Café 50s

A 1950s café in the middle of 1985: chrome, neon, rock and roll on the jukebox, and the best apple pie on the Rock.

Opened
1977
Owner
Rachel Carter
Open
7am to midnight, closed Mondays
Jukebox
A 1955 machine with 100 records
Famous for
Milkshakes and apple pie
Seats
Eight booths and six stools

Why the fifties

Rachel Carter fell for the fifties as a girl in France, through a box of American records she found at a market stall: rock and roll, doo-wop, the decade when everything looked like the future. When she opened her own place in 1977, there was never any question what it would look like.

Inside

A black and white chequerboard floor, red leather booths, chrome stools along the counter and pastel mint walls. The jukebox is the oldest thing in the room and the loudest. Every milkshake is made by hand, the apple pie sits under a glass dome on the counter, and the coffee is French, because that's the one thing Rachel won't change.

Inside Café 50s: chequerboard floor, red booths, chrome stools and a glowing jukebox
Inside Café 50s, late in the evening.

The sign

The neon sign was made to Rachel's own drawing by a sign maker in Tangier and came over on the ferry in two crates. It has broken three times, and each time half the street has turned out to help put it back up. On a wet night you can see it from the harbour.

Café 50s at night, its pink and turquoise neon sign glowing over a wet street
Café 50s at night.

Timeline

  1. 1977Rachel Carter opens Café 50s.
  2. 1978The jukebox arrives, rescued from a dance hall that was closing down.
  3. 1981A new physicist from Fusion Laboratories walks in at eleven at night and orders a chocolate milkshake.
  4. 1983The apple pie wins first prize at the town's summer fair.
  5. 1985December. The café stays open all night, the night the sky lit up.

Behind the counter

Regulars