Restaurant Menu Prices from 1938

This is a reprint from August 20, 2013 that I thought might be worth another glance.

I was searching through some picture albums of my parents from way back and ran into some restaurant menus  from the depression era of late 1930′s.. The first 3 pictures are from the Manhattan  Restaurant.

The Second menu (three pictures) is on the Union Pacific Railroad from 1937 somewhere in Wyoming.

This last menu is from the Hotel Windermere in Chicago 1937.

Double click on the images to see what the prices were back then.   Did you notice that the Manhattan offered a broiled (Whole) lobster for 65 cents?  In today’s world, you’d be lucky to get half a lobster for $30.  Bear in mind, the people that read these menus in real time are probably dead by now.

The pay raise that everyone gets each year because of inflation is just an allusion. Look around, the new hires are starting out a few pennies less than what the seasoned workers are making.  The neat thing about inflation is that Congress doesn’t have to raise the tax rates, you earn more, you pay more.  That’s the real difference between the Democrats and Republicans; print as you go verses pay as you go.

The real odd thing is that the average person does not connect the dots. The relationship between government spending and inflation does not exist. Rumor has it, we’ve always had inflation– I guess we’re supposed to get used to it.  My wife bought a new battery and asked me to guess how much she paid for it, and I said $40.  Her answer; “That’s the price you would have paid 20 years ago, the battery was $100.”

Let’s see,(from top menu third picture, red part) I’ll have the broiled lobster with coffee and a slice of cake–that’s about 85 cents total, plus 15 cents for a tip.  The trouble is, 83 years of inflation have raised the prices a tad.