We're losing all of our heritage and there'll be no fun things left for Sydney to explore when she gets older. And it is getting harder to find places to get good liver & onions. I wonder what will replace cafeterias in the future?
It's getting harder to find that plate of green jello.There was a time when the cafeteria was the undisputed king of Southern California dining. Before World War II, the cheap food and sprawling dining halls brought together strangers new to the region and created lasting bonds.
The meals were inexpensive, and there was something altogether modern in the dining experience, which did without menus, waiters and tablecloths. Restaurant-goers could load their trays with cold foods and then hot, delicacies like ambrosia salad and coleslaw, liver and onions and mac and cheese, and then sidle up to the cash register to pay — all without waiting.
Dozens of cafeterias once peppered the Southland, so many, in fact, that city directories listed them separately from restaurants.
But today, the cafeteria is a dying breed, a victim of changing tastes, an aging population and urban sprawl.
On Wednesday, one of the last of the grande dames shut its doors after 50 years: Beadle's in Pasadena.
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