The Saturn Cafe and Antique Photos

I don't have a terrible amount of time yet in California. My last day of work is on Wednesday, and after that I have a week left before my flight. Though I don't have a lot of money, I'm trying to use the time I have left to say good bye to beloved places and to experience places I've always longed to try. One such beloved place is Santa Cruz, and one such place I longed to try was their Saturn Cafe in their downtown area. So a few days ago - last Wednesday in fact - a friend and I decided to make a day out of it so I could try that restaurant and say goodbye to Santa Cruz!

Okay, first off, the decor of the Saturn Cafe does not disappoint. Retro diners are kitschy by their very nature, and I adore them, to the point that if I ever did have a house of my own (not likely in New York!) I'd wanna theme the kitchen in that retro kitsch aesthetic. The Saturn Cafe, however? It takes that retro aesthetic and combines it with a kitsch take on outer space. The result is the greatest aesthetic for a place I've ever seen. Retro glitter black-and-pink space age madness is the look I want to achieve.


Second off, no one told me beforehand, but this place is completely vegetarian! I was expecting typical diner fare - Burgers and fries and milkshakes and all that. Being vegetarian myself, I'm quite used to going to these places and only being able to eat one or two things off the menu, unless it's a place like Johnny Rockets that'll let you order anything with a veggie patty if you ask.

But I could eat everything at Saturn. It was still traditional American diner fare, but it was completely meatless! It took me a while to choose. Our server (her name was Sara because of course it was, that name follows me everywhere) was understanding. I ended up getting lemonade (served in a mason jar with an adorable pink-and-white striped straw; even that lemonade was aesthetic goals) and a barbeque-ranch "chicken" sandwich.

Honestly, I came for the decor alone, but the food was so good. It definitely did not disappoint. I highly recommend it to any of my California pals reading this.

After that, we shopped in the downtown area for awhile. Downtown Santa Cruz has a lot of really cool shops, so though it was hard to resist buying all the things, I managed to not spend a fortune. I did, however, get some antique photos in an antique store.

I was specifically looking for photos from the 1920s out of the photos that the store had. I want to put them in my journal - my love of the 20s is well known.

This was one of the photos that I selected. It was undated, but you can definitely tell this is the twenties from their clothes, jewelry, and hair. Based on the hemline of the skirt, I would guess mid-twenties. By the later twenties - '28 or '29 - the hems of their skirts would start to be lower again. And though it's hard to tell, the shorter girl doesn't have bobbed hair! Her hair is actually rolled up, long hair styled to look like a shorter bob!

I'm actually rather charmed by this photo, the more I look at it. The two girls - be they sisters, friends, or "gal pals"/lovers - are smiling at the camera like they know something that we don't. I can dig it.

The second photo I selected is also undated, but also very clearly mid-twenties, based on the hemlines. These ladies were super fashionable in their sleeveless dresses and cloche hats.

This one did come with some information, though! There's a hand-written inscription on the back that reads "In the rock garden at River Oaks."

A couple google searches of 'River Oaks' and 'River Oaks Rock Garden' lead me to believe that this photo was proooobably taken in Texas. The apparent desert-ish climate they seem to be in supports that theory. How the photo ended up in Santa Cruz from there, I can't say.

The last photo I got doesn't fit the twenties theme. I don't know when it was taken. I would guess fifties, but I suppose it could be late forties. I also don't know where it was taken.

But I do know that the men are all wearing fezzes, so it was pretty clearly taken at an event held by a fraternal order of some sort. It's very difficult to make out - the photo isn't the best quality - but I'm pretty sure they're Shriners. Other fraternal orders do wear fezzes, but these appear to have the scimitar and upside-down crescent symbol of the Shriners. And I can't really tell, but I think the fezzes might say "Aladdin" on them, which is also fitting with what I know about the Shriners.


It was nice saying my goodbye to Santa Cruz this way. And I can't wait to do journal spreads with the photos.

-Nym-