Overmod
The food might no longer be as good, but the facility survives and thrives...
I sincerely appreciate you handing me a handkerchief to dry my eyes, Overmod, but I regret to tell you that what's left of the English Oak Room is rather like the skeleton of a once glamorous and vivacious person. The panelling is still there, as are the floor, ceiling and chandeleir, but that's it. All the original furniture is long gone (the chairs went to Cleveland City Hall), as is the extensive kitchen equipment, to say nothing of the wonderful cooks, staff, and black-and-white starched waitresses. So, putting it mildly, there's almost nothing to interest the passing flaneur.
Allow me to attach a link to a large group of photos of Fred Harvey's establishments inside the Cleveland Union Terminal:
As a small boy, my favorite shop was Fred Harvey's Toy Store, which had a remarkable display of, among other things, cowboy-and-Indian "equipment," reflecting the company's Southwest/Santa Fe heritage. I recall gorgeous feathered headdresses, some full length down the back, moccasins and quivvers. The bow & arrow sets had real points on the tips; none of that rubber suction cup stuff. You really could put your eye out, as Ralphie's mother might say. The tomahawks were equally beautiful and dangerous. Young cowboys had a choice of hats, spurs, lariats, firearms including BB guns, realistic rifles, pistols, holsters,etc. For some of us, Fred Harvey's in the C.U.T. gave a taste of getting off El Capitan in Albuquerque to buy souvenirs.
I once heard Fred Harvey himself was known to be a real penny-pincher, and his last words were reputed to be, "Slice the ham thinner." We can believe that if we want to.
