| Coon Chicken Inn |
| Maxon Lester Graham founded Coon Chicken Inn in 1924. After trying several other businesses, some successful and some not he decided to join his wife Adelaide in the adventure of a lifetime. Using a recipe from another restaurant south of Salt Lake City Graham and his wife opened the first Coon Chicken Inn in 1924. It was a small stand with only a few seats but the chicken was so good that business boomed. After several additions business was even better for Graham until just before the week of July 4th, 1927 when the place burnt to the ground. So afraid of losing business Graham hired 50 carpenters and rebuilt the restaurant in 10 days. Again business boomed so Graham decided to expand and opened another Coon Chicken Inn. After a business partner failed to come up with his share of the money Graham visited Seattle, Washington and opened the second of his three restaurants in 1929. This restaurant was so successful that he opened a third restaurant in Portland, Oregon the following year. Again business was so good that he decided to open a fourth restaurant in Tacoma, Washington but those plans were later cancelled. Graham also tried opening a restaurant in Los Angeles, California at a site on La Ceinega Blvd. owned by the Gilmore Family. But, because of a clause in the contract Graham refused to sign and the restaurant never came about. The Coon Chicken Inn chain came |
| Coon Chicken Inn Salt Lake City/Seattle/Portland Dinner Plate 9 1/2" O.P.Co. Syracuse March 1931 (3-L) This is the very first pattern of china used at the chain. I believe that this pattern was used at all three stores. The earliest date I have seen was 1928 shortly after the 1927 fire. I do not believe that there was any crested china before this time. This is arguably the the most over the top piece of commercial weight china ever made and except for some piece's of transportation china it is also the most expensive. |
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| Coon Chicken Inn Salt Lake city/Seattle/Portland Dinner Plate 9 3/4" Shenango China Greene-Winkler Hotel Supply Co. Seattle/Portland Pre-1948 This is one of the rarer of the five known patterns of Coon Chicken Inn china. Although simular to the first pattern the border design is different as is the manufacturer. |
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| to an end not because of the changing times but because of an opportunity that M.L. and Adelaide took in 1949. They were offered the concession at the new Seattle/Tacoma Airport. They became so busy with the extra site and the 125 new employees's that they started to close down the Coon Chicken Inn restaurants. The first to close was the Portland store in 1949, and then Seattle followed the next year. Salt Lake City lasted until 1957 as it was far enough away from the airport operation and was being separately managed at the time. Thus came to an end one of the most unusual and outrageous of all restaurants operated within the United States. This is an extremely brief history of the Graham Family and The Coon Chicken Inn restaurant chain. Thanks to Scott of the Graham Family for his help, information and kindness. Go to Google and search for Coon Chicken Inn as you will find many hits with CCI information. Warning: Please be aware of the fact that there are many Coon Chicken Inn fakes and reproductions in the market place. These including some china produced by Shenango China in 1986 (check the date code or see if the date code info has been ground down), all drinking glasses, some ashtray's, cookie jars, rings, watches, fans, etc. Google Search for Coon Chicken Inn |
| Photo by Owen Brewer |