Monday, March 27, 2017

More Monorail Cafe, May 1999

Today I will be sharing the last of Mr. X's wonderful photos of the Monorail Cafe - formerly at the Disneyland Hotel. As I related in earlier posts, Mr. X knew that the Monorail Cafe was going to be removed, so he wisely brought his camera on two different days and snapped some nice pictures.

I'm sure it drove Mr. X crazy that he had not gotten there early enough to avoid having guests in the images, but sometimes you just have to roll with it. And I think it's sort of nice to see the family enjoying breakfast in front of that awesome mural!


There's "hidden Mickeys", and then there are "in your face Mickeys". In case you forgot that you were at Disneyland, they included some Mickey head tiles. They could have sold those on eBay for a pretty penny after the restaurant was razed! It's nice to get a peek at the men who prepared the food. I gotta get me a chef's toque.


The cafe had a nice comfortable vibe, like a good vintage coffee shop. This is a great view from the back of the restaurant looking toward the front. There's June, our friendly and efficient waitress! She calls me "hon". 


Unlike some "retro" eateries, the Monorail Cafe didn't overdo it with vintage decorations. Just a tasteful selection of old ads around the restaurant. I only recognize a Coke ad, a photo of Annette Funicello from her Mickey Mouse Club days, and a Popsicle ad illustrated by Vernon Grant (famous for creating Snap!, Crackle!, and Pop! for Rice Krispies). Who's the baseball player? I say Ted Williams, but it could be just about anybody. Somebody out there will know.


I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Monorail Cafe!


12 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

I thought everyone had Mickey tiles in their bathrooms - or at least worked into a kitchen backsplash-! And that should be Ted Williams singing the praises of Moxie... for a Lift the Healthful way.

Thanks, Major - or is that "Hon"-??

TokyoMagic! said...

I love that mural, but I just now noticed that they mixed the images of the round metal Skyway gondolas with the Rocket Jets...which never coexisted together. But I'll forgive them for that, since the mural is so gosh darn cool. Maybe it was supposed to represent the "ideal" Disneyland, like the model of the park that is on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum. At least, I think that is what that model represents.

Chuck said...

I love how that mural takes its cues from the post 1967 Monorail poster, but rearranges and adds elements to make it even more visually appealing. It would be perfect for my man cave...if I had one.

Nancy said...

I would recreate this if I had the buckaroos.....it's just too cool!! Incredible colors, especially love the silver metal chairs (even tho they are in no way comfortable) and the mural is just gorgeous. I especially like the third view....very 2001!

Thanks so much to Mr. X and the Major for these. Talk about starting your day with a smile.... :-D

Alonzo P Hawk said...

That mural is awesome! I miss this place and "old skool" coffee shops in general. Sadly places like this are drifting away. I love how the ketchup and mustard are in glass not the upsidedown shaped plastic bottles of today. Thanks for sharing Mr X/Major.

K. Martinez said...

The mural sort of reminds me of the Schuco Monorail box art. Sort of. Anyone remember the old Monorail Bar?

Thank you, Mr. X and Major.

Tom said...

Love these pics - never can get enough of the hotel or anything connected to the entire complex, and the Monorail Cafe is always awesome to see. Wish I'd gotten to go there in person! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

I just got back from breakfast at a diner, but coulda been finer if it had been the one pictured. oh well, close.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, my bathroom is entirely done in vintage “Craftsman” tiles by Batchelder. Moxie… I still remember an old man telling me that it tasted “like old socks”.

TokyoMagic!, I had noticed that as well, and came to the same conclusion as you did. Funnily enough, I used to have a “Swatch”-style Monorail Cafe watch, and it said, “Established 1955”, which is wrong on at least three levels, if not more, which just goes to show… something. Not sure what!

Chuck, wouldn’t it be great to have a big old room to decorate with all of the coolest old stuff? How about a vintage Miller Beer “bouncing ball” sign? An old Wurlitzer jukebox (AND an old hi-fi)? Old advertising stuff, some pinball machines… sigh, oh who am I fooling.

Nancy, who can forget the thrilling scene in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, when Dave Bowman goes through the Star Gate and gets a hamburger?! ;-)

Alonzo, it seems like every week I see another old coffee shop closing, to be torn down for yet another “mixed use” monstrosity; high-fashion stores on the ground level, luxury condos above. Yarg.

K. Martinez, I only know of the Monorail Bar from looking at Don Ballard’s “Magical Hotel” blog…

Tom, I never got to experience the hotel either - I don’t think I even walked around the shops until the 1990’s, and by then things had changed a lot.

Patrick Devlin, was it an old diner dating back to the 1940's??

Unknown said...

Major, no, but it's close: the 101 diner down on the coast highway. MIlk shake machines on the Stainless steel prep counter and burgers and shakes maybe later. You sit on swivel stools at a formica counter, so it's pretty cool.

Sunday Night said...

Thanks for these pics of a restaurant I never visited. Wish I had.
I don't mind the fake retro 50s diners as long as the food is really good and the music true 50s.
So when do we start seeing 70s retro diners? Featuring "mashed yeast"?

walterworld said...

The Monorail Café had that cool 50's Coffee Shop vibe because that's what is always was. It opened as 'The Coffee Shop' with the original Disneyland Hotel in '56 or '57. The originality was fairly ruined by the time it was the Monorail Café, but that didn't stop it from being a GREAT place to go to in the 90's when one wanted to eat outside of Disneyland but didn't want to get too far from a Monorail back to the World of Tomorrow :)