# Blue Bird Tea Room

The Blue Bird Tea Room, also known as Blue Bird, was a historic commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States. Recognized as the oldest tearoom in Carmel, the Blue Bird Tea Room was a popular place for after-theatre dinner parties and luncheon and dinner gatherings attended by both local and visiting celebrities.

## History

In 1915, Mae Crawford and Pearl Ridgley established the Blue Bird Tea Room on Camino Real, near Ocean Avenue, during a time when main street was unpaved. The gift shop at the Blue Bird Tea Room offered a selection of cards and gifts for sale. The Blue Bird Tea Room quickly became a popular gathering place for the nearby community. The Blue Bird held an exhibition for artists Mary DeNeale Morgan, Francis S. Dixon, and Bion J. Barnett.
On November 12, 1922, the new Blue Bird Tea Room moved to the south side of Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Street, opposite the Pine Inn. Samuel J. Miller, foreman for M. J. Murphy, supervised the building of the Blue Bird Tea Room as well as other homes in Carmel.
In 1924, Mabel C. Sampson, a Muskegon, Michigan native, arrived in Carmel-by-the-Sea with her teenage daughter and reopened the Blue Bird Tea Room at Ocean Avenue. It was the same year that attorney Edward G. Kuster opened the Theatre of the Golden Bough. The Tea Room gained popularity as a favored venue for post-theater dinner gatherings and as a choice location for luncheons and dinners attended by both local and visiting celebrities.
A fire erupted in the chimney of the Blue Bird Tea Room in June 1929, which subsequently spread to the adjacent building's roof. Firefighters managed to contain the fire, and the estimated damage amounted to $500. (equivalent to $8,872 in 2023).
In 1932, the Blue Bird Tea Garden, on Dolores Street, owned by Sampson's daughter, Elizabeth "Sammy" Sampson, merged with the Blue Bird Tea Room on Ocean Avenue. The Blue Bird Tea Garden was next to The Tuck Box and Garden Shop Addition. Builder Hugh W. Comstock made and sold a sign with the inscription "Blue Bird Tea Garden" through an installment plan. Sampson relocated the sign to her mother's establishment, the Blue Bird Tea Room. Comstock filed a complaint to get it back. The judge didn't agree, and the case was dismissed.
In 1937, Sampson enlarged the Blue Bird to include a new banquet room in the adjacent Wilson building on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Monte Verde. The room was in the back of the building with an entrance from the Golden Bough court, and was used for large dinners featuring Simpson's renowned Buffet Table.
In 1937, Mabel C. Sampson purchased the Normandy Inn and managed it in conjunction with the Tea Room. Sampson sold the Blue Bird Tea Room in 1939 to Mae Crawford and Pearl Ridgley, originators of the Blue Bird Tea Room. In 1941, the Blue Bird was sold to Elizabeth A. Smith, a graduate of Simmons College in Boston.
In 1958, the Monterey Peninsula Hotel Restaurant and Bartenders Union failed to win their 1957 lawsuit against the Blue Bird Restaurant of Carmel, which amounted to $65,150 (equivalent to $706,769 in 2023), which claimed 10 union employees were fired and replaced with non-union workers. The lawsuit was dismissed by Superior Judge Stanley Lawson due to the union's failure to amend its complaint within the legal time frame.