Please help me evoke my childhood?
August 5, 2010 5:45 PM   Subscribe

Please help me find the perfect water glass. Fortunately, I know exactly what it is. Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere in the world. Maybe because the last time I saw one was in the late 1940s?

Driving across the country with my parents in the 1940s, coast to coast a couple of times, we'd stop at motels and restaurants and the water glasses were invariably the same: thick and heavy, barrel-shaped, with a kind of scalloped design rimming the outside bottom. They were possibly four inches tall and 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter. They may have been more common in the Midwest, as we were usually traveling between Florida and California. Every cafe had them! Every pancake and waffle joint!
I've ransacked the internet from end to end, tried every description I can think of, trick words like "vintage" etc., but so far, bupkes.
I just want to track one down, hold it in my hand again the way I did as a kid, feeling how surprisingly heavy it was. Letting it evoke the feeling of a kid seeing a new part of the world. I guess I'd buy four of them if I could find them.
Can you help?
Thanks so much!
posted by fivesavagepalms to Home & Garden (16 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Every cafe had them! Every pancake and waffle joint!

Every restaurant supply store has them!

I don't want to sound snarky, just fooling with you, but I know what you're talking about, and they're a restaurant supply staple.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:52 PM on August 5, 2010


Something like this?

It may help to use the term 'tumbler' instead of glass, assuming you're talking about a stemless design.
posted by jedicus at 5:54 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


Or perhaps these? (Also from a restaurant supply website.)
posted by devinemissk at 5:57 PM on August 5, 2010


Ikea also has this type of tumbler. It's not Anchor Hocking but it looks the same.
posted by cooker girl at 5:57 PM on August 5, 2010


The Picardie tumbler?
posted by at the crossroads at 5:59 PM on August 5, 2010


(better link)
posted by devinemissk at 6:00 PM on August 5, 2010


Response by poster: Okay!
devinemissk has it. At least I think that's it.
Thanks a lot, you're the best.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 6:12 PM on August 5, 2010


Response by poster: Now the question is where can I get one or two of them for a few bucks, rather than 36 of them for $50.
Nostalgia has its price, I know, but that's too much!
posted by fivesavagepalms at 6:14 PM on August 5, 2010


Try going to an actual restaurant supply storefront. In my area they sell many items by the piece rather than the case, the price won't be quite as good though.
posted by Allee Katze at 6:53 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


I say buy in bulk, that way when you break one you'll have a backup in storage instead of doing the whole internet search all over again.

You could also do fun crafts with the extras or use them as candle holders. Wrap some wire around them and hang them from trees in your backyard with tealights.

You could also try contacting your local restaurant supply and asking them if they can sell the individual units.
posted by TooFewShoes at 6:53 PM on August 5, 2010


I have the Picardie glasses (in three sizes -- they are fabulous!). Breaking them is next-to-impossible. But, you might want extra because they are also wonderful for hot drinks. Since they are made of tempered glass, the glass does not get hot.

I bought them from Village Kitchen, and notice that you can buy them individually there. (Their website is less than fabulous; just search for "Picardie" in the Search field at the top.)
posted by Houstonian at 7:15 PM on August 5, 2010


Never mind! Wrong ones!
posted by Houstonian at 7:22 PM on August 5, 2010


You might be able to write one of those wholesalers and ask them to do you a special favor of selling you just a pair. Promising to send them a crazy postcard or something else fun might help.
posted by lover at 7:41 PM on August 5, 2010


Houstonian writes "Since they are made of tempered glass, the glass does not get hot. "

Tempered glass conducts heat at the same rate as regular glass (regular glass has a variation of about 20% between the worse and the best). The reason tempered glass is used for hot liquids is it withstands the thermal shock of having the liquid poured in and sloshed around; regular glass breaks under this abuse.
posted by Mitheral at 8:36 PM on August 5, 2010


I think I know exactly what you're talking about, and I don't think it's the same shape that was linked above. Is it more like this, with bulges?
posted by mdonley at 5:36 AM on August 6, 2010


Response by poster: The one above labelled "better link" looks pretty much like it.
I've emailed one supplier and they won't break the 36-glass lot. Have been haunting eBay too, but so far no luck.
If something turns up in your neighborhood, I'd sure be grateful to hear about it.
Thanks, all.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 10:59 AM on August 6, 2010


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