Boston restaurants may thrill food lovers today but, back in 1956, plain Yankee fare was on the menu at the Hotel Braemore.
Lets see, I think I'll order the "Boiled, Smoked Daisy Ham with Buttered Cabbage" and have sherbet for dessert. You did have to add on the 5% Massachusetts Old Age Tax. Still, with a generous tip, that should come to about $3. (Click on any image for a slightly larger version.)
Dinner did cost slightly more unless you decided to go with the Chef's Suggestion for $1.95.
Today, the Hotel Braemore is the The Braemore, a condominium community. Its website features two pages of history with wonderful old images of the building and photos taken from the building.
They call it, What's Old and What's Old II.
When it opened, the Braemore was an apartment hotel. In his book, Built in Boston, historian Douglas Shand-Tucci wrote that by 1919 this area around Charlesgate, "… had emerged as the most prestigious address."
Residence or apartment hotels offered options like those shown in this ad for the Braemore as it opened. "Suites from one room, reception hall and bath to five rooms, reception hall and two baths…" Notice that they don't mention kitchens. In many places like the Braemore, the residents would eat in the hotel's dining room or at their social club.
Let's hope that the "Chef's Suggestion" changed daily!
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Words: Penny Cherubino
Artwork from a private collection, Dinner menu from The Braemore site.
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