Collora's Restaurant At 4728 Fannin St.

[Highrise Tower]

I came across this vintage menu and wondered if anyone has heard of this place? I believe it was active in the 1950s?

It was an Italian restaurant located in the Museum District, close to Midtown called Collora's Restaurant located at 4728 Fannin Street.

[brucesw]

Never heard of it but very interesting indeed.  Just a parking lot now?

Pizza pies - Valian's gets named as the first to serve them in Houston so this is late 50s at the earliest?  

Iced coffee and espresso on the beverage menu.  I wonder just what the iced coffee preparation was.

Egg Plant Parmesan - 😊 - the eggplant could not possibly have been unknown to Houstonians, could it?  Just a typo?

Full course Italian DInner - $3.50!  Those were the days.

[editor]

On 7/9/2023 at 1:41 PM, brucesw said:

Egg Plant Parmesan - 😊 - the eggplant could not possibly have been unknown to Houstonians, could it?  Just a typo?

Spelling was a little more free-form back then, especially in non-national settings. 

"To-day" was also very common.

It seems like there was a big push toward more standardized spelling after the demise of the campaign to adopt words like "thru" and "thoro."  That, incidentally, was the brainchild of newspaper barons like McCormick, who were trying to save money on ink and paper.

[mkultra25]

7 hours ago, editor said:

Spelling was a little more free-form back then, especially in non-national settings. 

"To-day" was also very common.

Indeed. Published in 1927 (I have a copy of this book, but this is just a photo I found online):

[brucesw]

8 hours ago, editor said:

Spelling was a little more free-form back then, especially in non-national settings. 

"To-day" was also very common.

It seems like there was a big push toward more standardized spelling after the demise of the campaign to adopt words like "thru" and "thoro."  That, incidentally, was the brainchild of newspaper barons like McCormick, who were trying to save money on ink and paper.

The reincarnation of Noah Webster???  Before Webster's Spellers, there was no standardization even for proper names.  I have a will from an 1810s ancestor in VA whose son is named as both Edwin and Eden in the same document.  And from the 'Random facts from history' category, I came across this quote from Andrew Jackson during my genealogical pursuits 'I have no respect for a man who only knows one way to spell a word.'  Those were the good old days.  (Full disclosure: never tried to verify the Jackson quote). 

[brucesw]

Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson brought the aubergine back to Monticello from Paris and successfully grew it there (and it is still cultivated there?)  The variety looked like this (the white ones) which is why we don't eat aubergines in this country..