Samoa Cookhouse

{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox restaurant | embed = | name = Samoa Cookhouse | title =  | logo = | logo_width = | logo_alt = | image = Samoa Cookhouse Samoa CA.jpg | image_width = | image_alt = | image_caption = | pushpin_map = California | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = Location in California | established = 1893 | closed =  | current_owner = | previous_owner = | head_chef = | chef = | pastry_chef = | food_type = | dress_code = | rating = | street_address = 908 Vance Ave | city = Samoa | county = Humboldt | state = California | postcode = 95564 | country = United States | coordinates = {{Coord|40|49|11.79|N|124|10|54.29|W}} | seating_capacity = | reservations = | locations = | other_label =  | other_information = | website = {{URL|https://www.samoacookhouse.net}} }}

The '''Samoa Cookhouse''' is a historic restaurant in Samoa, California, in the United States. It is the last lumber camp-style cookhouse in the American Pacific Northwest.

==Background== Originally it was a dining facility for the employees working the mills for the Vance Lumber Company and opened in 1893.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Place names of Humboldt County, California : a compendium, 1542-2009|date=2010|publisher=Dennis W. & Gloria H. Turner|others=Turner, Dennis W., Turner, Gloria H.|isbn=9780962961724|edition=2nd ed., rev|location=Orangevale, CA|oclc=688528963}}</ref> The cookhouse opened to the public in the 1960s and serves "lumber camp style", or family style, meals at long communal tables.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitredwoods.com/listing/samoa-cookhouse/444/|title=Samoa Cookhouse|website=www.visitredwoods.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-06-15}}</ref> The building also houses a museum with artifacts and images that focus on logging and "maritime industry" history.<ref name=":1" /> The building is large enough to seat five hundred workers and to make cleaning the floors more efficient there were holes drilled into the floor with a grate to act as drainage for water rather than mopping.<ref name=":2" /> The second floor of the building functioned as a dormitory for the waitresses.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/sam-mcmanis/article2574580.html|title=Discoveries: Get your fill of vittles and lore at the Samoa Cookhouse|last=McManis|first=Sam|work=The Sacramento Bee|access-date=2019-06-15|language=en-US|issn=0890-5738}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20090330/upstairs-at-the-samoa-cookhouse|title=Upstairs at the Samoa Cookhouse|date=2009-03-30|website=Times-Standard|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-15}}</ref> Waitresses were required to be single during the period when the Cookhouse served only company workers, were paid $30 a month, and worked seven days a week.<ref name=":3" /> The dormitory has a curfew and was locked at night and the women were not allowed to date on the weekdays.<ref name=":3" /> There was, however, a secret passageway that led to the kitchen that waitresses used to leave the dormitory at night.<ref name=":3" />

==References== <references />

== External links == *{{official website|https://www.samoacookhouse.net}}

Category:Restaurants in California Category:Buildings and structures in Humboldt County, California Category:1893 establishments in California Category:Company stores in the United States Category:Restaurants established in 1893