1920s References in Speakeasy Dead: The Breakfast Nook

The 1920s housewife faced a dilemma. Eating in the dining room was a lot of trouble, especially as she was unlikely to have domestic help beyond, perhaps, someone to do the wash. One could have an eat-in kitchen, of course. The 1920s house I grew up in was set up that way. My grandmother’s more fashionable home, on the other hand, included a breakfast nook.

1920s Blabon Art linoleum Ad

Sometimes part of the kitchen, sometimes located between the kitchen and dining room, the breakfast nook personified the dual elements of cozy and stylish that were so important in 1920s homemaking. It might not always have been easy, cramming the family into those wooden benches or leaning over to wipe up spills. But who could resist a picture like this?

1921 Morgan Woodwork Organization Illustration

Strictly speaking, the breakfast nook is a 1920s reference that didn’t make it into Speakeasy Dead. One of the main characters, Bernie, lives in a very early craftsman bungalow built by his family.

House 158 from Henry Wilson’s 1910 “Bungalow Book”

I wanted Bernie to have a nook, and he and his cousin, Clara, obligingly ate breakfast together one morning across eggs Benedict and coffee. As the novel progressed, it became necessary to shift the scene to Clara’s Speakeasy, so Bernie’s breakfast nook lost its cameo.

Nooks were sometimes defined by kitchen furniture, as in this 1921 Ladies Home Journal ad for Blabon linoleum

Bernie’s nook hasn’t given up hope. There are still gangsters in Falstaff who may need to squeeze onto those benches for comedic purposes.