Just in case you were bored with metal devil fingers — or, perhaps, are just that lazy — hoist that pinky high for the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa’s afternoon tea. It’ll cost just 15 cents today (one shilling sixpence for the more evolved time-travelers amongst us), reflecting the 1865 prices inherent to the London original of the hotel chain. Served that day will be scones with Devonshire cream (a Cornish clotted cream made with only the finest unpasteurized milk), strawberries with Grand Marnier sauce, chocolate mousse tortes and of course the obligatory panoply of teas from around the world. Just in case your schadenfreude hasn’t married your trusty lifelong sense of cynicism, there’ll be people wandering the grounds and dining room in period costume, so be sure to point to the sky and say “Eeeyah, iron bird!” when they engage you in their gently dull Victorian repartee. Whether taken on the Terrace or the Lobby Lounge, which boasts a rather stellar view of San Marino rivaled only by the stellar views of San Marino in Italy, it’s a tradition that exhumes lost values of grace, poise, manners and hew-mah — values that, unlike the nickel-and-diming you’ll do today, are priceless.

Wed., June 10, 2 p.m., 2009

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