  Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 9 Registered: 09-2007 |
Used to take the bus downtown to shop at Hudson's & always took a coffee break in the Mayflower Coffee Shop on Woodward. When did it actually close? Is the building still there? The way I remember their famous slogan (on the back wall & on the mugs) is: "As you ramble on through life, brother Whatever be your goal, Keep your eye upon the doughnut, And not upon the hole." (I have seen a variation of this quote, but maybe the wording WAS a bit different in the Mayflower in Chicago.) Comments? Pictures? | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1902 Registered: 04-2005 |
 wsu/vmc | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 907 Registered: 12-2003 |
Man, we've come a long way from Maxwell House. Considering the Starbucks, Caribou, Beaners options; you never would see a joint touting that stuff anymore. Ah, but I guess back in the day, folks drank just about any sort of swill, weak coffee, maybe add some chikory to stretch it, so long as it was hot and black. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 941 Registered: 10-2003 |
When I was young, Mother and I would sometimes stop there if we had a wait for the Greyhound/Great Lakes Transit suburban bus. I remember that they didn't have a jukebox, they had "pay" radio. Drop in a dime, and you could listen to onr of a half dozen radio stations while you drank your coffee..... | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2539 Registered: 10-2003 |
Coffee was below par all over the U.S. before the advent of Starbucks and the rest of the specialty coffee shops. Maxwell House was/is some nasty, weak stuff. | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 2208 Registered: 11-2004 |
You just missed a brief glimpse of the original Mayflower signage (or what was left of it) before the superbowl when the owners restored the facade. It was there for about a week. | ||
65memories Member Username: 65memories Post Number: 469 Registered: 10-2003 |
I hate Starbucks (if anybody cares). Give me Maxwell House anyday...it's "good to the last drop." | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 10 Registered: 09-2007 |
Thanks for putting up the photo. Good to see it again. I have to read thru' the thread for Hudson's after this. I came quite a ways (Northeast Detroit, Van Dyke-Lafayette bus) and shopping at the Downtown stores was always an all day thing, lots of walking. Always nice to take a break in that little shop, and to be honest I hardly remember the coffee, which I might of had a few times only. I was more of a hot chocolate drinker back then. | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 30 Registered: 08-2006 |
My big Dadaist stunt is to drink a cup from the coffee shop at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville but it's always been closed(the new one, I think it's a Sheraton, out in the hills-the original one Teddy Roosevelt was fond of & where Jack Daniels got his start burned up in a fire years ago) | ||
Ednaturnblad Member Username: Ednaturnblad Post Number: 20 Registered: 09-2006 |
Starbucks? How about Starburnt! God, it's awful...talk about marketing hype. I'd take a Maxwell House anyday. Some of the best coffee going is Royal York, roasted by Becharas Brothers in Highland Park since 1914. If you've had good coffee in a restaurant around here, chances are it's Royal York. http://www.becharas.com/index. jsp | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2542 Registered: 10-2003 |
Starbucks isn't the best, but it's strong and it's predictable. Yeah, sometimes it tastes a bit burnt. Caribou is somewhat better, and Beaner's is good. Coffee Beanery is a tad weak sometimes. I prefer a European-style dark roast. I can't stand weak coffee. If I wanted that, I'd go to Dunkin' Donuts or Denny's, and I don't believe I've set foot in either of those two chains since about 1990. I guess there are still quite a few people who enjoy the "good ol'" watered-down, tasteless, American-style coffee, though. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1376 Registered: 12-2003 |
Starbucks is awful, burnt is right. "Maxwell House" in a coffee shop back in the day was a far cry from the dry, dusty stuff you take home in a can. My favorite these days is Illy, which you can get in the Guardian building, and I remember coffee shop coffee in the '60s being that strong...I started a caffeine habit early ... | ||
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision Post Number: 405 Registered: 11-2003 |
I had to laugh - I have a friend, who when he drinks coffee, always goes for the cheapest sludge possible, and raves about said sludge. The Cadillac office coffee in the flavor-seeping styrofoam cup - so if that Maxwell House place were still around (that's portraying the corner of Grand River and Woodward, east side of Woodward) he'd be in hog heaven. Contrasting to me, who is a self-avowed coffee snob who does drink the fu-fu pumpkin spice frappucino or tangerine frap - now that's good stuff (I know it ain't coffee). I try to support local as often as plausible (love the layout/look of that place across from the Opera House Garage - and the owner is cool dude) and I stopped by Janet's today, never had a white chocolate mocha before, but it was good. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5463 Registered: 08-2004 |
Why is it that until recently coffee in the USA was inferior to that sold in Europe? I always marveled back in the 70's and 80's at how good coffee was in Germany whenever I visited relatives. They must have had superior roasting processes, and maybe even purchased higher quality beans than USA coffee makers. Freeze-dried-atcha.... | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 11 Registered: 09-2007 |
I brought up the Mayflower Coffee Shop...but it wasn't about the coffee brand (tho' they obviously were proud to be serving the then-popular Maxwell House.) This place was a warm haven for people down on a cold winter day to do Christmas shopping. (I have winter memories, because the summer stop was Sanders across the street for a Cream Puff w/Hot Bittersweet.) The aromas in The Mayflower was warm and welcoming. Had to get a doughnut to DUNK, and ponder the philosophy of their slogan on the wall. Does anyone have a photo of the wall? I think the design might have been on their placemats also. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4205 Registered: 10-2003 |
Good points Gistok. Traveling to Europe and hanging out there on the cheap in youth hostels, bargain hotels, dining at neighborhood bistros and coffee houses was ~the~ life experience thing to do with many of my generation. It was as big eye-opener to many of us as how really bad the coffee, bread, beer, wine, cheese, and food in general was here by contrast to ~average~ fare in Europe. IMO this drove the improvements in all of those areas in subsequent years. The California vineyards, microbreweries, Starbucks, Nino Salvaggio's, Hirt's, Avalon bakery's and their ilk have been the beneficiaries of the revolution in American taste driven by that exposure. We learned later that in many ways much that was available here all along, but hidden away in the old ethnic areas like Hamtramck. Few knew enough to even try those offerings back in the days of Wonder Bread, Velveeta, Gallo, Maxwell House and Blatz. We have come a long, long way. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 844 Registered: 12-2006 |
Indeed. But not all of it is good. Nino Salvaggio's: Very good. (Westborn Market also, whichever you live near, it's all good.) Starbucks: awful. All marketing, no substance. The nice thing about all of it, though, the good and the bad, is it might make us more discriminating. We spent a long, long time with Maxwell House ("predictable to the last drop") and Wonder Bread and Budweiser, and forgot what "good" means. To figure out "good", you have to have something to judge it against. For years we focused on "mediocre" and predictable. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1377 Registered: 12-2003 |
Good points, Professor Scott | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4206 Registered: 10-2003 |
To emphasize the above... When I returned to Detroit in 1971 from my wanderings, and having been exposed to [and briefly addicted to] cappuccino, I was shocked, shocked, that I couldn't get it anywhere in Detroit. The only place I could find it was at the Sorrento coffee house in Windsor! I remember trying to convince Alvin, the worldly-wise and much traveled beatnik proprietor of Alvin's Deli by WSU, that he should get a cappuccino maker. He just shrugged it off saying no one would know about it enough to try it and then pay the extra price. Now we can hardly walk ten feet without running into one. [Oh, and welcome to the forum Elimarr] | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 12 Registered: 09-2007 |
Thanks for the welcome, Lowell. I am happy to have come across the forum. It feels like home! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1817 Registered: 12-2005 |
Tim Hortons Coffee is my personal fave--just right. Starbucks would be good for cleaning carburetors. threadjack-back-atcha (Message edited by 56packman on October 05, 2007) | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 942 Registered: 10-2003 |
The term "Coffee Shop" has changed a great deal over the years. Places like The Mayflower and The Toddle House (on Woodward, a block north of Grand Blvd.) used to be coffee shops, a place where you could take a break, or get a light lunch. Now a days, the term "Coffee Shop" has come to mean a place where you spend $4 for 12 ounces of some burnt beverage served to you in a paper cup. They're two different animals...... | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1976 Registered: 11-2003 |
Dunkin' Donuts, my favorite, was supposed to have signed a contract with Krogers to have their coffee distributed in Krogers stores around the metro Detroit area. I thought the start date was October 1, but so far, I have not seen any DD displays in the two Krogers we have visited. And it's great to see hornwrecker is posting again with those classic photographs. | ||
Pythonmaster Member Username: Pythonmaster Post Number: 109 Registered: 12-2006 |
I'm not sure if it's the cool lady that serves it or the magical atmosphere, but the coffee shop at the Guardian Building serves Illy medium roast from Italy and it's delicious. http://i195.photobucket.com/al bums/z214/justbeamensch/clock. jpg | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1216 Registered: 11-2003 |
Dunkin Donuts coffee showed up in our local Krogers about 2 weeks ago. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5464 Registered: 08-2004 |
LOL... Lowell... you got it right... Velveeta... "the almost cheese!"  |
