Hi All,
If you can't recall the infamous Sambo's franchise, this will refresh
your memory:
The first Sambo's opened in June, 1957, and was widespread by the
1960's, with some 1,400 restaurants across the country. But the
franchise fell into disrepute during the civil rights movement. Now,
only the original restaurant remains at:
216 W. Cabrillo Blvd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Tel: 805-965-3269
Email: info@...
Web: www.sambos.com
Specials include chicken-fried steak and eggs ($7.39), eggs Benedict
($7.25) and biscuits with gravy ($5.25).
Getting back to Tucson... A friend thinks that the Sambo's on
Speedway was originally a "King's Table Buffet". Or was that after
Sambo's, and before it became Denny's?
Anyone notice that the Sambo's / Denny's on Drachman is now a Middle
Eastern restaurant?
Here's a short story about Sambo's by Adnil Lee that I found on the web:
PANCAKES AND PREJUDICE
There was a new restaurant on the waterfront across from the beach and
only a block from the pier. It was called Sambo's and they made the
best "Pan Cakes" you have ever eaten.
These pancakes were huge. They filled the whole plate. Pilled high
with a round scoop of real butter melting on top. There were small
glass pitchers of real maple and raspberry syrups. On another plate
were the two eggs, Steve always had his "over easy", four strips of
thick bacon, or sausage, a huge mound of hash browns cooked on the
grill just right and real thick yellow bread called "Texas Toast".
Steve loved to eat there and it became a regular hangout when Steve
got older and moved onto a boat in the harbor near by.
There were story pictures of Little Black Sambo and a lion painted on
the walls. There was a little story that went along with the
pictures. Little Black Sambo had removed a thorn from the lion's foot
and they became friends. Well, that's the short of it anyway.
The restaurant was very popular and soon there were Sambo's
everywhere. In fact, a Sambo's could be found all across the nation.
Franchising was just becoming the way to put in about ten years of
hard work and retire. There was a training school in the town just to
the south. Complete with a major kitchen and classrooms. The
restaurant chain even had its own trucking line and cattle ranches and
meat packing houses.
Sambo's was very successful. Franchises that started out at a very low
price were now very expensive. A lot of people made good money
becoming a manager/owner. You could own up to fifty-percent of the
business and even buy as much as five percent of other Sambo's
franchises, but there was a limit on how many you could invest in or
something. But you could sell your shares of the one you owned at a
profit and keep the shares of the ones that you invested in and then
retire, still bringing you an income after you quit. I think
McDonald's started the trend, but franchising was hot.
Steve's dad knew the owners. It was two men his father had gone to
school with or something. Their names were Battistone and
Battastemie. The story goes that one man, Battistone had the idea and
Battastemie put up the ten grand to get it started. Steve recalled
having dinner at both their homes and even a Christmas at one of them.
Steve forgot which one. But he remembered seeing all the very
expensive presents around a tree too big to fit in his house.
Including a car that had an electric motor that you could actually drive.
Not everything stays the same. What you can do in one part of the
country is not acceptable in another. Education levels weren't the
same everywhere and some people are just down right stupid by Steve's
way of thinking.
Now the only reason I brought that up is because it was one thing that
seemed to Steve to be the hardest to understand.
The nation was going through some very big changes. One of which was
"equality". Sambo's had gone through a lot of changes too, including
the pancake. It later became a "dollar cake" and there was enough
room to put the three strips of bacon, or sausage, and eggs on the
same plate next to the small pile of hash browns, along with three
pieces of regular thin bread, toasted and cut in half.
But they did keep the ten-cent cup of coffee. While coffee prices
were going elsewhere for twenty-five and fifty cents, and you had to
pay for any re-fills. Sambo's advertised the "bottomless ten cent
cup". They didn't even charge for re-fills. And if you brought in
your Sambo's Thermos, they would poor hot water into it to pre-heat it
and then fill it full with coffee for only a dime and it didn't make a
difference which one you went to, they all did it.
Another change was the walls no longer carried the tale of Little
Black Sambo and how doing "good" for someone can turn enemies into
friends.
As racial tension mounted in the south, business were being accused of
prejudice in hiring practices. Sambo's was one of them. Some of it may
have been true in the South. But Steve never saw it where he went.
People in the south were offended by the name "Little Black Sambo" and
claimed it showed that the chain was indeed prejudice. Sambo's lost
its day in court and was closed down.
Steve figured that was the most stupid thing he had ever heard of.
Sambo was never "Black" like Africans; he was an Indian from India,
complete with a turban on his head. And the tail of Sambo helping the
Lion had nothing to do with putting down black people struggling for
equality. It was an Indian proverb, from India.
Steve never could understand prejudice. All of his young life his
parents introduced him to every kind of nationality you could think
of. He had dinners and Christmases at different people's homes and
there were the people at church and it seemed to Steve that everybody
was just that, everybody; and everybody was different.
They ate different foods and some had meals at a different time of the
day. His neighbors on Islay Street, where he burned down their fence,
they eat their dinner at noon.
Tacos at one home, spaghetti at another and sausages at yet another
and some wouldn't eat meat on Friday. Steve figured he understood
that, he wouldn't eat peas.
Steve had met Playboy Bunnies, Private Detectives and Secret Service
Police in his parent's own kitchen, and movie stars ate at the same
places he did; like Sambo's.
Fess Parker ate at Sambo's a lot. He would come in early in the
morning and have breakfast before going out to his boat for a trip out
on the water. He seemed to Steve to be a very normal and an
exceptionally kind man. He was always polite and willing to share a
conversation. And he didn't get up-set when someone would interrupt
his meal and ask for an autograph. Can you imagine how annoying that
could be? Steve never asked him for an autograph, but he always
wished he had.
Oh. Of-course. Sorry for that. Should have told you who he was the
first time his name was mentioned when telling you about Steve's
Grandfather and the oranges Steve would devour. It figures you
wouldn't know who he was. He was before your time for sure.
Fess Parker was an actor that played a television series for Disney
Pictures called "Davy Crocket". He did some movies too. Or maybe it
was he did the movies and then Disney put them on the TV later. It's
hard to actually recall. It's easy to forget, as you get older. No.
He did the movies and then Disney put them on the TV. Yup, that's it.
Anyway, people were always just people to Steve. Each was
establishing his or her terms by how they treated others when you
dealt with them one-on-one. And Steve met a lot of famous people when
he was growing up. Not all of them famous when he met them, but some
of them produced or had a hand in many projects that later became part
of our culture. Like "Jesus Christ Supper Star" and "Hair". People
were just people. Some of them very nice and some of them Steve would
make a point of staying away from.
