I've enjoyed high teas, though it's been a long time since I last attended one.
When I was young I would occasionally attend the High Tea held weekly in the tearoom of the downtown Bullock's Wilshire. They were elegant affairs with silent white gloved and attentive service, rolling carts loaded with tiered platters of delicacies, attending to a part of the old Los Angeles aristocracy, prim and proper ladies who would happily carry a torch to the lynching and join in singing hymns after.
Bullock's Wilshire was the showpiece of the Bullock's department store chain, and the tea room was the crown jewel.
www.pbssocal.org
I much more enjoyed enjoyed the high teas served at Rose Tree Cottage, a wonderful little bastion of all things British, located in Pasadena. The high tea, which required a reservation several weeks in advance at that time, was both elegant and comforting, more homey than the formal Bullock's Wilshire parade. Bach then, the business was located in a small Arts and Crafts cottage, one of a group that had been built in the 1920's as housing and had since been taken over by businesses. Rose Tree Cottage move to more commodious accomodations and expanded the luxury end of its business, but the warmth and charm remain.
Other than that, ex wife #2 went to school in England and learned to make a pretty damned good high tea, which was usually reserved for her school chums who had returned to the US, and occasionally for us.
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