Coon Chicken Inn
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Coon Chicken Inn was an American chain of three restaurants founded by Maxon Lester Graham and Adelaide Burt in 1925, which prospered until the late 1950s. The restaurant's name (which uses an ethnic slur), trademarks, and entrances of the restaurants were designed to look like a smiling blackface caricature of an African-American porter. The smiling capped porter head also appeared on menus, dishes, and promotional items.
The first Coon Chicken Inn was opened in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah in 1925. In 1929, another restaurant was opened in then-suburban Lake City near Seattle, Washington, and a third was opened in the Hollywood District of Portland, Oregon, in 1931. Later, a cabaret, orchestra, and catering were added to the Seattle and Salt Lake restaurants.
The restaurant and themes were popular in their day and place.[citation needed] Today, Coon Chicken Inn items are part of the genre of racist art and black memorabilia. Memorabilia of the restaurant is collectible, and reproduction novelty items using Coon Chicken Inn logos are often available on Internet trade and auction sites.[citation needed]
Seeing the changes in popular culture, the chain ended when the owners retired; keeping the real estate, they leased to other restaurateurs.
The franchise is referenced in the 2001 cult film Ghost World, as well as 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.
[edit] See also
- Sambo's restaurant chain
[edit] External links
- History of Coon Chicken Inn, Ferris State University Museum of Racist Memorabilia
- Coon Chicken Inn: North Seattle's Beacon of Bigotry, Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project
- Historical Highlights of Hollywood: Coon Chicken Inn from Portland State University
- Coon Chicken Inn from blackpast.org
- CoonChickenInn.com Historical website with information on both reproduction and authentic memoribilia
