| The picture below shows a larger front and back view of this 1970s Sambo's Restaurant Coffee Advertising Wooden Token Coin. It is wooden and has red print. One side pictures the 1970s Sambo with a Tiger character. On the other side there is an American flag coffee cup and a hand (Uncle Sam ?). It is marked on the two sides as follows: GOOD FOR A 10c CUP OF COFFEE AT
SAMBO'S ANYWHERE WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS A
GOOD 10c CUP OF COFFEE
SAMBO'S HAS IT The wooden nickel, or dime in this case, measures 1-1/2'' wide. It appears to be in excellent condition as pictured. Below here, for reference, is a short History of Sambos Restaurant: Sambo's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sambo's is a restaurant, formerly an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett. Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its founders, the chain soon found itself associated with The Story of Little Black Sambo. Battistone and Bohnett capitalized on the coincidence by decorating the walls of the restaurants with scenes from the book, including a dark skinned boy, tigers and a pale, magical unicycle riding man called “The Treefriend”. By the early 1970s, the illustrations depicted a light skinned boy wearing a jeweled Indian style turban with the tigers. A kids club, Sambo's Tiger Tamers (later called the Tiger Club), promoted the chain's family image. History By 1979, Sambo's had 1,200 outlets in 47 U.S. states. However, in the late 1970s, controversy over the chain's name drew protests and lawsuits in communities that viewed the term Sambo as pejorative towards African Americans, particularly in the Northeastern states. Several of the restaurants were opened as or renamed to “The Jolly Tiger” in locations where the local community passed resolutions forbidding the use of the original name or refused to grant the chain permits. In March 1981, in a further attempt to give the chain a new image the company again renamed some locations, this time to “No Place Like Sam's”. By November 1981, the company filed for bankruptcy. Neither the name change nor bankruptcy protection reversed the downward trend, and in 1982 all but the original Sambo's at 216 West Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara, California, closed their doors. 618 of the locations were renamed Season's Friendly Eating by February 1983. Battistone is also the original owner of the New Orleans Jazz in the NBA. He later moved the team to Utah and sold it. Battistone's grandson, restaurateur Chad Stevens, owns the original and only remaining Sambo's. |
