Manufacturer: Tepco China, Wallace China
User: Owl Cafe
Date of mug: 1956; date of grill plate: 1931-1968

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Notes: A landmark in Cloverdale, California, since the 1930s, the Owl Cafe's predecessor at 485 S. Cloverdale Blvd. was the Sunset Motel and Ivy Cafe, which at some point became the Owl Cafe. In 1963, it was purchased by Dann Haikas (his second restaurant) and became Dann's Owl Cafe. When Haikas bought the restaurant, the previous owners had kept an owl in a cage on the premises, and the name was meaningful to him, having come to the United States from Greece where the owl was the emblem of his school.

He sold the restaurant in 1977, and whether at that time or later, Nick Kyriakos owned the restaurant. As of 1997, it was briefly referred to as the New Owl Cafe, which was probably a reflection of another change in ownership. The restaurant closed around 2015. (As of 2024, it is Cocina Mexicano El Milagro, with the Owl Cafe sign still perched above it.)

It has been a challenge to match Owl Cafe ephemera and signage to the china, which has a line drawing of a brown owl flanked on either side by Owl and Cafe – all caps – in emerald green. A band of the same color goes around the center of the plate's border. The ID comes directly to us from Nancy O'Grady, who bought the grill plate shown above directly from the restaurant and who reported that around 2002, this topmarked china was displayed in a case and no longer used.

Sources:
RoadArch.com
Cloverdale Reveille
Cloverdale Reveille
Cloverdale Reveille
Phil McDonel – Flickr

Contributors:
Nancy O'Grady: ID, grill plate photos, plaque photo
Kathleen Lathom: mug photos