotel became available for purchase. That was only the beginning of an amazing historical landmark that is one of the last great family owned and operated hotels in the city. Since 1886, four generations of Monteleones have dedicated themselves to making their hotel what it was and still is- a sparkling jewel in the heart of the French Quarter.

There have been five major additions to the Hotel Monteleone. The first was in 1903 when 30 rooms were added. The next addition occurred in 1908, during a time of financial panic in the United States; when 300 more rooms were added. 1908 was also the year that the name of the hotel was changed from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. In 1913, Antonio Monteleone passed away and was succeeded by his son Frank who added 200 more rooms in 1928, a year before another horrible crash in the U.S. economy. The Hotel Monteleone was one of America’s few family-owned hotels to weather the depression, and remained unchanged until 1954. That year the fourth addition required the razing of the original building and the foundation was laid for a completely new building that would include guest facilities, ballrooms, dining rooms and cocktail lounges. In 1964, under the direction of Bill Monteleone, who took over after his father passed in 1958, more floors, guestrooms, and a Sky Terrace with swimming pools and cocktail lounges were added."

 

[jitterbugdoll]

If you are staying in Phoenix, this place is rather neat. Built in 1927, it played host to many stars, and is supposedly haunted (they hold ghost tours on Saturday evenings through May.) It is down the street from the Westward Ho, the hotel made famous in the shower scene in the movie Psycho:
http://www.hotelsancarlos.com/index2.html

If you are visiting Flagstaff, this hotel is the place to stay (though on the night I stayed here, my drunk neighbor tried to jumped out the window--yikes!)
http://www.hotelmontevista.com/

MacAlpine's Soda Fountain has the best sodas, shakes, and sandwiches around, and the atmosphere is pretty swell too. The owners recently met two former employees (one who worked there for almost 47 years), who brought in stacks of the best photos. I will post a few if I can scan them in

 

[Lauren]

Here's another one of my favorite hotels. Never stayed there, but I really want to get a lounge get together there for the LA loungers sometime:
http://www.missioninn.com/

MODEST BEGINNINGS
The Historic Mission Inn occupies an entire city block in the heart of downtown Riverside, but this was not always so. The Inn began as the Glenwood, a two-story 12-room adobe boarding house, built in 1876 by Christopher Columbus Miller on land deeded to him by the city as payment for his services as civil engineer. Miller's eldest son Frank, later known as the "Master of the Inn", tried to make his mark through various entrepreneurial ventures including real estate, citrus farming, and retail. In 1880, at age 22 and anticipating his upcoming marriage, Frank purchased the adobe and surrounding property from his father for $5,000.
RIVERSIDE'S GRAND HOTEL
By the turn of the century, Riverside was already a major tourist attraction for wealthy easterners and Europeans escaping to warm winter climates and seeking investment opportunities in the burgeoning and profitable citrus industry. What the city lacked though, was a major tourist hotel. After several failed schemes to secure financing for his grander version of a hotel, in 1902 Miller built a four story U-shaped hotel enclosing a large central courtyard. Over the next thirty years Miller added three more wings to the structure. The Cloister Wing, built in 1910, added more guest rooms, but there was an increased emphasis on public spaces, including the large Music Room, an art and gift shop, and the St. Cecilia Chapel. The famous Cloister Walk, also called the Catacombs, with its niches, chambers, and art objects became a major attraction. The Catacombs are now closed to the public.

The Spanish Wing came next in 1913-1914, designed by Myron Hunt. The Spanish Patio, reminiscent of Spanish castle courtyards, offered guests an outdoor dining experience. Frank Miller's growing collection of art and artifacts prompted the inclusion of the large Spanish Art Gallery to exhibit parts of the collection. Two floors of additional guest rooms, including the Author's Row suites and Miller's own private suite, were added in the late 1920's.

TRIBUTE TO WORLD PEACE
The International Rotunda Wing, completed in 1931, filled out the original city block. The Rotunda features an open-air, five-story spiral staircase, another art gallery (the Galleria), the Famous Fliers' Wall (a monument to pioneers in aviation), the St. Francis Chapel, and the Court of the Orient. The chapel was designed specifically to accommodate a massive Eighteenth Century gold-leafed cedar altar from Mexico and seven equally impressive Louis C. Tiffany stained glass windows (an eighth was installed in the Galleria). The Court of the Orient reflected Miller's lifetime interest in far eastern cultures, especially Japan.

FAMOUS FRIENDSHIPS
Miller cultivated a wide circle of friends from among his guests. President Theodore Roosevelt stayed at the Inn soon after the 1903 Mission Wing was built and took part in the ceremonial replanting of one of Riverside's two parent navel orange trees in the courtyard of the hotel. Andrew Carnegie and David Starr Jordan encouraged Miller's participation in the international peace movement that inspired annual conferences at the Inn. Maude Adams, Sarah Bernhardt, and Madame Modjeska, all played to Riverside audiences in the Loring Opera HOuse (managed by Miller), and retired after performances to rooms at the Inn. Hamlin Garland, Pulitzer Prize winning author, wrote portions of his latest works in the Inn's Alhambra Suite. Charles Fletcher Lummis, publisher of "Land of Sunshine" and founder of the Southwest Museum and Landmarks Club (Miller was a member), was a frequent visitor. Visiting members of he royal houses of Sweden, Russia, and Japan were honored at banquets.

DAYS OF DECLINE
After Frank Miller died in 1935, the Mission Inn began a slow decline. The Great Depression, increased mobility afforded by the automobile, and a shift in tourism to the desert oasis centered about Palm Springs made profits even more elusive. The family business then sold the Inn in 1956, and for the next twenty years a litany of owners occupied the hotel, and many artifacts and pieces of the art collection suffered from neglect and had to be destroyed.

Finally, in 1976 the Riverside Redevelopment Agency purchased the Inn. Day to day management of the hotel was consigned to the Mission Inn Foundation, instituted specifically for that purpose. In 1985 the hotel closed for what was expected to be a two-year renovation project. With the restoration nearing completion in late 1988, owner/developer Carley Capital of Madison, Wisconsin, filed for bankruptcy just two weeks before the scheduled reopening. For the next four years several attempts were made to sell the Inn to an appropriate buyer. Then late in 1992, long time Riverside resident Duane R. Roberts formed a new corporation, the Historic Mission Inn Corporation which successfully negotiated the purchase. On December 30, 1992, exactly seven and a half years after it was closed, the Mission Inn once again opened to the public. A Gala opening was celebrated in May 1993.

RIVERSIDE'S LANDMARK RESTORED
To its guests and to the people of Riverside the Mission Inn has always meant more than simply bed, bath, and board. It is an oddly integrated assemblage of arcades and gardens, turrets and domes, flying buttresses and spiraling staircases, catacombs and carillon towers. It is also fine art and Spanish cannons, stained glass and ceramic tile, saints and dragons, bells and wrought iron. The Mission Inn is seen by many as the linchpin to a successful revitalization of the downtown area. More than anything, it is an artful and architectural tribute to the vision, eclecticism, and eccentricity of Frank Miller; one which deserves to be experienced by all who happen upon it.

 

[Etienne]

Hi, Bella Hell, I ate at the Friendly Toast when I was in Portsmouth, N.H.--FANTASTIC breakfast place and lots of fun, to boot! Great pick!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/hiroBallroom_keyImage.jpg">



Wasn't this place featured in a hit ninja film starring Uma Thurman?

 

[LizzieMaine]

For a real, genuine, authentic Golden Era dining experience, may I recommend Moody's Diner in Waldoboro, Maine -- http://www.moodysdiner.com/

This isn't a restoration or a reconstruction or a Hip Postmodern Ironic Take on the Retro Diner Experience -- it's the real deal, dating back to the 1930s, expanded occasionally, but never compromised. The food is good -- and very inexpensive -- and the desserts, especially the fresh-baked pies, are legendary.

It's about 20 minutes drive from where I live, and is my favorite place to take visitors looking for "the real Maine." This is it, right here. The sign on top says EAT, and that's exactly what you'll do. And if that's not enough, the Moody family also runs a genuine 1930s-style motel/tourist camp that's something right out of "It Happened One Night" -- little, individual wooden-frame cabins and all.

 

[Rosie]

Wow, great places

In NYC, one of my favorite places to go is The Garage, it was an actual garage in the 1920's and was turned into a jazz spot in the 40's, then it was closed down for quite some time and opened again in the mid '90's when I was in high school (couldn't go in until 1999 when I was legal).

http://www.garagerest.com/home.htm

Too bad they don't show any interior shots, it's really a swell place to look at while dining and the music is great!

 

[ITG]

There's a place in Waco, TX that I used to go to when I lived down there. It's called the Health Camp and they make the best milk shakes. It's off of I-35 and Valley Mills on the circle if you're ever traveling through the area.
http://www.gboutwell.com/art/LGhecamp.HTM

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/hiroBallroom_keyImage.jpg">



Wasn't this place featured in a hit ninja film starring Uma Thurman?

Oh my gosh, was it? I never even made the connection!

 

[Feraud]

<img src="http://www.themaritimehotel.com/images/hiroBallroom_keyImage.jpg">



Wasn't this place featured in a hit ninja film starring Uma Thurman?

Good eye! I think the restaurant featured in Kill Bill was a set.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Good eye! I think the restaurant featured in Kill Bill was a set.

If it was a set, it looked exactly like this real restaurant!

 

[skinnychik]

The Cruise Room in Denver's Lower Downtown

I went last weekend and was blown away by the vintage decor...too bad the delicious martinis prevented be from fully appreciating the details.

"Just off the main lobby is the legendary Cruise Room. Frozen in time since its Art Deco facelift in 1933, this popular bar was fashioned after one of the lounges on the Queen Mary and opened with fanfare the day after prohibition was repealed. Original chrome and neon reflect onto wall panels depicting light-hearted "toasts" from around the world."

 

[Brad Bowers]

The Cruise Room is fabulous! I try to go there everytime I get back home.

Brad

 

[JohnTheGreek]

For a colonial flair...

...and for the Pith Helmet and Khakis set, there is the Pemba Bar at the Pemba Beach Resort in Mozambique.

Similarly styled, much cheaper, and without quite as much taxidermy is the Hotel Windsor in Cairo and the Metropole Hotel in Alexandria, Egypt. Farther south, the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe is also quite nice and the drinks are cheap given that the official exchange rate as of today is 101,228 Zim dollars to a single US$.

Best,

John

 

[raiderrescuer]

Cotati California

When I was at Petaluma in 1988 a bunch of us ended up at Cotati...we saw a real popular club but for the life of us we could not figure out where the entrance was.

Then we notice that the Flower Shop was open and here it is late at night so we went in and asked about the club. Guy at the register said if we each bought $5 in flowers he'd help us out...at first we thought he was daft but the three of us ponied up the fifteen bucks and the Guy proceeds to pull open the Bookcase to his right. It was set-up Speakeasy style.

Kinda cool, you had to walk down a plywood entry way down to the club.

They were playing Madonna and we were the oldest ones there at the age of 26 (or so it seemed) so we left.