A motor- biking bottle of wine - with a wine glass as the passenger in the sidecar - and a dancing pretzel are some of the delightful illustrations in this Hofbrau menu from 1945.

Hofbrau is a German term meaning a brewery with royal connections, but in California it came to signify a beer garden that served other drinks and hearty food.

Hofbraus as a concept took hold in the Bay Area from the 1930s onwards, probably thanks to German immigrants who missed their biergartens ( beer gardens) back home.

It was a place where people sat outside at shared tables and there was a sense of gemütlichkeit, a feeling of warmth and friendship among strangers.

As this menu image suggests, eating and drinking was also accompanied by music and song and dancing.

The menu is a mix of German-influenced food and American fare, and it certainly looks as if it was a jolly place to hang out.

We think this Hofbrau and Cocktail Lounge was located somewhere in the San Francisco area, just after the end of WWII.