Place of Beauty and Comfort

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

Place of Beauty and Comfort

Overhead the distant beauty of a midnight blue sky. . . . Slender towers of mosques silhouetted against the lovely distance. . . . Clouds scudding across a thousand twinkling stars. . . . Pretty maids clad in brilliant scarlet and beige costumes. ...

possesses features unrivalled in New Zealand or Australia, and in some instances leading the world in modern innovation. TEA AND PICTURES Part of the Winter Garden will be specially set aside for patrons who

In this delightful atmosphere residents of Auckland will now be able to take tea and lunch and dinner. It is a brief word-picture of the Winter Garden in the new Civic Theatre. In the loveliest and most comfortable surroundings ever devised by the ingenious mind, patrons of the Winter Garden at the Civic Theatre will be able to enjoy delicately served meals and watch the entertainment at the same time.

wish to reserve seats and take tea during the entertainment. Here, in comfortable chairs and luxurious surroundings, a talking picture entertainment will take on a new value. It will have the atmosphere of the Continental cities of Europe, with more comfort than the residents of those cities have ever known.

The remainder of the Winter Garden will be screened off for the use of casual customers who desire to enjoy their meals in the utmost comfort. Special drapings of very lovely material will divide the huge restau-

The whole of the ground floor of the immense theatre has been converted into a winter garden, which

ENTERTAINMENT AT TEA TABLE

rant as the occasion demands, but these have been designed so that they can be drawn back to allow the whole place to become one vast restaurant. A perfect view of the stage and the screen can be obtained from every part of the Winter Garden. LEADING THE WORLD Between 500 and 600 people can be accommodated at one time in this most modern and exquisitely arranged restaurant, which is the first in the world to be run on such modern and up-to-the-minute lines.

The Winter Garden will be open from 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. during week-days, and from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays. At Easter-time, or a little later, a Midnight Club will be opened there for dances and suppers. An excellent dance floor has been laid down, and during the day it will be covered for protection. Private dances will be catered for, and the whole of the Winter Garden will become a charming midnight cabaret for hostesses who wish to entertain with a maximum of comfort- and ease. ’the arrangements are so complete, a«d the decorations so lovely, that one scarcely knows where to begin in describing this charming part of New Zealand’s wonder theatre. The ceiling of the Winter Garden, under which many of the patrons will sit, is like an intricately carved piece of rare ivory, beautified by age. Concealed lights will give it a beautiful atmospheric effect to conform with the rest of the theatre. Cane furniture, designed for comfort and convenience, was specially made at the Institute for the Blind in Auckland, and will be a rare departure from the

usual stereotyped chairs and tables. Waitresses will wear costumes reminiscent of India. The skirts will be beige, and the upper portions brilliant scarlet, with gold designs worked on them. Beads and necklaces will be supplied to the girls. LUNCH ENTERTAINMENT During lunch-time patrons will be entertained by music and talkie shorts, thus giving an added interest to a restaurant the like of which cannot

be found in America or England. This will be given without any added charge. An immense quantity of silver and china has been specially made in England for the Winter Garden. The silver is old English in design, and beautiful in its simplicity. The china, too, is simple but very lovely. A delicate floral pattern adds to its beauty. Everything in table appointments is in the very best taste as becomes sucn a splendid building. The presiding genius of the Winter Garden is Mr. P. C. Corbett, who has been appointed manager. He has had 15 years’ experience in soda fountain work and refreshment rooms in Australia and America, and on his shoulders has fallen the Herculean task of organising every department associated with the Winter Garden. Mr. Corbett was brought from Melbourne some time ago to manage Ritz, Ltd., in New Zealand, and his efficiency was quickly realised by Mr. T. A- O’Brien when he sought for the right man to control his huge catering establishment. TEMPTING DELICACIES A French chef will preside over kitchens which are the last word in mod ern equipment, and will devise delectable delicacies to tempt the palates of patrons of the Winter Garden. His duties will be all-embracing, as morning and afternoon teas, suppers, hot and cold lunches, grills, and evening meals are to be provided. Everything is to be manufactured on the premises—cakes, bread, ice-cream, etc.— and some astonishing machinery has been installed to cope with the enormous quantities which will be required. The problem of quick service has been solved by a series of lifts, which speedily take the food from the kitchens above to the serveries on the level of the Winter Garden. No time will be lost by the waitresses in serving customers. The kitchens are marvels of modern equipment. All washing up is done by electric machines. Bread and meat are quickly sliced by ingenious machines supplied by the Toledo Scales Company, and giant ovens from the offices of the Auckland Gas Company will allow the cooks to cope with food in large quantities. One of the kitchen accessories which would be the envy of every housewife in Auckland is a huge food chest, automatically cooled, in which all perishable foods will be kept until they are required. In the foyer of the theatre, under Mr. Corbett’s control, will be the only soda fountain of its kind in New Zealand or Australia. It is a huge beverage dispenser capable of automatically manufacturing 3,000 drinks an hour — all icy-cold. A WONDER FOUNTAIN

The drinks from this fountain will be made from pure fruit juices made on the premises from fresh fruit grown in New Zealand orchards. Like its comprehensive menu, which will be a feature of the restaurant, the variety of drinks from the huge fountain will embrace every kind of fruit available.

On the premises there are two freezing chambers and an ice-cream factory, all automatically controlled. The electric equipment embraces all modern machinery for cooking and heating as w ell as for cooling. Gas, of course has been indispensible and will take its place with the later power. Some well-known Auckland firms have been given the pleasant task of keeping up daily supplies, which are expected to be enormous. Milk will be supplied by the Auckland Milk Company, meat by the Auckland Mea* Company, eggs and butter by E. W Griffiths, bread by J. Burton, fruit and vegetables by Wah Jang and Co , and the carpets will be kept in excellent condition by Hoover vacuum cleaners supplied by John Court, Ltd.

An army of people will be required to attend to the needs of those pacronising the Winter Garden, and the staff numbers 120. At night waiters will take the place of waitresses. So Auckland advances. Overseas visitors will see much to marvel at in this Winter Garden, and will no doubt carry away impressions of unexpected luxury met with in such a far-away Dominion as New Zealand. Meanwhile Aucklanders themselves will enjoy daily meals in surroundings which must be the envy of people living in the older world across the sea.