1940s Town & Country

----	1940s Town & Country
	The City Small Towns Suburbs Quick Service Dining Casual & Fine Dining Shopping

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The City The city was a world of department stores, crowded sidewalks, fancy hotels and fire escapes. It was the hustle and bustle of subways and streetcars, the glamour of theaters and nightclubs. In most cities, a building of 20 stories qualified as a skyscraper. New York City had the world's tallest....the Chrysler Building with 77 stories, and the Empire State Building with 102 stories. Empire State Building Chrysler Building Downtown Greensboro Memories Our way of life was becoming increasingly urban, and by the 1940s we had passed the halfway point. 55 percent of us lived in towns and cities of all sizes in 1940. In urban areas, the distribution of homes was split evenly between the city and the suburbs. This began to change in the late 1940s when the mass exodus to the suburbs began in earnest. Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, 1942 --sometimes the city can be the loneliest place of all Times Square New York City was the center of everything that was modern and vibrant in the 1940s. It was the Wonder City, the Radio City, the true melting pot. It was the Statue Of Liberty, Times Square and the Empire State Building. It was Radio City Music Hall and Broadway. It was nightclubs and baseball games, hot dogs and egg creams. New York City Images Times Square New York Egg Creams

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Small Towns The pace of small town life was relaxed. Stores, businesses and parking meters could be found on Main Street. The neighborhood grocery was just a few blocks away. Typical communities had parks surrounded by town squares, churches, barbershops, dry-cleaners and drugstores. Friendly telephone operators connected your calls, and everyone knew everyone else. Most towns had some sort of streetcar service, which resulted in streets criss-crossed by streetcar tracks

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The Suburbs Suburbs are divided into categories based on the method of transportation that connects them to the city. They can be as close as the city limits or an hour away by train. older suburbs In the late 1800s, railroad and streetcar suburbs first appeared along the rail and trolley lines that radiated out from the city center. They reached their peak in the 1920s. Early automobile suburbs were located in areas without rail access. They were built with the automobile in mind and were settled by affluent car owners who didn't depend on rail travel. They were popular between 1905 and 1945 and featured paved streets, landscaping and sunny open areas. Levittown On Long Island, Levittown was the first major suburb of the postwar era. This subdivision was built by the firm of Levitt & Sons, and the first homes were completed in 1947. In 1949, a two-bedroom house sold for $7,900. The subdivision featured ball fields, swimming pools, streets uncluttered by utility poles, and no fences. The homes were built quickly and efficiently, sometimes at the rate of 30 per day. Unfortunately, the subdivision had covenants preventing blacks and Jews from buying homes there, which was a standard practice at the time. Levittown was immensely popular.		after the war: the freeway suburb Things began to change dramatically after the war. Servicemen returned from overseas and got married in record numbers. This created a housing shortage, especially in the city. Eager for a fresh start, Americans turned their attention to the open countryside. On the outskirts of town, developers replaced farm fields with cul-de-sacs, sidewalks and rows of identical tract houses. These housing developments were connected to the city by freeways and expressways. This gave us the newest type of suburb: the freeway suburb. It didn't matter if these subdivisions were miles away from the city center. They would become self-contained communities with shops and schools of their own. The booming postwar economy made it possible for most people to own a car, so transportation wasn't a problem. Between 1945 and 1951, the population of the suburbs doubled. Much of this growth took place in the new postwar freeway suburbs. Levittown: An Ideal American Suburb Levittown's Legacy Of Bias

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Quick Service Dining soda fountains lunch counters Most drugstores and department stores had a place where hungry shoppers could stop for ice cream or a light lunch. Workers on their lunch breaks also favored simple, inexpensive drugstore lunch counters. soda shops sandwich shops Sandwich shops and hamburger joints served ice cold soft drinks, thick milkshakes and hot, juicy burgers. Teens enjoyed gathering at the local soda shop, where they could chat with friends, have a snack and listen to the jukebox. White Castle Tony Packo's Krystal Steak 'n Shake White Tower drive-ins snack stands The drive-in restaurant was born in the 1920s, when car travel became common and the automobile became a way of life. The fast food industry continued to grow in the 1940s as more Americans took to the roads after the war. Thanks to car hops and curb service, you didn't even have to get out of your car! In 1948, the McDonald brothers converted their San Bernardino barbecue restaurant into the first McDonalds drive-in. The new eatery replaced carhops and elaborate menu items with 15 cent hamburgers, 10 cent french fries, triple thick milkshakes and a revolutionary new Speedee Service System. The first Dairy Queen opened in Joliet, Illinois in 1940. It was one of the first establishments to sell a new type of ice cream known as soft serve. In the city, hot dog stands and ice cream vendors were popular. The highways were dotted with snack stands that resembled the food they were selling. Giant hot dogs, chickens, donuts, pigs, milk bottles and root beer barrels served as both buildings and advertisements. McDonalds Dairy Queen Tail O' The Pup A&W Texas Pig Stand Nathan's Famous Superdawg Triple XXX Root Beer Novelty Architecture Roadside Eateries With "Big Food" Vintage Roadside Eateries Jilly's Drive-In Restaurant Page		Click here for more restaurants from the 1940s!

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Casual & Fine Dining for travelers Truck stops and roadside cafes increased in popularity after the war. People were taking longer car trips and hauling products by truck, and the focus was shifting from train travel to the automobile. Down in Corbin, Kentucky, the Sanders Court & Cafe was famous for its fried chicken. The Harvey House chain, which catered primarily to train passengers, began to lose business as car travel became more common. Business picked up briefly during the war years when gas was rationed and thousands of soldiers shipped out on troop trains. After the war, the company focused on opening restaurants in other locations, such as bus terminals and airports. casual dining At the self-service cafeteria, you could enjoy a wide range of dishes at reasonable prices. In the city, the automat took self-service to a whole new level. Here, everything was dispensed from machines. Customers put their nickels in, made their selections, and opened the glass doors to get their food. The coffee was especially good. The first Howard Johnson's ice cream parlor opened in 1925. By the 1940s, the chain was serving complete meals at clean, colonial-style restaurants. The new Pennsylvania Turnpike featured a Howard Johnson's restaurant at every service plaza, and it was these locations that helped keep the chain in business during the lean war years. Italian and Chinese restaurants put an American spin on their native dishes, and in the process they created new favorites like chop suey, pizza and spaghetti with meatballs. Chicago's Pizzeria Riccardo opened its doors in 1943, serving up the latest gastronomic marvel....deep dish pizza. In Los Angeles, the Coffee Dan's chain pioneered a modernistic form of architecture that would later be known as Googie. The Pig 'n Whistle chain was also popular with families in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Howard Johnson's Horn & Hardart Automat Bickford's Cafeteria Harvey House Coffee Dan's Aunt Fanny's Cabin The Diamonds Pizzeria Riccardo Sanders Court & Cafe Pig 'n Whistle Chicago's Deep Dish History Restaurant Matchbooks diners Found predominantly in the eastern United States, diners were factory-built eateries that evolved from horse-drawn lunch wagons. New Jersey Diners Diners Of New York Ohio Diners		"Adam and Eve on a raft and a cup of Joe for table four!" Diner Lingo Click here for more restaurants from the 1940s!

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fine dining trendy spots New York City Sardi's Black Angus Jack Dempsey's Restaurant Hotel Lincoln Blue Room "Toots" Shor Roosevelt Grill 21 Club Rumpelmayer's Le Pavillon St. Regis Hotel Oak Room The Maisonette Plaza Hotel Oak Room Plaza Hotel Palm Court Pierre Grill Cafe Pierre The Colony Astor Roof Keen's English Chop House San Francisco Cliff House Fairmont Hotel Tonga Room Coffee Dan's In Los Angeles, the four Brown Derby locations were very popular with the after-hours crowd. The Hollywood location was known for its celebrity clientele. The menu to the right features celebrity caricatures on the cover.	Chicago Henrici's The Berghoff Camellia House Marine Dining Room Blackhawk Restaurant Mayfair Room Barney's Market Club Pump Room Colosimo's Los Angeles Sherry's Romanoff's Barney's Beanery Villa Nova Clifton's Pacific Seas Tom Breneman's Sardi's La Rue The Tropics Polo Lounge The Brown Derby Chasen's		many cities Don The Beachcomber Ruby Foo's other cities Minneapolis: ----• Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale Oakland: ----• Trader Vic's Washington D.C.: ----• Occidental Restaurant New Orleans: ----• Arnaud's Milwaukee: ----• Mader's Restaurant Tips On Tables: Nightclubs & Restaurants New York City Restaurants In 1940 Adventures In Good Eating From the mid 1930s to the 1950s, we were guided to the best restaurants in the country by Adventures In Good Eating, a traveler's guidebook written by Duncan Hines (the man, not the brownies!) The Trader Vic's and Don The Beachcomber restaurant chains popularized Asian cuisine, Polynesian decor and the Mai Tai. After the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair was over, the manager of the French Pavillion remained behind and opened the city's premier French restaurant....Le Pavillon.

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Shopping This section hasn't been moved yet. Click the link below to visit the original page. 1940s Shopping

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