Cape Cod Room

For over 80 years, Chicago’s Drake Hotel housed one of the city’s oldest restaurants, the Cape Cod Room. During its 83 years of service, this fine dining location became known for its seafood fare and celebrity clientele.

The Cape Cod Room opened in 1933 during the Century of Progress International Exhibition and quickly became Chicago’s top seafood destination and the nation’s first themed restaurant. It was located within the Drake Hotel at 140 E. Walton Pl., Chicago, Illinois.

The Coq d’Or cocktail lounge within opened on December 6, 1933, immediately following the repeal of Prohibition. This was the second establishment in Chicago to secure a liquor license.

During its run, the Cape Cod Room served numerous celebrity guests, including Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Fonda, Julie Andrews, Mickey Rooney, Yul Brynner, Sophia Loren, and more. Some of these celebrities were regular with preferred tables: Taylor (4), Brynner (41), and Andrews (42). Most notably among the celebrity names, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio carved their initials into the Coq d’Or cocktail longe’s wooden bar.

The Cape Cod Room’s final night of operation occurred on New Year’s Eve 2016. During its final months, the restaurant brought back some of its classic dishes, including fresh-shucked oysters, Bookbinder soup, baked Alaska, and shrimp de Jonghe. However, due to major renovations on the hotel’s Arcade level that lasted from 2016 to 2019, the Cape Cod Room became a casualty. I was able to attend one of the last few evenings of its operation and enjoy this piece of Chicago history.

Nonetheless, some items from the Cape Cod Room have been preserved and are still accessible to the public, including the wood bar bearing the initials of Monroe and DiMaggio and other memorabilia. Additionally, a selection of the classic Cape Cod Room menu items has carried over to the Coq d’Or restaurant, which has since replaced the Cape Cod Room. These items include Bookbinder soup, oysters Rockefeller, crab cakes, the Cape Cod seafood boil, and baked Alaska. While the Cape Cod Room is no longer in operation, remnants of its exciting history are still present.

About Annette Bochenek

Dr. Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is an avid scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for TCM Backlot, she also writes for Classic Movie Hub, Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine.
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1 Response to Cape Cod Room

  1. Chuck Giometti says:

    Great Article! 

    I always would go to the Drake on dates with ladies from the South Side. The Cape Cod Room was always impressive. So was the dancing and the classic old hotel building was full of class. If you didn’t have a sport coat, the maitri d would supply one to borrow for entry. Adding the classy strolling down North Michigan Avenue and entry into the Playboy Club in the Colgate Palmolive building or Kon Tiki Ports kitsch Restaurant made for some great experiences for south East Siders that grew up next to Steel Mills.
    It was great accessible fun!

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