Wash's Restaurant

Last updated
Wash's Restaurant
Wash & Sons Seafood Restaurant.jpg
Wash & Sons' Seafood Restaurant
Wash's Restaurant
Restaurant information
Established1937 (1937)
Closed2012 (2012)
Previous owner(s)Clifton and Alma Washington
Food type Soul food
Street address35 N. Kentucky Avenue
City Atlantic City
StateNew Jersey
CountryUnited States
Seating capacity20
Other locations1702 Arctic Avenue, Atlantic City, New Jersey
128 N. New Road, Pleasantville, New Jersey

Wash's Restaurant, later called Wash & Sons' Seafood Restaurant, Wash's Inn, and Wash's Catering, was an African-American family-owned and operated soul food restaurant that was in business for over 70 years, first in Atlantic City and then in Pleasantville, New Jersey. Established by Clifton and Alma Washington at 35 N. Kentucky Avenue, Atlantic City, in 1937, the original 20-seat location attained celebrity status for hosting the performers and patrons of the nightclubs in the Kentucky Avenue black entertainment district. The restaurant was known for its sausage sandwiches and soul food, and also served breakfast to customers leaving the 6 a.m. show at Club Harlem.

Contents

In the 1950s Clifton Washington moved the restaurant a few blocks away to 1702 Arctic Avenue, where it was renamed Wash & Sons' Seafood Restaurant and specialized in seafood, barbecued ribs, and fried chicken. This larger venue, seating over 100, continued to attract both black and white nightclub guests and was also popular with black hotel employees leaving their shifts. Washington's children and grandchildren all worked in the restaurant from a young age, and those who married into the family were also put to work.

With the commercial downturn in Atlantic City in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wash's relocated to 128 N. New Road in Pleasantville in 1974. Renamed Wash's Inn and Wash's Catering, the business now focused on catering on-site events and also operated a small dining room, take-out deli, and bar. With the 1994 addition of a large catering hall, the facility hosted hundreds of private parties and community events. The family put the business up for sale in 2010 and closed it in 2012.

History

Kentucky Avenue

Wash's Restaurant was founded by Clifton and Alma Washington, who moved from Virginia to Atlantic City in 1925 shortly after their marriage. [1] The young couple moved into Atlantic City's Northside, home to black families in the racially segregated city since World War I, [2] and raised seven children. [1] In 1937 they decided to enter the restaurant business and opened Wash's Restaurant at 35 N. Kentucky Avenue. [1] The restaurant's name was a short form of the family name Washington. [3] The family name came from Clifton's early-19th-century ancestor, a slave in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, who changed his surname to Washington after his emancipation. [4]

While Clifton operated a jitney, Alma managed the sandwich shop in the mornings and was assisted by her sons after school and on weekends. [5] Alma prepared most of the food on-site. [1] The restaurant began by selling sausage sandwiches, hot dogs, five-cent milkshakes, one-cent cigarettes, and candy. [6] [7] Breakfast fare of bacon and eggs was served to guests leaving Club Harlem's 6 a.m. show. [8] Soul food entrees were added after customers saw Alma preparing beef stew or chicken and dumplings for her family and asked if they could buy that too. [6]

Though it had only six tables, [1] with maximum seating for 20, [6] [7] the restaurant became a popular venue for the entertainers and guests attending the Kentucky Avenue nightclubs, including Club Harlem, the Paradise Club, and Grace's Little Belmont. Among the entertainers who ate at the restaurant after their sets ended were Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., and Moms Mabley. [1] [3] In the 1950s Washington's sons broke an outside wall to create a take-out window for fried chicken and seafood meals. [9]

Arctic Avenue

When you marry a Washington, you marry a restaurant. Everybody worked two jobs. They'd work their regular job and then they'd work here on the weekends.

–Jean Washington Griffin [7]

By the 1950s the business had outgrown its space. The Washingtons rented a larger location with an industrial kitchen a few blocks away at 1702 Arctic Avenue. [9] The restaurant was renamed Wash & Sons' Seafood Restaurant and sported large picture windows; the interior had a seashell motif, flower boxes, and placemats with beach scenes. [1] [10] Industrial ceiling fans cooled off the dining area. [11] By the summer of 1953 the new restaurant had been completely renovated and could seat more than 100 customers. [12] Soul food specialties included seafood, barbecued ribs, fried chicken, and sweet potato pie, [13] as well as a full breakfast menu including bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, grits, and home fries. [14]

Washington's children and grandchildren all worked in the restaurant from a young age, and those who married into the family were also put to work. [4] [5] [7] [15] The standard pay for family members was $35 a week; [16] they could make another $100 or more per week in tips, especially during the night shifts. [5] During the summer tourist season, Raheem recalled:

The adult males would work their permanent eight-hour day jobs and arrive at the restaurant in time to eat dinner before the extremely busy night shift. The adult females would run the day shift as cooks, cashiers and hostesses, then return home in the evening to tend to their houses and children. Other family, friends and neighbors worked as pantry help, busboys, dishwashers, waiters and waitresses. [14]

By day the restaurant hosted families and tourists before they spent the day at the beach or boardwalk. [12] By night it welcomed the nightclub set, including free-spending parties of 15 to 20, [5] and was also popular with black hotel employees after their shifts. [17] It was a favorite of black and white customers alike. [13]

The restaurant weathered a downturn beginning in the late 1960s, when many black-owned businesses in Atlantic City were closing. [1] [6] It closed in 1974. [3]

Pleasantville

Between the Atlantic City and Pleasantville locations, Wash's probably employed at least one person from every black family in A.C. and became an unofficial social services agency by doing so. It was sometimes called the "black Cheers" — where everybody knew your name.

–Turiya S.A. Raheem [5]

Wash's reopened as a restaurant, bar, and catering facility in Pleasantville, New Jersey, in 1974. [1] [3] Renamed Wash's Inn, it primarily focused on catering in-house dinners and parties, and also had a take-out deli. [5] The catering menu featured the same soul food offerings as the Atlantic City restaurant – seafood, barbecued ribs, and fried chicken. [3] As the Washington family continued to expand, sons- and daughters-in-law were enlisted to work on nights and weekends. [7]

In 1994 the site underwent renovations, adding a 3,800-square-foot (350 m2) catering hall. [5] [7] This hall went on to host "[h]undreds of birthday parties, wedding receptions, family reunions, repasts, anniversary parties, baby showers, weddings, bridal showers, even political rallies, jazz and theatre performances". [5] It also hosted Quinceañeras and Latino music and dance performances, [5] and served as a community center for "concerts, poetry readings, scholarship luncheons, dance recitals, political fundraisers and rallies". [3]

Between 2002 and 2012 four homicides were committed on the restaurant's premises, including a November 2007 shooting, [18] a May 2009 early-morning killing, [19] and a January 2012 fatal beating. [20]

Closure

In June 2010 the five partners in the business, four of them descendants of the original owners, put the business up for sale with an asking price of $800,000. [3] [7] In November 2012 the family closed the restaurant for good. [5]

Legacy

In 2009 Turiya S.A. Raheem, a granddaughter of Clifton and Alma Washington, published a memoir of the family business titled Growing Up in the Other Atlantic City: Wash's and the Northside. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Chinese cuisine</span> Chinese cuisine developed by Chinese Americans

American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those found in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soul food</span> American style of cooking

Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. It originated in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans trafficked to the North American colonies through the Atlantic slave trade during the Antebellum period and is closely associated the cuisine of the American South. The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KFC</span> American fast food restaurant chain

KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC, is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with over 30,000 locations globally in 150 countries as of April 2024. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain D's</span> U.S.-based restaurant chain

Captain Ds, LLC. is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in seafood and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The chain was founded as Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers by Raymond L. Danner Sr. on August 15, 1969, in Donelson, Tennessee. The chain is currently owned by private-equity firm Centre Partners. Captain D's has more than 500 locations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Chinese cuisine</span> Chinese cuisine developed by Chinese Canadians

Canadian Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Canadians. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food in Canada. This cooking style was invented by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted traditional Chinese recipes to Western tastes and the available ingredients, and developed in a similar process to American Chinese cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennedy Fried Chicken</span> Restaurant primarily in the northeastern U.S.

Kennedy Fried Chicken and Crown Fried Chicken are common restaurant names primarily in the New York–New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware and Baltimore areas of the United States, but also in nearby smaller cities or towns along the Northeastern United States. Kennedy Fried Chickens typically compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in low income neighborhoods of several states along the East Coast. There are also a number in the West Coast, primarily in California. A number of these restaurants, located in other states, are named New York Fried Chicken, essentially designed in the same manner and offering the same general menu as Kennedy and Crown Fried Chicken. It is not an actual franchise in the typical manner; every "Kennedy" named chicken restaurant is independently owned and operated by different individuals but consist of essentially the same menu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold's Chicken Shack</span> American fast food chain

Harold's Chicken Shack is a popular fried chicken restaurant based in Chicago, Illinois. The chain operates primarily in Chicago's predominantly black communities but has additional locations in Carbondale, Illinois; Springfield, Illinois; Northwest Indiana; Indianapolis, Indiana; Phoenix, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia; Las Vegas, Nevada; St. Louis, Missouri; Houston, Texas; Brooklyn Center, Minnesota; and Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicken Licken (restaurant)</span> South African fast-food chain

Chicken Licken is a South African fast-food fried chicken restaurant chain. The company had a 5% share of South Africa's fast food market in 2010, tying with McDonald's. According to a case study published by the Henny Penny Corporation in 2011, Chicken Licken is the "largest non-American-owned fried chicken franchise in the world".[

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tastee Fried Chicken</span> Nigerian fast food chain

Tastee Fried Chicken is a fast food fried chicken restaurant based in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. It has 14 locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starr Restaurants</span>

Starr Restaurants, stylized as STARR Restaurants, is a restaurant group headed by founder and CEO Stephen Starr, with restaurants in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington D.C., South Florida, and Paris, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonel Sanders</span> American entrepreneur (1890–1980)

ColonelHarland David Sanders was an American businessman and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken. He later acted as the company's brand ambassador and symbol. His name and image are still symbols of the company.

Ronni Lundy, is an American author and editor, whose work focuses on traditional Southern American foods, Appalachian foods, and music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Club Harlem</span> Former Atlantic City, New Jersey nightclub

Club Harlem was a nightclub at 32 North Kentucky Avenue in the Northside neighborhood of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founded in 1935 by Leroy "Pop" Williams, it was the city's premier club for black jazz performers. Like its Harlem counterpart, the Cotton Club, many of Club Harlem's guests were white, wealthy and eager to experience a night of African-American entertainment.

Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival, also known as the Historical Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival, is a street fair held each summer in the former black entertainment district of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founded in 1992, it appeared annually until 2001, and then resumed in 2011. Held on and around the site of the razed Club Harlem, the weekend fair commemorates the R&B and jazz nightspots that once lined Kentucky Avenue and that attracted both black and white clientele in its heyday from the 1940s through 1960s. The festival features live performances by R&B and jazz musicians and bands, dance performances, street performers, arts and crafts for children, and food concessions, and draws hundreds of attendees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wonder Gardens</span>

Wonder Gardens was a jazz and R&B nightclub at 1601 Arctic Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Established around 1929, it was one of four black-owned nightclubs in the black entertainment district on Kentucky Avenue. Between the Wonder Gardens, Club Harlem, the Paradise Club, and Grace's Little Belmont, the music played all night and into the morning in the district's heyday in the 1940s through 1960s. Presenting both popular jazz musicians and new talent, the Wonder Gardens provided early exposure for Dan Fogel, Harvey Mason, George Benson, and the Commodores. Over the years, the music changed from jazz to rock, soul, and pop music. In 1979 the club was renovated, redecorated and renamed the Latin Wonder Gardens, featuring live Afro-Cuban musical entertainment. In 1991 it underwent a second renovation and name change to the New Wonder Gardens, featuring Latin, jazz, R&B, hiphop, and reggae acts. The club was sold in 2001 and was later demolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Chinese cuisine</span>

Australian Chinese cuisine is a style of cooking developed by Australians of Chinese descent, who adapted dishes to satisfy local Anglo-Celtic tastes. Its roots can be traced to indentured Chinese who were brought to work as cooks in country pubs and sheep stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everybody Eats PDX</span> Defunct restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Everybody Eats PDX was a soul food restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The business closed in 2022.

Kee's Loaded Kitchen is a soul food restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean City Seafood Restaurant</span> Defunct Chinese restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Ocean City Seafood Restaurant was a Chinese restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Wash's Restaurant". Atlantic City Free Public Library. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  2. Willis 2016, pp. 97–98.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Longtime Pleasantville eatery Wash's Inn up for sale, considered one of region's oldest black-owned businesses". Press of Atlantic City. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Teaching Children Their Heritage". ABC News . Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Raheem, Turiya R.A. (2 July 2013). "Wash's, Not Just a Business". Atlantic City Weekly. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Raheem 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Liberatore, R.J. (1 July 2010). "Family Ready to Sell Wash's Inn". Shore News Today. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  8. Hervieux 2015, p. 12.
  9. 1 2 Raheem 2009, p. 76.
  10. Raheem 2009, pp. 83–84.
  11. Raheem 2009, p. 84.
  12. 1 2 Raheem 2009, p. 83.
  13. 1 2 Simon 2004, p. 51.
  14. 1 2 Raheem 2009, p. 82.
  15. Thomas, Lillian D. (2007). "Waiting to Be a Wash's Waitress". Family Business Agenda. 1: 48.
  16. Raheem 2009, p. 157.
  17. "A Look at 5 Famous Atlantic City Restaurants". International Wine and Food Society. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  18. "Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace". Weekly Toll. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  19. "News Release" (PDF). Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  20. "Third Man Killed in Pleasantville in Past Week". 98.7 The Coast . 24 January 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2016.

Sources

39°21′42″N74°25′51″W / 39.361679°N 74.430956°W / 39.361679; -74.430956