Edith’s Mad Hatter Tea Room – family.vaughnn.com

After returning from art school in Paris and studying at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts (Missouri), Edith Unger made her way to Greenwich Village in Manhattan (circa 1916). Soon after settling, she opened a tea room in the basement at 150 West 4th Street, near the corner of 6th Ave.

Edith’s cozy below-ground shop would become famous among the hidden Bohemian destinations haunted by the artsy crowd.

Edith christened the Mad Hatter by painting a sign about the entrance “ELOH TIBBAR EHT NWOD” — a tongue in cheek backwards spelling of Down the Rabbit Hole.

Entrance to the Mad Hatter Tea Room in Greenwich Village, opened by Edith B. Unger circa 1916. The woman pictured is Eliza Helen “Jimmy” Criswell, an early employee to whom Edith sold the team room to in 1917

Edith Unger’s Mad Hatter Tea Room, Greenwich Village, New York. Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Deals

Edith ran a cheeky advertisement for her Greenwich Village tea room, “The Mad Hatter” in *Bruno’s Weekly* on Sep 16, 1916

To learn more about the Mad Hatter tea room, read “The Mad Hatter Tearoom — No. 150 West 4th Street” on the Daytonian in Manhattan Blog.