Do any of the old timey Japanese restaurants still exist?

The only time I ever saw such a thing was in the Babar book - the one when he went to America. His Japanese friends in New York took him to one. This was in the '60s, thou NB...the shoes (you'll need to click on the pic - for some reason imgur thinks this photo is pornographic - I can assure you it is not).

Does Yamashiro in Hollywood count?

I went to one when I was kid, too, circa 1970-ish.

But then, sushi bars, Benihana, and ramen shops came in to take over the Japanese restaurant market in the US.

Oh yes! I miss these kinds of places. We used to have one in town. It was beautiful, with incredible food. Far more traditional (unlike what passes for most Japanese restaurants these days), with the most stunning interior, the incredible lighting, the traditional music (with live traditional Japanese musicians on select nights), the most beautiful dishes, and the wait stuff in traditional kimono. And the building itself looked like classic traditional Japanese architecture. It was like you stepped into another time. Even the prices were reasonable (before Japanese food blew up in the American market). I have so many memories of this place. Sadly, now long gone. And you can't find anything like it anymore.

I think a lot of Chinese restaurants were quite exotic then too - I seem to remember huge exotic fish tanks.

I remember a hotel in Denmark in 1970. They had women in traditional Chinese dress as waitresses - the hot hand towels, chop sticks, it was my first time using chop sticks, so I've had plenty of time to get good at using them.

OP, I'm guessing you either live in San Francisco or Vancouver.

Houston, R6. R4, yes, that's exactly what the place I went to was like. There was also a great Moroccan restaurant which looked like a sultan's palace inside with bellydancing and low banquets and carpets. That's gone now too. There are other Moroccan restaurants but they're modern and generic now.

One of my favorite episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is where Lou Grant tries to fix Mary up with a successful friend of Lou's, and they go on a group date to a Japanese restaurant and sit on the floor. Of course Mary, with her lithe dancer's figure, manages to look supremely elegant sitting on the floor!

Lucy went on a date at one of these Japanese restaurants in the movie, "Yours, Mine, and Ours."

R9 thats actually what inspired my question. I

Vinton took me to the one that used to be here in Raytown for Mother’s Day one year. It was a good day until his over-sexed, bossy-ass wife, Naomi showed up.

" I seem to remember huge exotic fish tanks."

Oh, lots of Chinese restaurants still have those murky tanks. And if you order a whole fish they'll net one out of the tank, kill it, and steam or fry it up for you, which is why I stopped ordering whole fish long ago.

This is in the SF Bay Area, where many of the Chinese restaurants cater to actual Chinese people. Remember, if there are jellyfish on the menu, there's authentic food to be had!

Nippon dining now with it and no time to bow bow, Joe. And Geishas lotsa yen.

Get with times! KFC and miso, コックを吸う and go go go!!

In the meantime, no one's discovered one of these place for poor old OP.

I found a place in Nyack, NY - but it's recently closed down.

Raytown, Raytown, Raytown!

Last year I visited a Japanese food sort of... emporium(?) in Waikiki.

It's not kitschy with the screens and sliding doors, but the food is authentic.

I don't think you'll find that any more, because most restaurants have updated their decor, and screens and sliding doors just aren't practical or "normal" outside of Japan.

What about all the Tiki inspired lounges and bars? I used to see them all around as a kid.

Those were so fun R18.

Are Chinese and Japanese restaurants the same?

Yes R20, they both love you long time.

^ sum ting wong

Izakaya Bizan in Little Tokyo (LA) has zashiki seating and private tatami rooms.

Private tatami room at Fuki Sushi in Palo Alto.

Azuma in Cupertino, CA might still have something like that. I haven’t been in at least ten years, but it used to be good.

How rude, R24.

Fuki Sushi you too!

Cupertino, Ca., has a heavily Asian-American population.

I expect that the reason these places have been replaced by sushi bars is economic, they require more space per customer than a sushi bar, and real estate has gotten massively more expensive since I went to one of these places as a kid. If these places still exist, they are probably expensive and upscale.

The other reason is that I don't think white people are all that comfortable with the kind of service you get in these places, where the most ladylike waitresses on Earth comes into your private room, and kneels at the customer's table. I remember that as a kid my whole family stopped talking and just stared when she came in, and I almost died from embarrassment at their suburban uncouthery (in my defense I was 10). No, crowding into a ramen shop or sushi bar is more what Americans are used to.

There was one like that on West 45th Street between 5th and 6th Aves forever.

I wonder if it's still there?

Irori Sushi in Marina del Rey has horigotatsu style dining. Guests can sit the traditional Japanese way (seiza or agura or yokosuwari), but probably the majority sit with their legs placed in sunken wells underneath the tables. This is a popular style among younger generations of Japanese, who find dining in the traditional style uncomfortable.

Can I just have a hotdog 🌭

Apparently only NINE! people looked at my Babar photo after I went to so much trouble - so I'll post it again.

Maybe it's the porno warning when you click on it (WHY? imgur?)- people think it's going to be a close-up of a vagina or something. But I promise you it's Babar and friends at a traditional NYC Japanese restaurant in the '60s. What I've never forgotten about this image is the shoes (which you won't see unless you click on).

[quote]I wonder if it's still there?

It is called Yamaguchi and it is still there.