Classic LEGO sets: Eateries
Posted by Huw,
Here is another article in our classic LEGO series contributed by The Toymaker:
Classic Lego Town was known for many things, but one thing it wasn’t famous for, was haute cuisine. The inhabitants had very few options for eating out amidst the daily bustle of refuelling their vehicles, windsurfing and watching motor racing.
1589: Main Street
The very first eatery in Classic Town appeared in 1978, the year the town was founded. However, it only existed as a special edition in the form of 1589 Main Street which was a limited release via Weetabix in the UK. This set presented a busy street scene complete with half-timbered warehouse, bus stop and post office. If the five inhabitants felt peckish, they were served by a small kiosk selling ‘Ices’ that was ingeniously built into what was obviously the former town wall.
This set is very rare (although most of it is fairly Bricklinkable), so expect to pay north of £50 if it ever appears on Ebay.
675: Snack Bar
In 1979, the chill wind of competition for the ‘Ices’ kiosk arrived in the form of 675 Snack Bar which offered a range of drinks in addition to what appeared to be ketchup and mustard. A qualified chef operated this spacious unit, which appeared to be set in a park due to its rare small green baseplate and conifer tree. The set featured a male customer who on the pack imagery wore an early stage design for the male hairpiece – apparently a modified female “pigtails” piece. This set has become very iconic over the years due to its crisp white and blue colour scheme, the 1x2 white bricks with ice cream printing and unique “snack bar” sign, that rarely survived its first week on the carpet.
In recent months there has been little consistency in what this set has fetched on Ebay – you could be lucky and get it for less than £10, but it often goes for more than double that.
1592: Town Square/Carnival Scene
In 1980, another special edition via Weetabix came long that was very much a design development of 1589. 1592 Town Square featured a large castle facade, a half-timbered bookshop and a small red, white and blue “Fish & Chip” shop. Such was the lack of detailing in this era that there was never anything other than the sign that indicated it was a chip shop. The set came with a sticker option to have another “Ice Cream” kiosk in one’s town if that was required and the Dutch version of the set sold “Soep met worst” (soup with sausage), presumably a popular combination.
As a rare, limited edition and iconic set, you should expect to pay more than £100 for this on Ebay.
6683: Hamburger Stand
After a few year’s hiatus, another eatery came on the scene in 1983, a clear successor to 675. This was 6683 Hamburger Stand, which updated and modernised the concept and featuring a servery hatch, a small interior complete with till, and an exterior table and parasol. The set had two minifigures: a chef and a female customer wearing a newly designed jumpsuit torso. Sadly, the detailing was also lacking compared to modern sets with an unidentifiable cluster of different coloured 1x1 plates presumably representing a hamburger. Thanks to its colourful design in yellow, black and blue and the wonderfully visual stickers, this was always one of my favourite sets as a child.
Similar to its predecessor 675, this set will sell for between £8 and £28 when it appears on Ebay, depending on the extent of its completeness.
6376/10037: Breezeway Café
It was not until 1990 that further eating options were provided in the town, but it was well worth the wait as the next installment was 6376 – the spectacular Breezeway Café. This was undoubtedly as haute as the cuisine could get for the six covers. The white building with red detailing comprised a functional lower level with an entrance through two new transparent half-arches and a kitchen and servery. The upper level featured two seating areas – one outside, romantically under a swaying palm tree, and the other inside with superb panoramic views through the even larger 6x6x9 transparent half arch. Whilst the chef cooked, a smart waiter took the orders from the three customers as a parrot chirruped sweetly in the foliage. The set was resurrected in 2004 as part of the ‘Legends’ series.
Expect to pay at least £20 for this one on Ebay.
6411: Paradisa Sand Dollar Café
The arrival of the Paradisa sub-theme in 1992 inevitably saw a few more eating options arrive, the first of which in its launch year was 6411 Sand Dollar Café. This beachfront property, apparently built on a board-walk out over the sands made good use of the transparent arches and included a stylish curved bar complete with draught drinks and a coffee machine. Out on the blue-flag sands, an ice cream trolley served the sunbathers. The catering was under the watchful eye of another chef.
As the set is neither rare nor particularly iconic, you could probably pick this up for about £10 on Ebay if you are prepared to wait.
6350/10036: Pizza to Go
Pizza arrived in LEGO Town in a big way in 1994 when 6350 Pizza to Go was introduced. This set was a further development of the 675/6683 sequence but with the addition of a delightful little van for deliveries. The architecture of the set was wonderfully Italianate, featuring a whitewashed building and stone tower which housed the wood burning pizza oven, all with a terracotta style roof and with red and green branding. The moustachioed chef could cook up to four pizzas thanks to the innovative use of a boat paddle as a pizza spade. The van, built on a 4x7 chassis, was driven by another member of staff whilst a female customer ate under a parasol at the table. The set was re-released under the “Legends” line as 10036.
To get a copy of this complete in good condition, prepare to pay £15 on Ebay.
6402: Paradisa Sidewalk Café
1994 also saw the release of 6401 Sidewalk Café, a fairly uninspiring little set with an ice cream kiosk with table and parasol adjacent to a an overgrown couple of arches, with much use made of white bricks and Paradisa pink. It included an ice cream seller and an under-dressed customer.
Indicative of its low quality, this set has sold on Ebay in the last month for £1.04.
6543: Sail ‘n’ Fly Marina
The third set released in 1994 that provided eating options was 6543 Sail ‘n’ Fly Marina. The main thrust of this set was of course the boatyard and ancillary services that kept the power boats in the race, but at the end of the jetty was a pleasant little “Club” café that served a selection of drinks to any who happened to wander down to the seashore. Perhaps offering one of the most interesting views of any of the Classic Town eateries, patrons could sit under a parasol, walk out to the lighthouse on the jetty and generally take in the seascape whilst served by a smartly dressed waiter.
This set remains very popular and quite rare, so it may set you back more than £50 to acquire a copy second-hand.
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22 comments on this article
My favorite was the McDonalds that came out in 1999. (3438)
Will there be a second part to this article, or is there a cut-off date to what is considered 'classic'?
In this series, I have treated the Classic Town cut-off as being 1997, the transition year for the "juniorized" sets that could be regarded as a retrograde development.
6376/10037: Breezeway Café and 6350/10036: Pizza to Go are some of my favorite sets (sadly I stripped them for pieces), but the good thing is that they shall go to form a space themed casino/restaurant for my SW MOC's.
I owned 6350 and 6402 as a kid! Sadly, both were plagued by STAMPs (Stickers Across Multiple Pieces), something today's sets have thankfully mostly done away with. The STAMPs are part of the reason why 6350 can be so expensive online — unless the set's never been disassembled, chances are the stickers are not going to be in good condition.
It's a shame so many modern LEGO City eateries are just pizza places, and usually ones without the old-world charm of 6350, but I suppose part of the reason for this is that pizza is a food that's pretty recognizable and well-liked internationally. Even though the LEGO pizzas appear to have the sauce over top of the cheese, something that is rare in most American pizzerias (I actually had my first actual pizza like this just a few days ago).
@The Toymaker - if you happen to still be reading this, I admit to being intrigued by this descriptive line from above: "...and unique “snack bar” sign, that rarely survived its first week on the carpet." I wasn't quite sure what you meant by this little subtle joke - did the "snack bar" text rub off from play? Did it break easily?
'...the chill wind of competition for the ‘Ices’ kiosk..' that tickled me. Great and amusing article Huw. I've been waiting for this one for the beloved Hamburger Stand 6683 - still a stand out among favourites.
^ It was written by 'The Toymaker', not me. I just posted it.
^^^ 675 appears to have been a very popular set amongst my peers but the sign almost always seems to have fallen off the set and fairly soon after been stepped on and snapped.
Love these articles, keep'em coming!
@Aanchir - the Friends line has several excellent places to eat, none of which I believe is a pizza place (though it's kind of surprising the girls don't yet have a pizza place to hang out in).
^ There's a pizzeria in 41058 Heartlake Shopping Mall, along with something approximating a Subway it seems !
Cor! I had the first 3 sets and loved them :-)
I remember eating Weetabix like a pig so we could get enough tokens for another 1592: Town Square/Carnival :-). We ended up with 3 of them between me and my two brothers.
Shame we don't have anything other than the bricks left saying as it's so rare.
Oh, COOL. I'm loving Pizza to Go and the Breezeway Café (perhaps why they actually became Legends in the first place.) Anyways, these look heaps better than some of the houses that came out around the same time.
The 'SNACK BAR' printed brick is a good survivor, but the little sign at the side is very delicate. Because the base is at right angles to the sign, any pressure on it (like treading on it, or just being at the bottom of a tub of LEGO) makes one end snap off.
But the other problem with LEGO cafes is far too many of them rely on the STAMP sticker sign.
I really wish Lego would resurrect the Legends line. Despite the simple nature of Town sets in the early years, there's just something about them (other than nostalgia) that is so appealing, and I'd love to see some of the classics brought back for a new generation.
@chrisaw: The issue with the Legends line is that it generally doesn't bring classics back for a new generation — it brings them back for the same generation that enjoyed them in the first place, complete with plenty of faults that newer LEGO fans aren't used to. The STAMPs in 10036 Pizza-to-Go are just one example of a way even an otherwise great design can seem flawed and dated in hindsight. Same goes for the simplistic color palette, decorations, part selection, and building techniques of many of the older sets the line revived. And the hinges which often tend to be fragile and specialized compared to more universal modern hinge styles. To an adult who lived through that era, they feel "classic" and provide a hefty dose of nostalgia, but to a newer fan they are different enough from modern LEGO to almost feel like cheap knock-offs.
Also, let's not forget the last of the LEGO Legends sets, 10176 King's Castle. In this case, the LEGO Group DID try to modernize a classic set for newer audiences, and the result was a set that (to me at least) felt sub-par either by current or classic standards.
Incidentally, Brickset seems to consider it a remake of 6091/6098, but that's clearly not what it's designed to resemble. The catalog description clearly says that it's based on 6090 Royal King's Castle (released as Royal Knights' Castle in some countries). And the result simply doesn't measure up.
The decorations, the colors, and some of the motifs are all there, but the brick-built gargoyles are replaced with the newer "lion brick", the asymmetrical baseplate and the asymmetrical design that comes with it were warped into a mostly symmetrical castle in order to fit a newer, symmetrical baseplate, the towers were shrunk down, and the minifigures were replaced with awkwardly mismatched designs made from modern parts and colors.
I'm honestly surprised that this set has such positive feedback on this site. Perhaps it's because people mistakenly think of it as a classically inspired "upgrade" of a relatively shabby turn-of-the-century set and not a warped version of a considerably more impressive set from 1995. Perhaps it's because it does boast some nice non-standard features like a blacksmith's forge. But to me, it shows how upgrading a set with a higher piece count and modern parts and colors often still feels like a corruption to someone who knew the original — even someone like me who normally likes the way LEGO sets have advanced over the years.
I actually owned Breezeway Cafe as a kid and loved it.
I always wanted Sail N' Fly Marina so badly...but in that particular regard life was cruel to me, heh. Great overview, props to the writer. Looking forward to more of these. Castle soon?
I own a surprising amount of these. I got the restaurant for Christmas one year (and I still have it, although I've customed it up a bit. I closed off the kitchen downstairs, added a door, and added a few more plants and flowers,). I got the Pizzeria another year (and loved that, too. Yep, still have it).
For the record, 1592 is *very* Bricklinkable. The instructions are over at Peeron.com, and the pieces are all very basic bricks and plates. I did this myself, and I was able to build the set really cheaply (and the book shop set against the castle wall, I mean, it just looks so good). I read a comment once that 1592 is one of those sets that's so beautiful, it's actually painful.
If you want fine dining in your LEGO city, there is always 10243 :)
Or build your own MOC :)
Ah Correction: Great Article @ The Toymaker. Nice one!
675 holds a special place in my heart, being one of the sets I owned as a kid and loved to bits - literally. I must have built and rebuilt it hundreds of times, in al kinds of diferent ways. Together with the police car [600] and taxi [608] (and to a lesser extent the ambulance [606]) of the same era, they epitomise LEGO sets from my youth.
I love these articles. Somehow our snackbar sign has survived a previous owner, my sister and I and now my niece and nephew too. I wonder if it will last to our grandkids! (probably not!)
I was lucky enough to get 1589, sadly with no box, but it's in great condition. In fact my copy of 'the patron' appears in the Minifigure Year by Year book! I probably should sell it for someone else to enjoy, as it's a delight to build, but I don't have it on display...
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!
I had 1589 - ordered by saving some Weetabix coupons and sending an amount of £ (I think it was £3) ... couldn't wait for it to arrive (took about 4 weeks, which was an eternity for an 11-year old). Still my favourite childhood set. It remained built in one form or another for many years, even in a scene I rebuilt when I moved to the US.
I also had 675, and this was the last set I went out to purchase before going off to Uni and not adding to the collection for a few years afterwards. Still have it somewhere, but back in the UK, I think.