Happy Garden restaurant - palo alto, california
established 1925
Tsuhegusu Yonemoto (my grandfather), Unosuke Oku, Takajiro Imai, and 3 others, founded a very early Japanese restaurant in Palo Alto, California in 1925. My father said the Happy Garden was "too early and failed" within a few years. It was located on the El Camino Real near the site of the better known Dinah's Shack Restaurant (which opened in around 1928 and closed in 1989).
Happy Garden had a central garden enclosed with a glass ceiling, looking very much like a flower nursery greenhouse. The garden was elaborate with a pond, benches, iron cranes, stone lanterns, and a variety of exotic plants, befitting a garden and restaurant built by Japanese nurserymen.
At one end of the garden was a floating dance floor..
Along the side of the building were private rooms, each with long curtains at the entrance. Above the curtains are ranma or decorative transoms. The rooms seemed to be filled with simple Arts and Crafts style wooden tables and chairs.
Vintage Postcard Description:
At the Sign of the Fujiyama Lantern, on the State Highway 2-1/2 miles south of Palo Alto, Happy Garden tries to merit its name by combining American comfort with Oriental beauty. Delicious Suki-Yaki is the Japanese challenge to national dishes the world over. For your own comparison, our Chinese cook serves his own specialties. There is always music with spacious dancing floor floating on the water.
At one end of the garden was a floating dance floor..
Along the side of the building were private rooms, each with long curtains at the entrance. Above the curtains are ranma or decorative transoms. The rooms seemed to be filled with simple Arts and Crafts style wooden tables and chairs.
Vintage Postcard Description:
At the Sign of the Fujiyama Lantern, on the State Highway 2-1/2 miles south of Palo Alto, Happy Garden tries to merit its name by combining American comfort with Oriental beauty. Delicious Suki-Yaki is the Japanese challenge to national dishes the world over. For your own comparison, our Chinese cook serves his own specialties. There is always music with spacious dancing floor floating on the water.
A menu dated October 5, 1929 shows that there is only one Japanese entree - suki yaki, either chicken or beef, served either with a bowl of rice or a muffin. The rest of the first page consists of Chinese dishes (chop suey, chow mein, and fu yung). On the second page are the "all-American" dishes. The restaurant may have had a dance floor, but no alcohol.
Menu - courtesy of the California Historical Society
Menu - courtesy of the California Historical Society