"You know that $1.50 Costco hot dog everyone loves so much? That little morsel of value is an icon, a holdover from a bygone era of shopping and dining that dates back more than a century. Department store restaurants were mainstays for decades, drawing shoppers to enjoy refreshments and socialize since the turn of the last century. In the 1960s, Harvest House cafeterias tried to differentiate themselves from standard quick-service lunch counters by offering sit-down dining for the whole family,"
"When department store restaurants first opened in the late 1800s, places like Chicago's Walnut Room were considered elegant and high-class. Think crystal chandeliers and delicate finger sandwiches. By the 1960s, however, the hustle and bustle of modern life had given rise to the spread of quick-service lunch counters - particularly in five-and-dime stores, drug stores, and diners. Many of those counters began to close in the 1970s and 1980s, which explains the nostalgia for them today."
Department store restaurants originated in the late 1800s as elegant dining rooms with crystal chandeliers and delicate finger sandwiches, serving shoppers and socialites. By the 1960s, quick-service lunch counters proliferated in five-and-dime stores, drug stores, and diners, creating a different, faster dining model. Harvest House cafeterias offered a sit-down, family-friendly alternative near Woolworth's, promising formal dining areas, kids' meals, relaxing atmospheres, and daily specials. Advertisements emphasized tasteful, inviting decor and affordable complete meals, such as a 1967 turkey dinner for 99 cents. Many lunch counters closed in the 1970s and 1980s, fueling contemporary nostalgia.
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