Manufacturer: Wallace China
User: Original Joe's – San Francisco
Pattern name: Tweed
Date of soup plate: 1948
Notes: From Original Joe's website: "Original Joe's history runs deep, beginning in 1937 as a 14-stool counter on a saw dust covered floor at 144 Taylor Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin. It was opened by a Croatian immigrant, Tony Rodin. It was Tony's will, honest work ethic and vibrant sense of hospitality that grew Original Joe's into the culinary institution it is today.
"Serving classic Italian American fare, the restaurant prepares dishes in an open kitchen for all to see, providing hearty portions at reasonable prices. The oldest of all the "Joe's" restaurants, Original Joe's is the innovator of the now nationally known "Joe's Concept" – exhibition kitchen, notable leather booths, smooth cocktails and renowned Italian American menu.
"In the late 1930's, original owner Tony Rodin partnered with Louis Rocca. In 1983, after a fulfilling 40-year partnership, Louis left and sold his share of the business to Tony's daughter and son-in-law, Marie and John J. Duggan. The trio tackled it together—Marie assumed control of the day-to-day operations and monitored the kitchen production, John tended to the door and floor management, and Tony did it all, from cooking and butchering to bartending with the best of them. As the years passed, the children of John and Marie Duggan became young adults and followed in their parents' footsteps of active involvement in the restaurant. First daughter Elena and soon-after son, John, both became part of what is now a three-generation family business.
"In 2007, Original Joe's suffered a devastating fire that destroyed the original restaurant and the building that housed it at 144 Taylor Street. It took five long years to find a new location worthy of the old, but now it stands proud in North Beach [at 601 Union St, San Francisco], serving both residents and visitors in a landmark tradition well earned over eight decades."
From Wikipedia: "Joe's of Westlake closed its doors at the end of January 2014 since its inception in 1956 by Bruno Scatena, a former business partner of Tony Rodin at Original Joe's in San Francisco.
"In the early 1980s, Bruno Scatena's daughter assumed management responsibilities of the restaurant after her father's passing. When she realized she could no longer operate the restaurant herself, she arranged to sell the building and land to the Duggan Family in 2014. After a two-year closure for extensive front-to-back renovations, the restaurant re-opened in February 2016 as the brand's second location and dubbed Original Joe's Westlake [located at 11 Glennwood Avenue, Daly City, California]."
There is also an Original Joe's in San Jose, California, located at 301 South First Street. From its website: "Established in 1956 by the Rocca Family, Original Joe's Restaurant in San Jose, California has been the cornerstone of an ever-changing downtown and the growth of Silicon Valley. Descended from the first Original Joe's founded in 1937 in San Francisco, the San Jose Original Joe's was the first San Francisco based restaurant to open in San Jose in the South San Francisco Bay Area now known worldwide as the heart of Silicon Valley."
Tan body soup plate – Wallace China's Desert Ware – with a solid square of the tan body filling the well and the four corners of the square protruding onto the rim. At the top of the square and plate is a half-circle containing the restaurant's logo, which consists of the stacked word's "Original Joe's." The word "Original" is in a stylized script and the word "Joe's" is in stylized block letters with the capital "J" running behind the word "Original". Both words are in a burnt red which matches the rest of the plate's rim which is covered in thin parallel lines.
Sources:
Original Joe's San Francisco website https://originaljoes.com/our-story/
Original Joe's San Jose website
Cardcow.com
Contributors:
Soup plate photos: Susan Fitzgerald
Matchbook photo: Kathleen Lathom
Author: Ed Phillips