The first Sambo's restaurant opened in Santa Barbara in 1957 as a low-priced pancake house catering directly to blue-collar customers. The name, a mash-up of the owner's names, was exploited for its "excellent promotional potential” in association with "Sambo," the main character of the controversial 1899 children’s book by Helen Bannerman, whose name came to be a racist slur for a loyal and contented Black servant. The owners decorated the restaurant with depictions of "Little Black Sambo" and named menu specials after characters in Bannerman's book.

This image was taken facing north on Aurora Avenue North, for decades the main highway in Seattle, with the Sambo's Restaurant sign at the right edge of the frame. At its height in the 1970s, Sambo's had 1,117 restaurants in 47 states. Over the next decade, controversy surrounding the chain's name and corporate restructuring led to the sale of most of the restaurants to other chains.

Also visible in this image is the "Aurora elephant," a roadside fixture since the 1930s. It stood over the Aurora Flower Shop, as seen here. The elephant was renovated in 2009 and still stands in the same location over a tool rental shop as of 2018.

Caption information source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/pancakes-and-pickaninnies-the-saga-of-sambos-the-racist-restaurant-chain-america-once-loved
Caption information source: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12184