The Fabulous Fern Bar
by Anna Merlan
When I was a kid and my mom wanted to express how much she disliked going to a specific local coffee shop, she’d declare it a “fern bar from hell.” I once believed this to be an unforgettable coinage of her own making, but it turns out that the “fern bar” is a known phenomenon, all but forgotten now, that first caught on in the 1970s. The fern bar was—in implied contrast to the filthy dives that came before—preppy and upscale, brightly lit, with Tiffany lamps and, yes, potted plants, many of them suspended from the ceiling. People absolutely hated the whole thing, for reasons that seem worth interrogating anew.
Its origins are disputed: The New Yorker unequivocally locates the first fern bar as New York’s original T.G.I. Friday’s, which opened in 1965, while Bay Area publications argue it was Henry Africa’s, which opened in 1969 in San Francisco. It was owned by a man (white, of course) by the name of Norman Jay Hobday, who went on to change his legal name to “Henry Africa.” While this is regrettable, the décor sounds nice: Henry decked the place out with hanging plants, antiques, the aforementioned Tiffany lamps, and cute little round tables. (According to a menu that someone’s parents saved, there was also food, including “pigs in the blanket” and clam chowder.) Henry Africa’s is also believed to be the origin of the Lemon Drop, thereafter the iconic fern bar cocktail: deceptively sweet, deceptively strong, and always served in a cocktail glass.
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