Uh-oh, we now see the shameful side of Seattle's otherwise awesome culinary history.
It's hard to believe a place with a name like The Coon Chicken Inn would
ever have existed in polite, politically correct Seattle. But in the pre-Civil Rights era, such things were not uncommon anywhere. Including Portland, OR and Salt Lake City, UT, when The Coon Chicken Inn had other locations.
And this place made
Sambo's look modest.
They opened in 1925 and within a few years, drew the wrath of the Seattle NAACP, who threatened to sue for defamation and libel. It's mascot was a grotesque, ugly caricature of a black porter (and perhaps the first ever mascot used by a restaurant chain, paving the way for Ronald McDonald four decades later.) And like Ronald McDonald at McDonalds, the porter mascot was
everywhere at this place.
They actually made hand fans for kids (with menus on the back) in derogatory caricatures of African-Americans.
The porter caricature appeared on everything inside and out of the place. Including matchbooks, the dinnerware, silverware and even soap bars. They even made spare tire covers with the caricature on them.
 |
| Coast to Coast?....Er, no. They wish. But this chain never grew beyond a few locations in the Western half of the US. |
From "AW HELL NO!!" to "W.....T......F???!!!" This was their actual Seattle location, circa 1939...
Now look behind the labour union protesters (another problem with The Coon Chicken Inn.), behind that car to the caricature's mouth. Yes, this was the actual entryway.
Every location had a similar entryway.
The Seattle and Portland locations closed in 1949, due to changing tastes and a shrinking customer base (one should hope so!) The Salt Lake City location carried on until 1957.
More on this place:
BlackPast.org
Wikipedia
University of Washington
