r/VintageMenus

Found these menus at a collector's estate sale.. Super interesting with the beautiful Pappy Moss polynesian topless girls cover art and the quote mentioning Fidel Castro and Cuban rum during a time very close to the Cuban Missile crisis.. The prices of the drinks like the Original Mai Tai for $1.85 is amazing, supposedly Trader Vic invented this drink and was the originator of a lot of Tiki style and vibes.. Had no idea that these menus could hold value for collectors, and curious if anyone knows how desirable and valuable they could be.. Thanks for the interest and any info!! 🏝🌺

A dinner menu from July 3, 1922, the last night at sea for travelers aboard the White Star Line's R.M.S. Majestic ocean liner. The journey began on June 28 and the ship — which sailed from Southampton, England, to New York by way of Cherbourg, France — arrived in the U.S. the following day.

The Majestic was at the time the largest ocean liner in the world. It had just entered service for White Star two months earlier after being built by Germany as the Bismarck and given to Britain as part of Germany's World War I reparations.

This menu comes from members of Los Angeles's Stern family who boarded in France and were returning to the U.S. from a vacation in Europe that included a visit to relatives in Germany, attendance of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at France's Auteuil race course, and other exploits. The Sterns traveled in First Class, which means they may have dined with such fellow passengers on the voyage as composer and pianist Irving Berlin, film producer Jesse Lasky (who with Cecil B. DeMille launched the studio that would become Paramount Studios from a barn once owned by Stern family patriarch Jacob Stern), and famed French singer Maurice Chevalier.

I'm also including some fun information pages from the Majestic's passenger list and brochure, including descriptions of the restaurant, secondary dining facilities, and other amenities. Not sure how I feel about "Electric Baths."

Dominion Day is the previous name for Canada Day.

Super interesting. A Bienenstick cake looks amazing when I look it up.

Yes, this is quite literally just a Union Pacific menu with the Amtrak logo stamped in two places on the interior. Amtrak in 1971 was a strange Frankenstein's Monster of an operation.

Interestingly, this menu says it is for the 'Traveler's Rest', a specific pattern of lounge/dinette car formerly used by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern; not Union Pacific, as this menu might otherwise suggest. After their acquisition by Amtrak, these cars were usually used on the San Francisco Zephyr, but not always.

Important to note is that Traveler's Rests were not full-service dining cars. As you might be able to tell from the relative lack of menu variety, their galley only had access to a small griddle and steam tables. These cars were much better suited to their role as lounge cars. Full dining car menus from the same year were of largely identical design, but with more variety.

Credit to trainlover at streamlinermemories.info for the menu and context, and to Howard Fogg for the original cover painting.