Sunday, December 27, 2009
Lost Memphis Sambo's
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 11:42 PM
- Sambo's advertisement - 1977
That's what makes it so hard to believe that, in the 1970s, Memphis had not just one, but three, restaurants in town called Sambo's, which used the jungle and animal imagery from the book as their decorating theme. As you can see from this ad, which I scanned from the back cover of a 1977 Duration Club program, you could take your pick from the Sambo's on Winchester, Summer, or Poplar.
What's interested, too, is that this particular ad didn't feature the little African child as the restaurant's "mascot" but instead the tiger, which — if I remember correctly — was turned into butter when Little Sambo made him run faster and faster around the tree where ... oh, you'll just have to read the book.
All the Sambo's restaurants in Memphis are gone now, in case you were wondering. And, despite the ad, I really doubt if everyone who dined there got balloons.
Comments (14)
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I believe there used to be a Sambo's on Union Avenue where the Outback Steakhouse is presently located.
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dislikeThat was a Denny's, which was essentially the same thing (in fact, Denny's took over a significant number of Sambo's across the country)
Growing up, my family occasionally ate at a Sambo's in Phoenix, AZ. I had know idea it was racist at the time but I do remember feeling sorry for the Tiger.
Interestingly enough, there was no little African child or racism in the original book about Sambo... it was set in India, where the name means 'one who determines his own fate', which is what the main character did quite handily.
The book, like restaurant chain of 'Sam' Battistone and 'Bo' Bohnett was swept up in a wave of revisionism that cut and pasted various racist components onto their choice of Sambo as a name, and later as a theme.
Anyone remember the local politician a while back ranting about anti-spam settings against overseas scam emails as 'racist' because he thought that 'Nigerian filters' were when 'the slaves from Nigeria were made to pick special cotton for cigarette filters'?
Breakfast at Denny's however, is another story altogether.
There was a Sambo's on Poplar Avenue at Kirby Parkway in 1979, across the street from Kirby Woods Mall (also another name and structure now) and I believe Sambo's stayed open till about 1981-82. When Sambo's closed, it was replaced by a Denny's I think, then it was a Steak-n-Shake (?) and then later torn down all together. It was a strange restaurant and a strange atmosphere, particularly strange being situated on the edge of Germantown, but then at that time G'town wasn't the affluent place it is now.
No more strange though than the old George Lindsey (Goober from Andy Griffith) Steakhouse on Park at Mendenhall during the late 70's. It stayed open for a while but closed and the building was turned into a nightclub and then finally the new home of Buntyn's.
I used to have a Sambo tiger stuffed animal toy, believe it or not. It very closely resembled Hobbs, of Calvin and Hobbs fame. It was unlike any other stuffed animal I ever owned, in that the stuffing was not soft, but rather filled with tiny pebbles, like the inside of a hackysack. It eventually burst open from the chest after too much rough play.
There was a Sambo's on Union where the Outback is now. I spent many hours there cramming a term's worth of work into a night while in college at Southwestern. Some nights I left campus headed for Sambo's but got distracted by the gambling pinball machines at the Stop n' Go on McLean (currently Las Savell jewelers). I don't remember any racist overtones concerning the restaurant, but there was no shortage of unusual characters encountered there during the wee hours of the morning. And the sun rising over the hill on Union at Hollywood was brutal.
I remember Sambo's. They weren't all that popular, as I recall ... they didn't last very long. And the previous poster is correct, the building at Park and Mendenhall was a George Lindsey Steakhouse, but then right after that, it was the very popular Ernie's. When disco was king, Ernie's was the place to go. Ernie Barrasso owned it — same person who owned Uncle Ernie's, right across the tracks from MSU. After Ernie's, it was a cowboy dance place complete with mechanical bull, then it became Molly's La Casita during the 1980s, before Buntyn's got it and then Patrick's. If only that building could talk.
Isn't that the Tigers' mascot in the photo? What a shameful past! Also as the alert reader mentions above the story was Indian ... it has been "re-released" and is now "The Story of Little Babaji" who turns the Tiger into Ghee (Indian Butter). Ahhh ... progress. Next they'll have restaurants called "Cracker" barrel.
For cry pete's people! Sambo's Restaurant does not have a shameful past! We had a Sambo's restaurant in NorCal back in the day. I STILL have my original Dakin Sambo's tiger. It was NOT a racist restaurant. The workers were very diverse in the 60s and 70s. It wasn't until people started the whole politically correct movement that Sambo's was considered racist. The Indian boy from the original story was named "Little Black Sambo" and he didn't do anything heroic in the story. He gave the tigers his clothes so they wouldn't eat him, cried and ran away to hide behind a tree. He heard the tigers arguing over who was more handsome and then the tigers started to fight around the tree. Sambo walked away while the tigers ran around the tree and eventually turned into butter (ghi - not ghee). The father found the butter, put it in a brass jug and brought it home for pancakes. I remember this restaurant as a wonderful and historic part of my youth and teenage years. I look often at the old site and think of that restaurant. I'm glad I still have the tiger! Get off the PC bandwagon people and realize that it was just a restaurant.
Yes, it was just a restaurant, and a pretty good place for late-night munching, as I recall. But it's the NAME that's the problem. Regardless of what happened to the little boy in the book. And if anyone thinks people are just riding on some imaginary "PC bandwagon," conduct a little experiment. Go up to an African-American person at work or school or church and say, "Hey Sambo, how are you doing?" Then let me know how they react to THAT.
Most people disagree, but a friend of mine and I remember this but can't remember the name. Before the matching buildings at Summer/Graham and Park/Mt. Moriah were George Lindsey's Steak Houses, they first opened as something else about 1970. I remember, they had booths with a telephone receiver at each one for placing your order. Help me with the name, please.
The bizarre-looking buildings originally opened as Blaz'r Steakhouses, but I don't remember booths with telephones. They did have those at various Round the Corner restaurants in Memphis (one of them was on Poplar across from Goldsmith's, and another was in Germantown) but I think those were a bit later. Does anybody remember the phone system at Blaz'r?
