Old Woolworth's menu

[left-of-center2012]

Last edited Sat Apr 7, 2018, 05:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Googling this image, most responses say "1970",
but one says "1960",
and one even says "1950".

[malthaussen]

1. Loved that place.

I can still taste the greasy hamburgers. Lip-smackin' good.

-- Mal

[Fla Dem]

2. In the day when average annual salary in US was $6,184.24.

Or $119.00 per week. Gosh those were the days!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_Indexed_Monthly_Earnings

[hedda_foil]

5. And that salary supported a family because mom was a "housewife."

[left-of-center2012]

7. $119.00 per week

Guess I was doing well.
I worked in a psych hospital in 1970 making $210 a week.

I earned it - I worked on the "most disturbed" male unit.

[3catwoman3]

10. "I earned it."

I'll just bet you did.

[exboyfil]

36. My daughter is a newly minted RN

on a Mental Health floor (been on the job five months). Last night she had a patient who had in a prior admittance had assaulted one of the Safety Techs and put her in the hospital.

My daughter is small so I do worry about her safety. She does make more than the family median income in Iowa as a 20 year old living at home and driving my car to work.

[left-of-center2012]

38. My worst injury there ...

I got jumped a lot. This was before a lot of more modern medications, and we still used 'shock therapy'.
My coworkers included a former prison guard and a former Marine.
Our nursing station was protected by thick Plexiglas, because patients occasionally threw furniture at us.

One day a small patient jumped me, and I was so shocked that this little guy did it (I'm 6' 2" and big) that I released him,
as if to say "What the heck?".
He jumped me again and we fell to the floor, breaking my wrist.

[Submariner]

3. And they had Cream soda and made Vanilla and Strawberry Cokes for a dime

[Ohiogal]

4. Ah yes

The classic square of Jello topped with whipped cream!

My husband bought his first used car for $65! That was in 1965 right after he graduated from high school.

[femmocrat]

6. And they all sound delicious!

Wonder how they made all of those elaborate meals at that little counter.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

8. WHAT ABOUT TAPIOCA PUDDING - that was always one of my favs

And Liver sausage sandwich with mayonnaise and potato chips on the side. Mmm, your weekly allowance of chlesterol all in one meal!

[left-of-center2012]

9. Liver sausage sandwich with mayonnaise

A favorite of mine, even today.

[Willie Pep]

16. Yeah I used to eat those a lot.

My grandmother made her liver sausage sandwiches with mustard though, not mayo. I haven't had a liver sausage sandwich in a long time. Now I am getting hungry!

[left-of-center2012]

18. I'm adding it to my shopping list

[angstlessk]

11. Don't call it liver sausage, sounds horrible!

It's liverwurst and my mother never knew 'mayonnaise' she only used Miracle Whip.

[left-of-center2012]

13. Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage

You say tomato, I say liver sausage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverwurst

[angstlessk]

14. I LOVED liverwurst...had I known it was liver

I would have never eaten it!

[left-of-center2012]

15. "had I known it was liver"

You thought it was just 'wurst' ?

[greatauntoftriplets]

57. Liver is the wurst.

[jberryhill]

29. Braunschweiger

Although if you pointed a gun at my head and asked me the difference between liverwurst and braunschweiger, I think I'm gonna have to take the bullet.

[left-of-center2012]

58. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE ...

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIVER SAUSAGE AND BRAUNSCHWEIGER?

German liver sausages is also known as Leberwurst, liverwurst and braunschweiger.

Like other traditional foods, there is no set recipe for either. Just like there is no set recipe for tuna-noodle-casserole, everyone seems to make it a bit different but anyone can still identify it for what it is.

Leberwurst, Liverwurst and Braunschweiger (liver sausage in German) are made from pork liver, both have added spices to give them flavor.

Braunschweiger is generally smoked - but liver sausage generally is not, however. Although they are pretty close to each other,
Braunschweiger gets its name from a town in Germany called Braunschweig. While liver sausage is a more generic term used to describe many different types of liver based sausages.

Liver Sausage can be smooth and speadable like Braunschweiger or more like a country pate en Terrine like our Opa's Liver Link.

So basically it comes down to the fact that there are no standard recipes for either type - one is a generic name and one is a name for a type of sausage made popular in a specific town.

Manufactures probably use the different terms to indicate a variation on their own recipes. For those who like liver -there is nothing quite like a good liver sausage.

[HipChick]

12. No flipping calories this going to cost you...

[Willie Pep]

17. That meat loaf sounds delicious

I have had a craving for meat loaf lately.

[Initech]

19. Hey ma! The meatloaf! We want it now!!!!

[llmart]

20. Everything on that menu is BAD for you...

by today's standards. What I mean by that is with all the "information" that's thrown at us every single day where we hear of a new study telling us what not to eat, I have to wonder how those of us who grew up eating these things ever made it to 70 (I'm close).

What's really bad for us is all the excess. I've always lived my life under the motto of everything in moderation.

P.S. Where's the arugula and quinoa? LOL

[jberryhill]

30. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data"

"I have to wonder how those of us who grew up eating these things ever made it to 70"

Many didn't.

There's also the issue of lifestyle changes and portion sizes.

How many flights of stairs did you climb every day when you were younger?

Remember when going up a few flights of stairs, or walking several city blocks was not a big deal?

[rzemanfl]

52. I'm gonna steal your subject line. It's awesome. n/t

[yonder]

53. Between about 1988 and 1993,

there's a slight downward bump in the heart disease line for both men and women. I wonder what that would be a result of? Bush senior would've been president. Any guesses?

[LisaM]

31. The portions were normal sized....

I don't know who decided they suddenly had to super size bread, for example. One piece now is generally equivalent to two of the smaller pieces they used then.

They also didn't have high fructose corn syrup in the bread and pop and who knows what else.

I miss lunch counters. I used to go stop at one at a local drugstore before work in the early 80s, a very democratic crowd of college professors, bank tellers, and store clerks who'd gather together every morning and talk.

[raven mad]

21. They didn't close the local store till the mid1990's

It was still great value for lunch.

[Leith]

22. My Mom and I Were Going Through My Grandmother's Things

There were some old dishes wrapped in newspapers from the late 1940s, complete with ads.

Kresge's had an ad for summer dresses - 50 cents. Layaway was available.

[highplainsdem]

23. Wasn't minimum wage under $2 an hour then?

[left-of-center2012]

24. $1.45 in February 1970, and $1.60 in February 1971

History of Changes to the Minimum Wage Law

[asiliveandbreathe]

32. 1964 I started at the telco $54.00 week...

from a 2014 NYT article...

In 1964, the state minimum wage was $1.15 an hour, equivalent to $8.79 today. (Federal law at the time set a higher minimum, $1.25, or $9.56, but it applied to fewer workers than it does now.) In inflation-adjusted dollars, the state wage is now 9 percent below its level in 1964, and the federal wage is 24 percent lower.

Imagine....state and federal wages below 1964....

[Fla Dem]

79. 1965 I started as a file clerk at a major ins. company $57.50 a week.

But then we got wonderful free lunches. I mean full meal lunches. Free routine medical care. Full time doctor and nurses on duty. Free parking in underground garage (I took public trans for a while, then got into a car pool).

Mom collected "rent" from me once I began working full time. Think it was $20 a month.

[sl8]

25. What are "garden vegetables"?

Is there a difference between "garden vegetables" and any other vegetables?

On a related note, how did "garden variety" come to mean common or ordinary?

[malthaussen]

65. 1657 according to the OED.

Apparently, the idea is "common" or "domestic" as opposed to "professional grade." But the original cite refers to a variety of nightshade.

The usual expression is "common or garden."

-- Mal

[sl8]

68. Thanks! n/t

[jberryhill]

26. I guess I'll have to ask what's the soup today?

I'd hate to spend 25 cents, find out it's really good, and then wish I'd sprung another 10 cents for the bowl.

Otherwise, I'm going for the fried fish platter with some o' them french fried 'taters, mmmm.

[asiliveandbreathe]

27. Ah, Woolworth's - downtown Framingham, Mass - Dad had a auto body shop

across the street..Mom would take us to see dad, then off to Woolworths...looking at the menu I still make many of those dishes..must be subliminal..

fond memories..we could also walk through the store to the back door that led to the parking lot...I remember a loaf of bread $.25...too..boy I'm gettin' old...

[juxtaposed]

50. I can barely remember the one in Maynard Ma. because I was so young.

What I do remember is they had parakeets and fish in the back of the store. The front had large roll out canvas awnings that went over the sidewalk. Across the street was the Finnish Co-op.

[asiliveandbreathe]

55. Maynard..Ma. - I love hearing stories from home....our Learning Center NEtelco

in Marlboro - or Marlborough..LOL - settled in Holliston...now ret. to AZ 22 years...who would have thunk!!..For sure the political climate is a whole lot different....I feel like the petunia in the onion patch..be well..

[juxtaposed]

59. The Natick Mall was the hot spot, Sears was where we got our clothes.

[asiliveandbreathe]

60. yes - I understand Shoppers World was taken down...I worked at netco across from

Kens Steakhouse..was a small building in the same parking lot..

I smile at the Ken's salad dressing on the shelf here in AZ..the label - yep - says made in Framingham..funny how little things bring back fond memories..

Kids loved to go shopping at Natick Mall too...

[Sanity Claws]

28. Those prices sound earlier than the 1970s

I was in college in 1974 and worked in the evening. I often had a bowl of vegetable soup before starting that evening shift. It cost almost a dollar, maybe 95 cents. I remember it because I always had a dollar bill on me to pay for it. No way was a bowl of soup 35 cents.

Can anyone say that they actually remember those prices?

[left-of-center2012]

33. My memory's not that good

I would have been 24 in 1970.
And it was part of my "hippie daze".

This is from 'Snackbar Confidential' :

WOOLWORTH'S Lunch Counter Menu 1970 !

[Awsi Dooger]

63. It had to be early '70s

I recognized that from the outset. At the end of the decade I was in college and prices no longer resembled that.

I remember the Burger King prices from the same time period. I don't have to look them up:

* Whopper 39 cents
* Yumbo (Ham and cheese) 49 cents
* Hamburger 19 cents
* French fries 21 cents
* Milk shake 25 cents

The hot apple pie was introduced regionally in 1972. We were on a family trip and saw it in Chicago, long before the Miami area Burger Kings had it. About six months later it became a national offering, at 25 cents.

[malthaussen]

66. Lots of inflation between '70 and '74.

The menu is purportedly from 1970. Some prices roughly doubled between 70 and 74. Although the minimum wage only went up about 50%.

-- Mal

[sl8]

34. 1939 and 1941 menus from Blackpool

From The Woolworths Miuseum (UK), http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/aboutwoolies.html

[left-of-center2012]

35. Translated into dollars ?????

[sl8]

46. What, you want me to do all the work? :)

According to Wikipedia, in 1940, $1.00 (US) was worth 0.2525 pounds sterling. Alternatively, £1 was worth $3.96.

With 240 pence to a pound, that would make 10d worth 16.5¢ (US).

That does make those prices look awfully cheap.

Anybody else, please check my math.

Although, from the same site,

...
With many tourists opting for bed and breakfast accommodation, Woolworth aimed to provide good food for every visitor with an extensive lunch and dinner menu, with two whole restaurant floors which opened from dawn to 11pm. (If the landlady's salty porridge and stewed tea wasn't up to much, they could get a 'full English' for sixpence too!) The huge scale of the operation meant diners could choose from a much wider menu than they would find in a top hotel, all at remarkably low prices. As illustrated by the image above, if a family of four bought all of their lunches and dinners for a whole week at the Bank Hey Street and Promenade Store, they could leave with half of a single five pound note unspent (two pounds ten shillings and ninepence (£2.54), to be precise.

Now that really was mass catering. Read on if you're hungry for more....

More at link.

[left-of-center2012]

48. "That does make those prices look awfully cheap"

Not when you toss in the airfare to get there.

[sl8]

49. Ha!

Maybe Skittles can give us a sanity-check on those prices/conversions (not that I think she was shopping at Woolworths in 1939).

[malthaussen]

67. Supposedly, the average UK salary at that time was 181 quid/year...

... According to this site: http://thedesignlab.co.uk/costofliving2015/ukupdate.php?uid=41

Others have it at `270, but that is for "factory workers" (male).

@ 181, that's about 3 1/2 pounds per week. Suddenly, the prices seem less cheap. That lobster salad at a full shilling is expensive!

-- Mal

[sl8]

69. Excellent, thank you.

That really puts the prices in perspective.

[Squinch]

40. What's a "d"?

[sl8]

43. Pennies (pence)

Back then, 240 pennies to a pound.

[enid602]

54. Tuppence

TRump Pence, TRump Pence, ain't worth a tuppence.

[Squinch]

56. Thank you! I learn something new every day here.

[sl8]

64. De nada.

We still use the "d" in the US for nails, e.g., 16d nail = 16 penny nail = 3 ½" nail.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(unit)

I think that practice might be starting to fade.

[dixiegrrrrl]

70. Thank you!!!!

I knew nails were "d", had no idea what that related to, at the time no way to quickly look it up.
Now, of course, it makes sense, being based on British terms.

Still trying to remember how many stones make a pound.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

72. 14 lbs to a stone. These are big stones.

On the other hand, the brits had big pennies, too. Maybe the size of our quarter.

Now, they've made their system simpler, but removed a lot of interesting coinage:
Haypenny, farthing, shilling, half crown, guinea, sixpence

[dixiegrrrrl]

75. I tried and tried to get the old money system in my head

esp. since I read a lot of British social history. My brain refuses to cooperate, but some writers are helpful in adding the American equivalents.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

76. It's easy. It all starts with the farthing.

As in the old Penny-Farthing bicycle.


Or, just hold out a handful of coins and let the store clerk pick out the right amount.

[dixiegrrrrl]

77. Re: the bike

How damn big WAS that coin?

[Kablooie]

37. These are the prices things SHOULD be.

Back when a million dollars in the bank meant you were really millionaire!
Now a million dollars is doing pretty well for retirement but you aren't anywhere near being a millionaire.

[sarcasmo]

39. Fried Fish platter for 95 cents, yum yum.

[Brother Buzz]

41. Damn, the only food my Woolworth's sold was stale popcorn

The store always smelled of popcorn and mothballs. That's what I remember of Woolworth's.

[left-of-center2012]

42. No peanuts and cashews under a hot lamp?

That's a smell I remember.

[Brother Buzz]

44. I guess so

I think they might have offered ice cream too, but the overwhelming popcorn and mothball smell is what I remember.

[left-of-center2012]

45. But .....

The mothballs didn't keep the popcorn from going stale?

[dameatball]

47. For some reason I am hoping those are gravy stains on that menu.....:) But great post. Thanks.

[BeyondGeography]

51. Grease and cigarette smoke

I can still smell it. It was good.

[mountain grammy]

62. Yes, smoking was allowed at the counter

in our greasy spoon and the cook stood at the grill with a cig hanging from his mouth. Ah, freedom.

[democratisphere]

61. Ahhhh. The good old days. Everyone could afford to eat and have healthcare.

How did we ever get to this place we are in now?!

[Stuart G]

71. I don't think that is a 70s menu ...more like mid 60s..

If it were mid 70s, would be a little more..in my opinion.

[left-of-center2012]

73. Googling the image ...

Googling the image, most responses say "1970".

But I agree with you, it does seem 'cheap' for 1970.
One response said 1960, and one even says 1950.

I'm going to change the 'title' to 'old menu'.

[Stuart G]

74. Believe me,,,I was NOT...being critical..I liked looking at the menu.

Just adding an opinion....It was a wonderful post.

I don't know if anyone remembers the 5 cent candy bars?...I do..in the late 50s...some of the same candy bars cost 75cents to a $1.00

My ( first car (and it was NEW) in 71. total- including tax. $2100 ...6 cylinder Dodge Dart....stick shft, few extras, but if I recall, powerful.. (once you got it in 3rd gear).. (also easy to fix and cheap too) ..Once, (only time I ever did this in over 45 years of owning a car) the starter wouldn't work.... It was a very easy part to find in relation to the car. Also very easy to remove (just a few bolts to unscrew)...so I unscrewed the starter, put it in a box, found a used part shop, road the bus to the store, and for $25.00 -30.00 exchanged the broken starter for a used one, that worked................................then I came back to the car and installed the new/used starter myself...and it worked....

[LeftInTX]

78. Here is a Woolworth's menu from Sept 1960

And here's one from October 1964. They added color pictures by then.