Built in 1946, the Snow White Cafe has two personalities: family-friendly cafe by day, and a bar at night. The food is as you'd expect for a bar: burgers and sandwiches with good-sized portions and good prices. Plus, it's a nice little respite and step back in time compared to all the craziness going on just half a block away.
But the thing that really sets the Snow White Cafe apart is the interior. Most of the walls are decorated with murals and framed portraits from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, obviously painted back in the 40s (though retouched a bit in the intervening years).
For those of us who know Disney history (particularly the Michael Eisner era), it seems odd that the Mouse House would allow them to have the cafe identified so strongly with Disney's characters. This is the same company, after all, that made a day care center paint over the Disney characters on its fence. My only guess is that whatever their agreement, it was clearly grandfathered in.
The other questions are just how the murals got there, who painted them (they clearly look like they were done by Disney artists), and how the cafe got its name. According to the menu, the only one they state was definitely done by Disney artists is over the door, which reads, "We hope we have pleased you."
There doesn't seem to be any definitive explanation for the murals, however. Some sources say that the animators liked to go there after work, but it's a good distance from the studio. The most likely version is that Disney needed a place for a party after the Snow White premiere, a friend told Walt about a new bar he was opening up, and Walt sent some artists down to decorate beforehand. This sounds just like something Walt would do, except for the premiere part, since the bar didn't open until nearly ten years after Snow White was released.
As a lifelong Disney fan (as well as Hollywood history), this little mystery has me intrigued. I'm going to have to do some more digging.
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