A Random Gallery of Vintage Menus

Warner Bros. Studio Commissary Menu, 1960

Early Chili's menu, 1979

 

Alcatraz Prison Menu, 1946

The Cotton Club, New York City, 1930s

Bottoms Up

One of the many politically incorrect drinking board games of the 1960s and '70s, Bottoms Up was a game produced by Colt 45 malt liquor.

The object was to accumulate 30 credits, thereby completing one year of college. All while drinking Colt 45 "bottoms up" wherever you land on a space or take a card requiring you to. (I would be shocked if anyone actually finished a game.)

Some of the action cards that you were required to do:

Smoke two cigarettes simultaneously
Obey any wish or request of the player on your right
Put an article of your clothes on backwards
Do a Jack Benny imitation for 30 seconds
Explain to other players why you think that sex before marriage is a necessity.

Obviously, this game was from a very different time.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ahhh...Cinco de Mayo. The day we Americans celebrate Mexican Independence Day by throwing parties, quaffing margaritas, tequila or Modelo beer and enjoying a fun super tasty South of The Border feast.

But that's not entirely correct. There's lots of fun parties and the alcohol does flow freely. The food is always marvelous and super tasty.

Yet Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican independence day. That's September 16th. Cinco de Mayo is in fact, more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. And one that deserves more recognition than it gets.

Cinco de Mayo's roots begin during the French occupation of Mexico. Mexico at the time was in a real mess. They had 15 years of wars (The Mexican-American War, The Mexican Civil War and The Reform War) and everybody was getting tired of it. Finally in 1861, Mexican President Benito Juarez told Britain, Spain and France to hold off on their debt collection for these wars for two years until they can financially reorganize and get the country back on track.

They sent armies to confront Mexico and collect their debts regardless. Britain and Spain negotiated and backed off. But the French, under the rule of Napoleon III would not hear of it and another war began. Napoleon III wanted to turn Mexico into a French territory and since the Americans at the time were in an ugly civil war, he thought he could establish a strong enough foothold in Mexico, which he could then use to invade America (which was still a very small, very rural country at the time.) By using the Confederate South as proxies.

Napoleon sent 8,000 troops to attack Mexico's 4,500 troops at Veracruz. But on May 5, 1862, the much smaller Mexican army sent the French into retreat. The news reached the border communities of America where people celebrated the news.

While there would be more fighting, a major turning point had begun. Had Napoleon III defeated the Mexicans at Veracruz, the Civil War could have ended very differently.

So Cinco de Mayo is very much an American holiday. (More on Cinco de Mayo)

It was the expanding Latino communities that brought the holiday across America. But it was beer companies in the '80s that helped bring Cinco de Mayo into the American mainstream.

Because if there's one thing everyone LOVES, it's to party.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Oneophile Records

If you're a beer guzzler, this probably isn't for you. So go back to your Motley Crue albums. I'll have something for you later on this week.

This one's for the classy people....

If you love wine, fine cuisine and the good life, you'll be happy to know through the miracle of the vinyl LP record, selecting and serving wine has never been easier.

In the late 1960s, a couple albums were released targeting the oneophile or wine connoisseur.  The first is On Wine by Peter Sichel (Columbia Special Products, 1966).

(This is Side One of this album. Side Two, which isn't included had light classical and jazz music. Presumably the stuff that goes good with wine.)

 

Basically, if you're confused on what wine to serve with what food, these records will set you straight. I for one am not a huge wine drinker (more of a beer or bourbon type.) 

 

Tho other is The Joy Of Wine by Alex Lichine (MGM Records, 1967)

 

 

 You can hear the complete double album here. (Thanks to WFMU's Beware of The Blog.)

When Cough Medicine Was Cough Medicine

Your Christmas Party Buffet Table

 

Images courtesy of The Kitsch Bitsch

"Why Daddy" Ronnie Dove (1976)

This is a BIZARRE country Christmas tearjerker. By way of Motown.

That's right, Motown.

In the 1970s, Motown. The legendary home of snazzy R&B pop diversified a bit, starting Melodyland (which changed to Hitsville Records) for country music.

This wouldn't be Motown's last foray into country. In fact, Motown saw it's biggest country hits with Lionel Richie a decade later in the 1980s ("Stuck On You" and "Deep River Woman" w/ Alabama)

Pat Boone (yes, THAT Pat Boone) recorded some country albums for Melodyland/Hitsville. TG Sheppard recorded his first albums for them. And they signed Ronnie Dove. Who has been around as a Baltimore area country/pop artist since the '60s.

You can tell by the year this was released (1976) he was cashing in on the popularity of Red Sovine, who released another country tearjerker involving a little boy called "Teddy Bear" earlier that year that was a huge hit, cracking the pop Top 40 that year.

Only this one was....Wow....

"Same Old Lang Syne" Dan Fogelberg (1981)

I heard a Holiday radio classic early this morning, "Same Old Lang Syne" by the late Dan Fogelberg and it got me thinking.... 

Very pretty song for it's time, albeit a few of the lyrics are highly socially incorrect today.

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve....

First, that's a very dangerous way and place to approach women. Standing behind her in the frozen food aisle and touching her on her sleeve is just enough distance for her to turn around and upside you with a family size box of Banquet Salisbury Steak that'll leave a massive bruise on the side of your head well into the new year if she doesn't recognize your face at first.

She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried....

Pay attention to the store intercom. If you hear Jessica Simpson's rendition of Jingle Bells being cut off and a grouchy cashier grumbling "Brandon...Clean up on Aisle 4.....Brandon, clean up on Aisle 4....", it's a good idea for both of you to stop laughing and pick up all the stuff she dropped.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn't find an open bar 
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car....

Maybe this is the only place on Earth where the grocery and liquor stores stay open longer than the bars on Christmas Eve. But in some states (In Washington State namely - especially on Christmas and New Year's Eve), the state patrol is out in full force with extra patrols looking for any mere sign of impaired driving. With a .08 legal breathalizer limit, one 12oz. can of Budweiser (if your old lover just drank it very recently) is enough to do her in. 

A six pack could get her up to a year in the slammer. Or at least two years of probation misery and a suspended license.

Any open container found in her car - even if she's perfectly sober and it's been under her seat and emptied long ago is enough to get her a healthy fine in WA. Even if she's parked out of the way and a cop finds her and asks to do a vehicle search (like what's your old lover gonna say to them? No?), she will get her vehicle searched anyway, like it or not. And if they find an empty, she's still gonna get hit with a big fine. And a mandatory field sobriety test.

Which means the only car you and your old lover will have to drink your beer in is a rusted out old piece of vehicular homicide on blocks surrounded by weeds in her backyard. And since the man she married was an architect. Who are not only wealthy, but very finicky about appearances. I don't think he'd be down with that kind of landscaping anyway. To say nothing of his wife messing around with an old boyfriend like that on Christmas Eve.

How's that for romantic reunions?

So your cheap choices on where to drink a six pack with your old lover when all the open bars have been closed on Christmas Eve (usually by 6:00 PM) are limited. This can actually be a blessing in disguise. 

Because most cheap motels here are usually open 24/7. Some motel units offer kitchenettes with refrigerators for your old lover to keep the frozen food she just bought at a safe temperature. And last I checked, you and your old lover can STILL drink beer in those. At least.

SUPER cheese points if the unit hasn't been redecorated since 1973 and includes a Magic Fingers king size bed. 

 

I once actually plunked $5 in quarters into one of these.

If you don't mind very basic cable TV, the crackheads next door and the potential of a nasty bedbug infestation these days, cheap motels really aren't so bad.

Just pay cash or make sure your old lover doesn't have a hitched credit card with the architect husband who kept her warm and safe and dry. 

But if she said she saw you at the record store and that you must be doing well (probably meaning you weren't trying to fop off your Clay Aiken CDs for the beer money), that too shouldn't be a problem.

Dan really should have written an updated Washington State version of this song. Yeah, it probably would have had at least ten or more extra verses (depending on the strength of the beer.)

Just an observation.....

M.A.S.H. and Billy Beer (Late '70s)

"The Ballad Of Thunder Road" Robert Mitchum (1958)

"Thunder Road (1958) was loosely based on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According to Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum – who not only starred in the movie, but also produced the film, co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself. Mitchum also co-wrote (with Don Raye) the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road." - Wikipedia

Hungry?

More actual food products here and here.

Source: Buzzfeed

Cooking With The Stars: Food Products Made By Pop Stars

Frank Sinatra was one of the world's greatest pop music singers. So when Ol' Blue Eyes decided to come out with his own line of spaghetti sauce, the world wildly licked it's chops. Sinatra has often told of his family's famous pasta sauce recipe (and with Sinatra's family hailing from Sicily, you KNEW it HAD to be absolutely DELICIOUS.) Unfortunately, the spaghetti sauce bearing his name was a commercially processed sauce not much better than the Classico or other mid-level sauces. While fairly good, it was a disappointment. And a look on the ingredients label indicated why. They had pretty much the same artificial and preservative ingredients as any other of these sauces.

 

The late Linda McCartney had a wonderful idea - make a line of convenient and healthy vegetarian food products that didn't taste like nuts and twigs, the biggest fear of any foodie. That's easier said than done. Because you have to remove things like meat and anything resembling flavour. And usually replace them with tofu and strange things like oats and mushrooms to give it some texture. Her line was available in America for a few years in the '90s, but was discontinued (I haven't seen it in years in most food co-ops). However, you can still find it in the UK. The Chili Non Carne was surprisingly good.

http://www.lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk/

Country singer Dwight Yoakam came out with a line of microwaveable snack foods called Take 'Ems. They also come in cheeseburgers and pork rib sandwich varieties and chicken fries and rings. I've tried some of them and I'm pretty impressed.

 http://www.bakersfieldbiscuits.com/products.html

Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Tequila - I got a bottle of this a few Christmases ago. Pretty good stuff.

http://www.cabowabo.com/age-gate?url=/