Mall Eatery Was Inside Woolworth’s
Q: Back in the early to mid-’70s, I remember a restaurant in the Palm Beach Mall. It was a nice place that served brunch on Sundays and had a clown do magic for us kids. What was the name of that place?
- Rich W., Jupiter
A: This question brought some nostalgic smiles from some of our Baby Boomer staffers, not to mention Rachelle Crain, marketing director for the Palm Beach Mall. She remembers Harvest House, as the restaurant was called, and the clowns who did magic and made balloon animals for the kids. Crain grew up in
West Palm Beach and recalls going to the place as a teen in the 1970s with her
four siblings.
The restaurant chain had a contract to operate inside Woolworth’s. The Woolworth’s at the Palm Beach Mall stood where the Designer Shoe Warehouse, Musician’s Superstore and Borders are now, and the Harvest House inside had a separate entrance into the mall, Crain said. She said the restaurant moved out
around 1994. The Woolworth’s shut down in 1997 when the chain closed all its 400 remaining five-and-dime stores.
Woolworth’s later morphed into Foot Locker. We tried to get more historical information about Harvest House, but its press people didn’t return several calls.
We ate at the Harvest house almost every day from the time it opened.I loved the fluffy cheesecake.I have so many memories.
My father ran the Harvest House and the Woolworth lunch counter from the time it opened in 1967 until he retired in 1983.
I miss the strawberry cake and much more about the food there. My Dad did everything he could to keep the food served the way his customers like it and often used his own recipes rather than the corporate ones.