Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

Cafe Today (1971)

Color photo of plastic play set. Orange plastic rectangular structure has lithographed vinyl surfaces showing a grill with range hood, pink psychedelic swill wallpaper, soda fountain, and many-sized polka dot floor that can be folded up to close the box. A plastic counter is printed with the words "Now", "Rock", "Soul", and "Love", surrounding more psychedelic swirls, with cash register atop. One side of the structure has a window opening midway up, one flap folding down to form a counter and one folding up to make an awning. Three orange chairs--one at counter height, and two lower--are cylinder-shaped with flat circular seats. A circle table with thick cylindrical base has two flat plates on top printed with food (not detailed at this magnification but consisting of hot dogs, fries, olives and pickles).
Source: kvitochki on eBay.

Sixties Barbie was all dressed up with few places to go. There was the Little Theatre, but what’s “dinner and a show” without dinner? A show? Barbie’s only known 1960s eatery was not much of a restaurant, certainly not a nightclub: the Campus Sweet Shop was where Ken took Barbie for malteds, but she had absolutely nowhere to do this, or this,

Two color comic book panels. Left, well-dressed patrons sit at tables with white table cloths. Draping, chandeliers and tall windows frame the space. A man in tuxedo says "Bon soir, Bar-bee. So nice to see you in our new restaurant." Barbie, dressed in a darker-colored Enchanted Evening, responds, "Hello, Pierre. You have my table ready?" Right, Barbie in Solo in the Spotlight stands between a microphone and a piano where Ken is seated. A caption reads, "The show started right no time. Ken accompanied Barbie at the piano, and Barbie sang a brand-new song that Ken had written." Barbie's word bubble contains music notes and the lyrics, "A word is a very useful thing, we all use words when we speak or sing..."
Source: Dell Comics

or any of this,

Two black and white book illustrations. Left, Barbie in evening dress sits with a man in white tuxedo jacket at a circular table overlooking a swimming pool and palm trees. At right, Barbie in knee-length dress is helped into her seat by a man in a suit. The table and chairs appear wrought iron.

just this:

Another black-and-white book illustration, Barbie sits on a stool at a bar or counter--a sign on the wall reads, "SODA" to clarify. A teacup sits next to her hand. She has removed her shoes.
Source: Random House books.

The 1971 Cafe Today play set didn’t help the situation. With burgers on the grill, soft drinks in paper cups, hot dogs on the table, and the counter window with awning outside, Cafe Today appears to be a hamburger stand.

Closeups of two interior walls. The grill with oven beneath and range hood overhead is orange with chrome trim and fieldstone backboard. Next to it are yellow counters with a soda machine on a pink, psychedelic-swirled background, and around the corner, a milkshake maker and some sort of canister. That wall is done in purple with pink-and-blue daisy pattern, still psychedelic, and the word LOVE printed in yellow bubbly script. Next to the counter is the jukebox, a low boxy style without any flashy lights. Looks like a cigarette machine of my youth. Album covers in miniature along the top may be based on real albums of the time. Above the jukebox is a "pay phone" in silver with orange receiver. It looks like a shelf with phone book is represented below.
Printed interior details showing grill, soft drink dispenser, pay phone and ’70s-style jukebox. Ebay sources: supersebbe and kvitochki.

We commend the interesting barrel chair design, at least:

Counter, chairs, and hot dogs. Ebay sources: sjsutherland-2, supersebbe.

In her Barbie structures book Marl Davidson describes Cafe Today as a discotheque, but I think that’s being generous.

Color catalog image of a portable radio that opens out into a play set. The set is in bright rainbow colors. Quick-Curl Barbie and 1970s Ken with mustache and rooted hair sit in two chairs at a round table with drinks atop. The catalog text includes: "Take your fashion doll to the DISCOTEQUE... AM radio wall furnishes the top hits and colored light. $13.99, dolls, batteries not included. Radio Discoteque... where fashion dolls come to rock-out. Case opens into cozy nightclub with dance floor and table for two. Side wall has built-in AM radio with speaker and pulsating multicolored light show... you control music, volume and lights. When dolls are tired, fold discoteque into colorful carry-along radio." "ACCESSORIES: 2 chairs, table. Soda pop bottle and 2 glasses attached to tabletop. Two-section fold-up dance floor. Plastic."
Now this is a discotheque (off-brand play set/working radio from Sears Christmas catalog, 1976).

Would Barbie ever get to dine in style? This might be moving the goal posts, but I’ll venture the 1986 Barbie and the Rockers Dance Cafe, unquestionably a discotheque, as a fashionable place to see and be seen, drink and dance, possibly even get a bite to eat:

Box art from Dance Cafe shows product photo. The floor is pink and shaped like a guitar with fretboard and head. body of the "guitar" is surrounded by pink plastic fence panels with guitar shaped inset and ROCKERS written diagonally in a black stripe near the top. Two yellow directors chairs sit at a white-topped table with some dishware atop (all plastic). Along the back is a circular piece of decor resembling a record with flashing lights embedded in the center. Before that sits a pink bar. A pink plastic phone sits atop the bar, seeming a bit out of place. Starry printed elements on black background decorate the bar front and cardboard back surrounding the record decoration. A green fern in white pot sits in the foreground. Rockers Midge sits at the table, while Barbie and Ken are hooked into an embedded stand that makes them "dance" (turn) and the press of a lever.
Stylish Mattel discotheque, via retrorodeo82 on eBay.

Will Pierre, the maitre d’, greet Barbie by name at the Dance Cafe? Perhaps not. But at least she can be hounded by paparazzi on the way in.

Back at the Cafe Today things are comparatively laid back: jukebox blasting, sun shining and grill sizzling. It’s an informal hangout space to complement the Unique Boutique of the same year.

Cafe today exterior. On orange frame, pink paneling dominates the lithographed structure illustration. In the front is a glass or screen door showing a counter and soda fountain within. Signs reading Barbie Cafe Today on the top and out front have more psychedelic flourishes. A fieldstone walkway extends from the door. Blue and green striped awning decorates the door and along the back of the structure. Orb-shaped lights hang from the awning out back and another sits next to the front door. In back the scene is completed with greenery, including a leafy plant in orange pot, and waterfall fountain surrounded by rocks and foliage.
Cafe Today exterior front and back. Source: kvitochki on eBay.

Glamour will have to wait.

Where to next? This post is about Barbie’s early built environment. The most recent post in this category is about Japanese exclusive furniture, and the most popular are those on Mattel Modern and Susy Goose furniture and on penthouse apartments. The overall most popular posts on this site are about Barbie shoes, 1959-67, and about Mattel fashion booklets. Or just head up to the Table of Contents to see more options.

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