Black Owned Business
The restaurant opened at 110 E.14th St. in 1924 [ first directory appearance ], and moved to 200 E.14th sometime between 1925 and 1928. [ based on directory info ]
"The earliest one we could find was a restaurant called Stephens Restaurant,” he notes, “which was started by the Stephens family off of (East) Fourteenth Street around 1924, and they were a famous family for a number of reasons.” 2
Notes:
William Stephens was born in 1870 in Accomack County, Virginia. He moved out to California while still a child and attended school in Oakland and San Francisco. After graduation, he completed coursework at Heald College before taking a job with the Southern Pacific Railway in 1886. Beginning as a Sleeping Car Porter, he worked his way up to a clerkship under H.E. Huntington, assistant to the company's President. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Links and References
- Stephen Family Papers Online African American Museum and Library at Oakland
- What's the Oldest Black Owned Business on International Blvd KALW May 17, 2018
- Stephens Family A Bit of History
- Negro Trail Blazers of California by Delilah Beasley
- The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, Volumes 10-11 by W.E.B. Du Bois
