Flying "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime"
The TALOA Trading Corporation: The International Bar and Grill
The International Grill Room at the Oakland International Airport was managed by Pat O'Regan, from Shannon, Ireland, beginning in 1950. Paul Norville, chef for the popular restaurant and coffee shop, won four prizes at the East Bay's annual exhibition of catering arts held by the International Stewards and Caterers Association in 1951, including the Grand Award for Overall Display. The restaurant also provided frozen food services for the inflight meals of several major airlines and the Military Air Transport Service at Travis AFB and Hickam Field, Honolulu.
Orvis Nelson anticipating a delicious lobster dinner to be prepard by chef Paul Norville, as restaurant manager. Pat O'Regan assists. Oakland, California.
Paul Norville, chef at the International Grill Room, with his "Around the World With Transocean" prize winning cake.
TRANSOCEAN AIR LINES Taloa News Oct. 1953
International Grill Room
Sometimes many of us at the hangars are very likely to forget that the International Room is just as important a part of Transocean Air Lines as the people who are busily occupied with the business of either flying or maintaining the aircraft.
But after a talk with all the TAL employees at the International Room one can easily see that although they are concerned with food instead of flying, they definitely are an important part of the Company.
It was more than three years ago that Transocean began operating the now famous Oakland Airport restaurant, under the direction of Douglass Johnson and Dick Derr. Pat O'Regan, fresh from Shannon, Ireland, was one of the first managers of the International Room and was greatly responsible for its development.
Franz Herrmann, the present manager, brings his own European influences from his experience at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz and the Hotel Des Bergues in Vienna. His early years in Switzerland have prompted many of unusual menus offered at the air-minded dining room. One of his instituted trade-marks was the popular stuffed potato of the International Room, which is prepared with fancy bacon, onion stuffing and lots of butter. His more recent restaurant dishes include lobster tails flown in from Africa, Blue Point oysters from Maine and of course, fresh pineapples and papayas from the Hawaiian Islands. Franz likes to get the unusual at the best price, for serving at the International Room, and his secret ambition is to have foreign foods aboard every Transocean plane landing at Oakland Airport.
Along with the constant number of famous air travelers who visit the International Room, there are many guests whose visit is still remembered. Duncan Hines, the authority on restaurant dining, has stopped more than once at the International Room. They say he generally orders his usual . . . roast beef . . . and ignores the foreign dishes. Many members of foreign consulates who are among the air-travelers, are pleased to find their native dishes prepared by the restaurant.
A speed record was once set at the Transocean restaurant, when they served a complete meal to 47 passengers in exactly twelve minutes between planes.
Business has improved during the growth of the International Room, and Dick Derr said, "Ever since our formal opening in June 1950 we have been very encouraged to see the way public and airport people have responded to good food and equitable prices." Many of the TAL people pictured on these pages have been with Transocean as long as we have been operating the restaurant. One-third of the International Room employees have their year service pins and many are planning on the day when they will be receiving their five year pins.
FOOD IS ONLY HALF THE STORY at the International Room. Service is the other half and the above group of TAL employees do their part in taking care off it. From left to right are: Milton Moreno, bartender; Dale Culler, Junett Maland, Ruth Pardini, Jessie Fink and Ethel House, all dining room waitresses; and Wesley Ebert, assistant manager
FAST SERVICE WITH A SMILE, might well be the working motto of the above waitresses in the International Room Coffee Shop. They are left to right: Helen Kenaley, Jackie Dwyer, Dorthea Pryor, Ruby Davlin, Helen Caruso and Frances Mosen. When air travelers stop in at the Coffee Shop they are usually in a hurry to catch the next plane, which prompts these waitresses to try the impossible in order to serve them as the airplane may be taxiing up the runway.
(Below) CASHIER, JOSEPHINE YAHN, ready to help one
of the hundreds of G.I.'s that visit the famous eating place.
(Left) NO MATTER WHAT HIS TITLE or from what exotic land he may have come, every air-traveler must stop at the International Room cashier's counter. Above is Mary Morrison, cashier, and Doris Wall, dining room waitress, who has been with Transocean for more than two years.
(Below) FRANZ HERRMANN Manager of the International Room, poses with the restaurant sign in the background.
(Below) AN INSIDE VIEW of the airport dining room known by people all over the world for its foreign foods.
(Above) ONE OF THE VETERANS with the International Room is Amy Osborn, office manager, who has been with them for three years. When she is not working she likes to play golf or tend her garden.
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(Right) BEHIND THE SCENES in the International Room's trim kitchen. In the above photo, left to right, are: Carl Herrera, pantry man; Junett Maland, dining room waitress; James Kersh, cook; Marion Hunt, cook; and in the background Dale Culler, dining room waitress.
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(Below) DONNIE CHRISTOPHER, left, has been with the International Room since it was taken over by Transocean. She does all the purchasing of food and merchandise sold in the lobby, except items carried by the Taloa Trading Treasure House
