Kingcombe Inlet Totem Pole Menu

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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This tri-fold menu features the welcome totem pole at Kingcombe Inlet — which is now apparently spelled Kingcome Inlet — a fjord between Vancouver and Prince Rupert. This totem was at the entrance to a village which once held potlatch ceremonies in defiance of a Canadian ban on such activities between 1885 and 1951.

Click image to download a 798-KB PDF of this menu.

This 1967 photo shows the totem with most of its arms missing. I suspect it is completely gone now, but there are some pictographs in the area. Continue reading →

Newcastle Island Tea

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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In 1930, Canadian Pacific bought a 900-acre island that was just a few hundred feet off the shore of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. Newcastle Island had previously been a source of coal, but the coal mine was exhausted, so CP built a recreation pavilion with a soda fountain and a dance floor built on springs. Between 1931 and 1939, it operated ships from Vancouver, bringing hundreds of people a day to Newcastle Island during the summer season.

Click image to view and download a 252-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

We’ve previously seen a lunch menu featuring Newcastle Island on the cover. The menu was used on a Canadian Pacific steamship in British Columbia coastal service, possibly one going to Newcastle. Today’s menu is for a tea service featuring breads, jams, and hot or iced tea, coffee, or ice cream. Continue reading →

The Laurentians Dinner Menu

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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This menu is undated but is part of a series of menus featuring black-and-white photographs on the cover. Most of these were issued in the early- to mid-1930s, probably as a cost-cutting measure due to the Depression. The lamb chops are priced at one for 35¢ and two for 65¢, which narrows the time to 1932 to 1936.

Click image to view and download a PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

The Laurentians are considered a mountain range, but as the highest peaks are under 4,000 feet, they are better known as the “land of a thousand lakes.” Thus, this menu features one of those lakes rather than the rolling hills that surround such lakes. Continue reading →

Empress Beverage Menus

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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These two beverage menus were used in the bars of Canadian Pacific’s steamships. The first is dated August 1934 and someone has helpfully written that it was from the Empress of Britain. The second is dated July, 1936 and was used on the Montcalm. Since they are both from the summer, they would have been used on trans-Atlantic voyages, not on cruises.

Click image to view and download a PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

The painting on this menu is signed “A.E. Bestall” (1892-1986), which refers to English painter and illustrator Alfred Bestall. Bestall was most famous for having drawn the Rupert Bear comic strip from 1935 to 1965. Continue reading →

Atlantic Empress Menus

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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I found two more empress menus from the early 1930s in the Chung collection, both used on the trans-Atlantic route. First is a breakfast card from the Empress of Australia in 1932. We’ve previously seen a breakfast card from a Pacific empress that had around 80 numbered items on it. The items on this one aren’t numbered but they are similar in number.

Click image to view and download a 517-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

Both included such things as strawberries and cream, shredded wheat, and various fish, egg, and meat dishes including lamb’s kidney, Cumberland ham, and cold chicken or capon. The Pacific empress menus had Hawaiian pineapple and Indian griddle cakes, whatever those are, there wasn’t much deference to local cuisines. Continue reading →

More Pacific Empress Menus

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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These Pacific empress menus were used on the Empress of Japan in 1934 and 1935. First is one featuring an illustration of the port of Montreal. The tourist-class lunch menu lists 31 items, plus cheese, biscuits, and coffee.

Click image to view and download a 991-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

A hungry diner could make this a ten-course menu: hors d’oeuvres; soup; fish; noodles; entrée (spaghetti, curried vegetables, sausage, corned beef dumplings); Welsh rarebit; a main course (lobster salad, sausage, raised pie, ox tongue, capon, or head cheese) served with potatoes and vegetables; followed by a salad; sweet dessert; biscuits and cheese; and coffee. Yee-Foo Mein, the noodles with pork and vegetables, and curried vegetables are only Asian dishes on the menu, and since one of the entrées was spaghetti many people would skip the noodles. Continue reading →

Pacific Empress Menus of 1933

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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Two of today’s 1933 menus feature Canadian Pacific hotels and look to be part of a series that included one for the York Hotel shown here two days ago. All three menus are printed on nearly white paper with the hotel illustrations in bright colors and yellow stripes on either side of the menu card.

Click image to view and download a 798-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

The first menu, which shows the Chateau Frontenac, is for lunch on the Empress of Japan. The York menu was also for lunch in tourist class. This menu doesn’t specify what class it was used for, but it has about the same number of items of approximately the same quality of foods. Continue reading →

Meals on the Pacific Empresses in 1932

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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The Pacific empresses were a little slower, a little smaller, and had more water to cross between ports where they could restock supplies. This could have had an influence on the menus Canadian Pacific offered to passengers, but apparently it did not.

Click image to view and download a 971-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

This breakfast menu on the Empress of Russia lists 81 numbered items (making it easy for guests to order by number). That’s a lot more than were listed on the trans-Atlantic breakfast menus presented here yesterday. That may be because yesterday’s menus were for tourist class while today’s is unmarked but may have been for first class. Continue reading →

Tourist Class Menus on an Empress

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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Here are a number of tourist-class menus from a single trans-Atlantic trip aboard the Empress of Australia in 1931. There are fewer selections on these menus than on first-class menus, but no tourist-class passenger would go hungry on one of these voyages.

Click image to view and download a 461-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

First is a lunch menu featuring a scene on the St. Lawrence Seaway. The menu has no appetizers but otherwise has as many courses as a first-class menu. However, there are fewer selections in each course and the selections are lower quality, such as rump steak instead of sirloin steak. Continue reading →

Tourist Class on the Empress Fleet

Posted on by March 24, 2023
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Canadian Pacific’s tourist class was supposed to be a cut above third class but not quite as good as second class. Normally third class consisted of shared rooms with 8 to 12 beds. CP’s tourist-class rooms had just two to four beds. The rooms might still be shared if one person was traveling alone, but there was still more privacy and parties of two or four traveling together would not have to share with anyone else.

Click image to view and download a 14.4-MB PDF of this booklet from the Chung collection.

The cover of this booklet, which the Chung librarians date to 1929, makes “tourist third cabin” appear to be almost as good as first class. Interior photos make it clear, however, that the dining rooms and lounges are nowhere near as fancy or comfortable as first or second class. First-class lounge chairs, for example, were heavily upholstered, while tourist-class chairs were wicker. The booklet’s cover art is signed “E.B. 1927,” but I can’t find a Canadian Pacific artist with those initials. Continue reading →