Saugus Café was built in 1886 in Saugus California. While this restaurant is over 125 years old the tensions that existed back then show in the photos hanging on the walls today. The tension that is so apparently striking to me is “gender roles vs. authority”. I will be telling you about some photos that hung in the Saugus Café and what I took to be a very large difference between genders at that time.
As I sat down at the table I was going to be eating at I was quickly began to notice all of the old photos that hung all over the restaurant and to my surprise they were of the café itself or other photos representing the American culture of that time. The photo hanging right next to me show three women, one cooking, and the other two cleaning and it was taken in 1886 in the Saugus Café. In the back of the photo you see five men sitting at a counter. The café was built next to Saugus Train Station and this railroad track was the first connecting California to the rest of the nation. Since of its location you can’t help but feel as if those men are from the train and represent some sort of authority, especially over the woman serving them. Another photo across from my table also shows a photo of women cleaning, yet around her feet are 2 children playing. A very gender role for a woman to be cleaning and caring for the children as the man is off providing for his family. As I walked to the bathroom I noticed a photo of four people standing in front of the café the day it opened. There stood four people, a man who looked as if he was an officer or rail road officer dress nicely in uniform next to another man in a nice suit, along his side was a women dressed with an apron on and hair back as if preparing for the day and a young boy. Each of the men represents authority while the woman is fulfilling her gender role.
Sitting there and enjoying my food, which was amazing in case you are in the area, it is obvious that times have changed some from the days of strict gender roles and authority in American Culture. The restaurant now has men and woman doing the serving of customers, the back of the kitchen is more populated with men than women. While I do believe and know that this tension exists today it has just changed a lot in the Saugus Café restaurant that is tucked away just north of Los Angeles in Saugus California.
