A lesson in courage and perseverance at Paschal's of Atlanta on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death

The walls of Paschal's Restaurant.

Robert and James Paschal earned 75 cents a week as farmers in Thompson, Georgia, much less than their white counterparts. James went into the service while Robert headed to Atlanta in search of a better living. Robert found a job serving ice cream in a drugstore, but his entrepreneurial spirit kept him thinking ahead. He decided to open a restaurant across the street with his brother, James, when he came back from the military.

This was 1947 and Paschal's Restaurant had three employees, including the two brothers, and could only seat 30 diners at a time. What's more amazing than two struggling African American men opening a business in the Jim Crow South was the fact that the restaurant didn't have a stove! Robert's wife cooked the meals in their home, then transported the dishes by taxi, which Robert didn't own a car.

None of that mattered. The people came.

Marshal Salek

"We had a line out the door because people had heard about Robert's fried chicken," explained Marshal Salek, who worked for the Paschal brothers since the beginning and told us stories of the restaurant over dinner.

The brothers eventually expanded the business, which included a stove this time, and business boomed. Later, they opened a larger restaurant at 830 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, formerly Hunter Street, and then La Carousel Lounge in 1960 where acts such as Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls and Lena Horn performed.

"It was magnificent," Salek said of the lounge. "It was the most beautiful place the state of Georgia had ever seen."

So popular and attracting such big-name acts, that white patrons arrived.

"Black and white sitting together," said Salek, 79. "No incidents."

Paschal's Restaurant

In 1967, the Paschal Motor Hotel opened with its 120 rooms, swimming pool and meeting space. Both the restaurant and the hotel became a meeting place for members of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Once when a group of Atlanta students visited Alabama for a protest, they were jailed, and Robert Paschal raised money to get them home, Salek said.

"I've never seen kids with so much courage and so much determination," he said.

On this anniversary of King's assassination, his memory lives on at Paschal's Restaurant, which is located in a new building at 180 Northside Drive in Atlanta. Folks still visit Paschal's for its famous fried chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens and peach cobbler, but also for its legacy. On the walls are photos of King, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson and the many presidents who visited Paschal's over the years.

"He was the easiest person in the world," Salek said of King, who welcomed everyone when he visited the restaurant.

Today (April 4, 2018) in Atlanta, the Center for Civil and Human Rights will offer free admission and conduct a bell ringing ceremony at 7:01 p.m. Eastern Time to commemorate the moment of King's assassination 50 years ago.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen. 

Underground Atlanta — Airport

Atlanta history exhibit
between concourse B and C.

I’ve moved around so much in my lifetime, there’s not one place I can attribute many years to — except maybe the Atlanta Airport. I’ve been through this transportation hub in the heart of Georgia so many times they hand me my mail when I arrive.

The Hartsfield-Jackson Airport has been ranked the world’s busiest airport. According to 2012 statistics, it services 260,000 passengers a day and almost one million flights a year. The old joke used to be, when you go to heaven you must first change planes in Atlanta.

What’s weird about this is I actually enjoy visiting my second home. I know where the good restaurants are, where to find the best reading material, where to sit and enjoy TV in comfort and relative silence — you name it. And if I have a long layover, I take the opportunity to walk the underground hallways from terminal to terminal.

This past Sunday I had three hours to kill and I arrived at Terminal A and needed to travel to Terminal D for my final flight. I took the escalator down to the subway stop and walked underground all the way to my destination. It’s great exercise and there’s plenty to see along the way. For instance, between Terminal B and C there’s the history of Atlanta in panels, photographs, videos and more. You can easily spend upwards of an hour reading all about the Southern city from its inception by Native Americans to the Civil War, Civil Rights and beyond. Also around Terminal B and C is a curated photography exhibit on “A Sense of Place” by 11 Georgia-based photographers.

According to the airport web site, there’s also 20 contemporary stone sculptures from 12 Zimbabwe artists between concourses T and A, but I didn’t venture that far.

When I finally arrived at Concourse D I was treated to a collection of artwork from some of the city’s schoolchildren, including exquisite paintings, drawings and photography from ages as young as 6! And since I still had two hours left on my layover, I picked up a falafel wrap at the food court and kicked back in a comfy chair to watch planes, luggage carts and other vehicles stream by my window.

So the next time you’re killing time in the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport of Atlanta, don’t curse your bad luck. Go for a walk and experience some culture.

Want to know more about the Atlanta Airport? Check out their website at https://www.atl-airport.com/.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances and the Viola Valentine Mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

A bone to pick with Lizzie

At the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, just outside the heart of Atlanta, lies a sweetheart pin made from a most unusual item. Abigail Arline of Albany, Georgia, was working in a hospital as a nurse during the Civil War. A wounded Confederate soldier was admitted and had to have his leg amputated. After the surgery, the soldier took a piece of his leg that had been cut from his body and inscribed his name on the bone to give to his sweetheart, a girl named Lizzie. The soldier ended up dying of his wounds so nurse Abigail was not able to pass on the pin because no one knew the name of the soldier or the full name of the recipient. It exists on display at the history center.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is an international travel writer and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire, “A Cajun Dream” and “The Letter.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.