Simple and stylish, this is an example of great menu design. This cocktails list was in use in the late 50s and early 60s in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It was created for the Glendale House bar and restaurant that opened in 1958 in the city’s first traditional shopping mall called the Glendale Shopping Center.

The covered mall was bigger than ten football fields, had parking space for 3,500 cars and also housed the local department stores L S Ayres & Co and William H Block.

Glendale House restaurant and bar was part of a chain established by the Chicago capitalist John R Thompson, who died in 1927, and whose family continued to run the business.

There was piano music nightly in Glendale House’s cocktail lounge where happy imbibers must have appreciated the design qualities of this menu. Formal dining took place in the restaurant while a patio café in the mall was set aside for informal family dining. The business was bought out in the 1970s.

Parts of the mall were demolished over the years and the area has been transformed into Glendale Town Center, with a 267-unit apartment complex as well as retail outlets and restaurants.

Courtesy Private Collection.