The Corner Room: Two Interior Scenes

The Corner Room is one of my favorite State College restaurants, and I go there as often as my schedule permits. It's in the very heart of downtown State College, at the corner of College and Allen, which is a very cool place to hang out. There's lots happening there, at all times of year! When people say, "Meet me at the corner!" that is exactly where they mean.

I am more likely to visit the Corner Room in winter, or so it seems, when I am traveling by bus. And that's what happened on this day. I had a meeting downtown in the morning and I thought to myself, Hmm, there just might be time to enjoy a quick breakfast!

So that is exactly what I did. I took the bus to campus, scooted downtown, and went in and ordered my personal favorite, the early bird special of two eggs, home fries, and toast (by the way, it's up to $3.29 plus tax and tip now). And it arrived in about five minutes, and it was hot and delightful and good. Just the thing to set a winter morning right.

I am also, for the record, a big fan of the Corner Room's marvelous French onion soup. In fact, you might say I'm obsessed with it! Any time I'm there around lunchtime, I order it. And there was that one day recently when the weather was spitting awful and I just got this idea in my head that I absolutely HAD TO HAVE SOUP and so I did. Yeah, there was that.

And I laugh to speak this truth, for it reveals where my priorities lie. You all know by now that I am sometimes out shooting in the worst weather imaginable. I've shot in snow and sleet and hail and rain. Come what may, I am out in it!

So you might think that the biggest risk of injury to my camera might come from a weather-related incident. I submit to you, however, that the camera is perhaps in most deadly danger of drowning in the French onion soup, as I inch the lens closer and closer, trying to capture its glory! (Death by soup! How awful! But what a way go go!)

So I've told you all about these things before, and I've shown them to you. But on this day, I wanted to show you something new. I wanted to finally show you the interior of the Corner Room so that you may see how charming it is to eat there yourself!

The Corner Room has these big booths along the windows that are among the best people-watching seats in town. If there is a booth available when I am there, I snag it. Emma is the kind, white-haired lady who usually welcomes and seats me. "Follow me," she says, as she grabs a menu and shuffles off ahead of me. And I do follow, indeed.

And so for the mere price of (a very cheap) breakfast, I have paid my rent on a booth, and I can spend as long as I want sitting there, quite happily watching the world pass me by. How wonderful to live a life of such privilege!

So today's priority was the interior, which I'm including TWO photos of. The main one above shows a lovely private interior booth, the only one of its kind, as far as I know. You get a sense of all of the warm, golden wood. The photos on the walls are all historic scenes of downtown. And then I took about a half-dozen steps to my left to take the next photo that's in the extras.

The extra photo shows a section of the main dining area, with booths along the window facing College Ave. There are fancy, old-fashioned brass light fixtures overhead, and wooden hooks along the booths for hanging one's coat (how civilized and old-fashioned!) These are perhaps the most coveted seats of all. And on some happy mornings (as on this one), one of them is mine, all mine!

The song to accompany these two interior images of the Corner Room is Creedence Clearwater Revival, with Down on the Corner.

P.S. Apparently this "two interior scenes" thing is a thing I have begun doing recently. Here are two other sets: Nittany Lion Inn, and Duffy's Tavern in Boalsburg.