Back at the Lafayette Hotel & Club in the North Park hood of San Diego; this time it’s for breakfast. Mar Mar and I read the weather reports (and looked outside to confirm) and decided to brave Hurricane Hilary. The storm had already been downgraded from a 4 to a 1, and the weather map showed that it was not touching down near our area. Full steam ahead.
This time I tried the Chocolate Hazelnut Boozy Milkshake; it slightly edged out my previous choice, the Banana Coconut version. Mar Mar got the coffee in the branded mug (nice touch!).
I got the Banana Bread Pudding French Toast and Mar Mar got the Buckwheat Pancakes with blueberries lemon whip. For decadence, get the French Toast; if you want to feel like you’re being semi-healthy with more fiber, you’ll enjoy the pancakes. The bacon (not pictured) was typical of a diner; a little greasy and limp, but still serviceable. The Chateau doesn’t need to worry about my allegiance on that one.
The biscuits and gravy were just the way I like them; lots of sausage pieces and a good thick hearty gravy. None of that cheap runny crap.
Each time I visit (and there have been a lot of visits) I notice more details, like the monogram on the booths:
The detailing on the edge of the overhead lights:
There are no photos of the staff, but so far every experience has been positive. The waitresses have been fantastic. Still more to report from the Lafayette, but now I need to head to work!
See more Lafayette Hotel and Club photos at my main website.
20th Century-Fox producer Darryl Zanuck received the Milestone Award in December 1953. From the photo’s accompanying publicity blurb:
FILM MAKER HONORED—Darryl F. Zanuck (left), 20th Century-Fox vice-president in charge of production, is shown here with the Milestone Award with which he was presented recently by the Screen Producers Guild, lauding him for his industry achievements. With Zanuck are Gov. Goodwin Knight of California; Carey Wilson, SPG president; and Shirley Temple, who made all of her childhood pictures with Zanuck.
The Guild initiated its annual Milestone Award Dinner at which an extraordinary honoree would be recognized for his or her historic contribution to the motion picture industry. The Milestone Award is the Guild's highest honor, and may be awarded to an individual or team for their contributions to the entertainment industry.
The first winner was Jesse Lasky (1951), followed by L.B. Mayer. Other winners include Walt Disney (1957), Bob Hope (1962), Alfred Hitchcock (1965), Steven Spielberg (1999), and Bob Iger (2014). From 1967-1997 the award took a hiatus for unknown reasons. Sounds like something I should investigate for another post! If Shirley’s outfit looks familiar, that’s because I posted a shot of her wearing it a year later to the re-premiere of “Gone with the Wind” at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater on August 10, 1954.
While Shirley wore the same outfit, she did carry a different purse AND changed the orientation of the diamond clip on her decolletage from vertical to horizontal. The beautiful piece of jewelry from Tiffany & Co. was sold by Heritage Auctions in December 2016 for a cool $250,000. From the auction catalog:
Diamond, Platinum, Double-Clip-Brooch, Tiffany & Co.
The brooch features full-cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 5.25 carats, enhanced by baguette-cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 1.75 carats, set in platinum, marked Tiffany & Co. Total diamond weight is approximately 7.00 carats. Gross weight 41.90 grams.
Individual Clip Dimensions: 1-5/16 inches x 1 inch
Combined Dimensions: 2-3/4 inches x 1 inch
The auction house missed a real opportunity by not giving the background on the brooch. Thanks to some sleuthing by Melissa, aka “The Colonel,” I learned that it was a gift from Fred Astaire’s sister, Adele, aka “Lady Cavendish.” After luncheon with Shirley at 20th Century-Fox studio in 1936, Adele and her husband, Lord Cavendish, sent Shirley the jewelry. That must have been some lunch! “Isn’t it beautiful!” Shirley said as she opened the package. Two days later, a gold badge commemorating Shirley’s membership into the Texas Rangers arrived from Governor James Allred and immediately won the favor of the little girl. “You better put this [the diamond brooch] away for safekeeping,” she told her mother. “I think I’d rather wear this badge!” The brooch was supposedly Shirley’s first piece of real jewelry. Mama Temple herself wore the brooch at the return to Fox party in November 1948 when Shirley was making “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College.”
While Shirley may not have completely appreciated the brooch as a child, it sure got some use in her adult life. Note what’s holding her cape together at the 1961 Oscars with Annette Funicello!
California Governor Goodwin Knight should look familiar to Disneyland fanatics. He was at the Park on opening Day (July 17, 1955). Here he is at left on the way to the opening ceremonies with Art Linkletter (striped shirt behind Walt), Walt Disney, and Santa Fe President Fred Gurley.
If you want more on the SPG (Screen Producer’s Guild), here’s the 411: The Producers Guild of America began as two separate organizations, with the Screen Producers Guild being formed on May 16, 1950. In 1957, television producers formed the Television Producers Guild. The two merged in 1962 to form the PGA under producer Walter Mirisch (“Some Like it Hot”).
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
When you find yourself laboring on Labor Day, something’s wrong. I have been collecting vintage Disneyland slides for over fifteen years now. Some have dates stamped on them, some have handwritten notes, and others come with a big fat zilcho. Over the years, I have learned a few clues that determine when the undated ones were shot (and some help from a team of experts who know way more than I do). Originally, I had these first two images of the Mark Twain marked as 1955. However, when I recently noticed that Tom Sawyer Island was in existence, oops…must be after 1956.
The rest of these images were all marked March 1956.
On the Mark Twain, you can clearly see the patriotic bunting which I believe was only used during the month of July. In the background on the right of this image you can clearly see that Tom Sawyer Island is alive and inhabited by guests, which pushes the date to after June 1956.
Whoever coined the phrase, “Ignorance is bliss,” sure wasn’t fooling. At the end of the day, you have to realize that in the grand scheme of things, you just have to let go. OCD be damned. I’m tired of laboring on Labor Day.
See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.
Going through the vaults, I found these shots from May 2006 documenting the construction of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction. The original Submarine Voyage had closed September 1998, creating an eyesore and gripes from guests for close to a decade before Nemo opened in June 2007.
The Matterhorn, also an original 1959 attraction, watches as its forgotten sibling rises from the ashes.
If you’ve read my blog for awhile, then you know my feelings about the Nemo incarnation vs. the original. Below is a shot from happier times, circa September 1971:
Remember the Skyway and the Carousel of Progress? More laments from this blogger which don’t need to be repeated. There’s that old saying about beating a dead horse.
See more Disneyland Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage photos at my main website.
I was in shock after I read this post on the Instagram account of El Dorado Cocktail Lounge:
“It is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” As of today, El Dorado is closing its doors.
How can that be? After walking by this place every week for almost fifteen years to catch the bus to work, I finally went inside a month ago and fell in love. It is (was) the kind of place I adore: dark, kitschy, great service, ecclectic in decor, slightly retro, and classic cocktails that were crafted to perfection.
What took me so long to visit? First, it is not in a great area. Barely a block from the San Diego City College transit station on Broadway, every day you need to avoid eye contact with cracked out addicts shouting out profanities and sometimes exposing themselves. Keep moving. That’s my motto. However, after all this time, the glass block and neon at the entrance beckoned me in. I am so glad they did.
I’m even happier that I took my camera. Twice.
The reason the bar closed is still unknown to me. According to SANDIEGOVILLE:
No reason has been given for the reason behind El Dorado's sudden closure. We reached out to the company for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.
They also gave a little history of the establishment:
In 2008, Nathan Stanton (then co-owner of Consortium Holding Hospitality Group), his younger twin brothers, Marshall and Matthew Stanton, and Ryan Kuntz took over what was then Hong Kong Nite Club on Broadway in San Diego's East Village and opened El Dorado Cocktail Lounge. Under the Consortium Holdings umbrella of bars and restaurants, the establishment hired some of the finest barkeeps this city has to offer and soon became respected as innovators and educators in the cocktail world. Last fall, news broke that Glendale, CA-base Pouring With Heart restaurant group, which also owns Seven Grand and Bar Three Piece in San Diego's North Park, took over the establishment. The new owners closed the bar early this year and transitioned it to offer a more classic cocktail experience. Less than a year later, the company has announced that El Dorado is permanently closed.
A “Karen” on Instagram posted this comment on IG on the El Dorado account:
Y'all deserved to get shut down. It was f#$%^d up to tell employees y'all were closing THE DAY OF just so your workers wouldn't quit on you. DESERVED. Pretty sure they were trying to make as much as they still could to afford the costs of a failing business. I'm also sure they didn't wanna risk people quitting without notice, bc what's the point of staying at a job that can't even give a reference later? They've left many people jobless and without income, and let people work a full shift before doing so. Time that would've been spent finding another job was stolen from them.
How a person who lives in Virginia knew the behind-the-scenes story about a downtown San Diego bar is beyond me. Rarely are things as simple as they appear.
I don’t recall the previous Hong Kong Nite Club iteration at this location, so can’t speak to that one. Possibly another reason for the El Dorado failing was its hours. How does a bar downtown not open until 6pm? You immediately lose the happy hour business to other establishments. On the three occasions that I visited, the place was empty. I’m sure the hipsters arrived much later.
One of the restroom signs; guess I won’t be able to get a shot of the other sign.
A shy maiden forever stuck in the rain hung over the bar.
Lots of taxidermy.
My favorite cocktail, the El Diablo. It was delish. I raise my glass to the good times at El Dorado.
Moral of the story:
Don’t rely on the fact that there will always be a next time. Live your life NOW!
Oh yes, and take the photos that you want at that moment.
I guess I better get myself over to the Chee Chee Club down the street and check it out. At least that one opens at noon!
See more El Dorado Cocktail Lounge photos at my main website.
The Mississippi Room at the Hotel Manor (now The Lafayette) was where guests could hear the big bands, drink, dance, and do all the things that made life fun back in the fifties. This souvenir photo is from November 1950. Yes, in the day before selfies, people paid for souvenir photos. This lounge was where my Aunt used to hang out at night when she was done her shift as a waitress. Apparently, when Jack McLean joined the Navy in mid-1943, his orchestra was taken over by Jimmy Kennedy, owner of San Diego’s Paris Inn (downtown on the corner of 1st and C), where they had been playing.
Based on this hanging banner, it would appear that the Mississippi Room will be making a comeback, but isn’t quite ready just yet.
The lobby bar gets packed at night with the local hipsters.
At first glance, I loved the decor; at second, something about it just seems a little too “off the shelf” and manufactured. I’m not quite sure that it will age well.
Now we arrive at the initial destination: Beginner’s Diner.
The copy on the menu reads as follows:
This thing. here, this isn’t a diner. The real diner is dead. Beginners Diner is the Smithsonian ode to the diner because the craving for better and cheaper that created the diner wound up killing it off in the end. We long to see the true diner in the wild, but are only really able to experience it in the films and our imagination. So sure, the diner survives, but it survives as a twisted and perverted and idolized version of itself. And in the end, the idea of the diner will outlive all of us in places like Beginner’s Diner, because as Ringo (a.k.a. Honey Bunny) says in Pulp Fiction, “The days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun.”
Interesting copy; it serves to justify the higher prices (probably smart to condition the customer that way), but fails to note that there are some traditional diners that still exist “in the wild.” I know…I’ve been there. If you’re going to write smart-ass copy, do your research before you make a claim. Back to Beginner’s Diner…
With Mar-mar, my partner in crime. We were ready to try the tater tots.
The hit of this visit was the Boozy Milkshake (I chose Banana Coconut). Just the right amount of booze, it also came with a good amount of leftover in the metal mixing container. Nice touch!
I ordered the French Dip. I was happy with my choice as far as flavor goes; however, for $22, I would have expected the sandwich to be a little more about the meat and less so on the bun. The tater tots were good, but Station Tavern is not going to lose me as a customer any time soon.
The apple pie was good, but lacked the flavor I would expect from a diner. Nice plate though!
Overall, Beginner’s Diner gets an A+ on presentation, but a C+/B- on the food. Still worth the trip, and let’s keep in mind…they just opened. Hopefully in time things will improve.
Here’s a sound clip from youTube of the Jack McLean orchestra playing “When the April Showers Reach Hawaii,” circa 1947. You can imagine yourself sipping a cocktail at the Mississippi Room while you listen to it.
Is there more to come from this story? Of course! See more Lafayette Hotel and Club photos at my main website.
Opening on July 1, 1946, The Lafayette Hotel was originally known as Imig Manor, after its owner, local businessman Larry Imig. It became a place for celebrities (Bob Hope, Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, and Lana Turner) to escape Hollywood and hang out at the Johnny Weissmuller designed swimming pool as well as the 100+ guest suites. A recent $31 million renovation has given new luster to the Colonial mansion styled building, located along El Cajon Boulevard in North Park. The above shot is how the façade looked in 2014; below was taken after the remodel.
The Red Fox Room was a steakhouse that was once located on the front left corner of the hotel, since 1959. The restaurant moved across the street a few years back to make way for a different concept.
It is now Quixote, an upscale Mexican eatery.
Early press releases said the name of the restaurant/bar would be Mama Intento, and the base paint of the sign confirms that. However, the neon over it and the hotel website no longer reference that name.
The entrance:
The lobby. Wow! The experience when you enter is not what you would expect from the Tara Plantation exterior. It is more akin to the Jungle Room at Graceland (I’ll leave that up to you as to whether that’s good or not).
The famous Weissmuller pool:
More to come on this place!
See more Lafayette Hotel and Club photos at my main website.
