10 Classic Menus From Historic L.A. Restaurants

By Katherine Spiers

November 1, 2013

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The menu collection at the Los Angeles Public Library is, to my mind, one of its greatest assets. It was recently announced that a local man's voluminous personal collection of menus and programs from years past is being donated to the library -- I know that I am joined by my fellow food nerds in excitement about this.

And in celebration, I picked out a few of my favorite menus from the current collection. These bits of ephemera from the Cocoanut Grove, Taix, the Brown Derby, Spago and Yamashiro have fun cover art, and they're great insight into the food culture of the past. The Yamashiro menu is especially strange to today's eyes: the original line-up of dishes had almost nothing to do with the decor.

cocoanutgrovemenu-thumb-600x722-63001 — Cocoanut Grove Menu, 1960. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

cocoanutgrovemenu2-thumb-600x701-63003 — Cocoanut Grove menu, 1960. LAPL Menu Collection

taixmenu2-thumb-600x909-63007 — Taix Menu, 1960s. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

taixmenu-thumb-600x451-63005 — Taix menu, 1960s. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

brownderbymenu-thumb-600x825-63009 — Brown Derby Menu, 1940. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

brownderbymenu2-thumb-600x811-63011 — Brown Derby menu, 1940. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

spagomenu-thumb-600x827-63013 — Spago Menu, 1983. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

spagomenu2-thumb-600x827-63015 — Spago menu, 1983. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

yamashiromenu — Yamashiro menu, 1960. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

yamashiromenu2 — Yamashiro menu, 1960. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

yamashiromenu3 — Yamashiro menu, 1960. Image courtesy LAPL Menu Collection

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