Last Updated on September 1, 2026 by Daily News Staff

For generations of Southern Californians, Roscoe’s was more than a famous combination of fried chicken and waffles. After 50 years, the restaurant’s cultural importance remains—but lawsuits, bankruptcy, closures and questions about its leadership have complicated the story.

What Happened to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles?

For many visitors to Los Angeles, Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles is a destination—one of those famous places they have seen in movies, heard about in songs or watched celebrities visit.

For many of us who grew up in Los Angeles County, however, Roscoe’s occupies a different place in our memories. It was not necessarily our introduction to soul food, nor was chicken and waffles an exotic discovery. Roscoe’s was one among many soul-food restaurants where families ate in South Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton, Watts and Long Beach.

I ate food from the South L.A. and Inglewood restaurants when I was young, although I was too young to compare the locations. When I returned to Roscoe’s as an adult and ate at the Long Beach location in 2021, I thought the food was good. That experience connected a familiar name from my Southern California childhood with the restaurant Roscoe’s had become decades later.

But the Roscoe’s story today is no longer only about food and nostalgia. It is also about how a Black cultural institution manages its legacy after lawsuits, bankruptcy proceedings, restaurant closures and a public controversy that caused some longtime customers to question who now controls the business—and whether its leadership still understands the community that helped make Roscoe’s famous.

From Harlem inspiration to a West Coast phenomenon

Herbert “Herb” Hudson, a Harlem native and former General Motors foreman, founded Roscoe’s in 1975. Accounts differ on whether the first restaurant was in Hollywood or Long Beach: Roscoe’s official history identifies the company as Hollywood-based, while culinary historian Adrian Miller and several contemporary reports place Hudson’s first location in Long Beach. What is undisputed is that Hudson brought a Harlem-influenced restaurant concept to Southern California and turned it into something distinctly Angeleno.

Hudson drew inspiration from the chicken-and-waffle restaurants and late-night music culture associated with Harlem, particularly Wells Supper Club. Chicken and waffles existed long before either Wells or Roscoe’s, with roots stretching through Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, Southern foodways and the work of Black cooks. Roscoe’s achievement was not inventing the pairing. It was making fried chicken and waffles a recognizable part of Los Angeles dining and eventually a national phenomenon.

In a 1978 advertisement in the Los Angeles Sentinel, Roscoe’s described the dish as “an East Coast specialty with a West Coast atmosphere.” It was an effective summary of Hudson’s idea.

His entertainment connections helped carry the restaurant beyond its neighborhood base. Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole and comedian Redd Foxx were associated with its early rise, while athletes, actors, musicians and political figures followed. Roscoe’s became a place where local customers, tourists and celebrities could occupy the same dining room.

The restaurant also offered far more than its headline combination. Grits, eggs, greens, macaroni and cheese, red beans and rice, hot-water cornbread and chicken livers helped place Roscoe’s within the larger soul-food tradition. James Beard Award-winning author Adrian Miller’s history of Roscoe’s describes how Hudson used Black media, music connections and neighborhood locations to build the company.

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Becoming part of Black Los Angeles

Roscoe’s did not become an institution merely because famous people ate there. Black Los Angeles made it an institution.

Families celebrated there. Musicians stopped in after performances. Local residents brought visiting relatives. Young people grew up knowing the name before national food television began treating chicken and waffles as a culinary discovery.

Roscoe’s also entered popular culture. It was referenced in movies including Jackie Brown, Rush Hour and Soul Plane, appeared in television productions and was mentioned in music. Its yellow-and-red signs became visual shorthand for a particular side of Los Angeles—one connected to Black culture, nightlife and neighborhood life rather than beaches and Hollywood premieres.

President Barack Obama’s 2011 visit to the Pico Boulevard restaurant represented a high point in that cultural journey. Obama ordered three wings and a waffle, and the meal became known as the “Obama’s Special.” A restaurant created by a Black entrepreneur and sustained heavily by Black customers had served the nation’s first Black president.

Roscoe’s fame, however, could sometimes obscure the larger community around it. Los Angeles has long supported many soul-food kitchens, family restaurants and neighborhood establishments. Roscoe’s became the name outsiders recognized, but it was never the whole story of soul food in Southern California.

The discrimination case and bankruptcy

The most consequential legal chapter began with former employee Daniel Beasley, a Black man who sued East Coast Foods, the company managing several Roscoe’s restaurants.

Beasley alleged that Latino managers gave Latino employees preferential schedules and working conditions while treating Black workers unfairly. He also alleged that he was terminated after complaining about discrimination. A jury found in his favor, and the resulting judgment was ultimately reported at approximately $3.2 million.

This was a particularly damaging case for Roscoe’s reputation. The allegations did not come from an outside critic attacking a Black-owned institution. They came from a Black employee accusing the company behind that institution of failing Black workers.

East Coast Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016. The discrimination judgment was a major factor, but it was not the company’s only financial obligation. Court proceedings described millions of dollars in additional debt.

The restructuring grew complicated. An examiner concluded that East Coast Foods could not meet its fiduciary responsibilities, and a court-appointed trustee effectively led the company for two years. A bankruptcy judge also ordered Hudson to reverse a transfer of the Roscoe’s name and trademark to an affiliated company he controlled, finding the transfer improper under bankruptcy law.

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A restructuring plan took effect in September 2018. It promised creditors full payment with interest, secured by company assets and as much as $10 million from Hudson. The restaurants remained open. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit later summarized the proceedings and Hudson’s guarantee.

The bankruptcy is important when discussing claims that Roscoe’s “changed hands.” Court supervision, the temporary appointment of a trustee and the emergence of new executives clearly changed how parts of the company were controlled. However, available reporting does not establish a straightforward sale of the entire chain to a new owner.

That distinction matters. Social-media posts frequently describe Roscoe’s as no longer Black-owned, but the company has not publicly provided a clear, current breakdown of its ownership. The most accurate conclusion is that Roscoe’s corporate structure and leadership became more complicated and less transparent—not that a complete sale has been conclusively documented.

A second employee lawsuit

Roscoe’s faced another labor case in January 2024 when former employee Jaime Alejandro Carbajal-Torres filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Carbajal-Torres, who said he worked for the company for more than 20 years, alleged unpaid overtime, interrupted or missed meal and rest periods, unpaid vacation wages and unreimbursed work expenses. The complaint sought class-action status, unspecified damages and an injunction against further violations of California labor law.

These are allegations in a civil complaint, not proven findings, and Roscoe’s did not immediately respond to the original request for comment, according to L.A. Taco’s report.

Nevertheless, the filing revived uncomfortable questions about the treatment of the people whose labor sustains a celebrated restaurant brand. For a company whose identity is tied so strongly to community, repeated employee complaints cannot simply be dismissed as a public-relations inconvenience.

Closures, tragedy and public controversy

The last several years have brought additional challenges.

Roscoe’s closed its celebrated Pico Boulevard restaurant in January 2023 after approximately 32 years. The company directed customers to its newer La Brea flagship, which opened in 2021. In June 2024, the Pasadena restaurant closed after 30 years, although the company said it hoped to find an upgraded location in the city. The Los Angeles Times reported that some customers had begun questioning whether rising prices still matched the food’s quality.

The chain was also touched by tragedy in September 2022 when rapper PnB Rock was shot and killed during a robbery at the Manchester Avenue restaurant. That killing was not a business controversy created by Roscoe’s, but it attached another painful chapter to the restaurant’s recent history.

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Then, in November 2024, a large inflatable figure of Donald Trump appeared near the Long Beach restaurant. Images spread online, leading some customers to believe Roscoe’s was endorsing Trump and prompting calls for a boycott.

Roscoe’s COO and creative director Diane Vara said the inflatable was connected to a political watch party at an adjacent jazz lounge, not the restaurant itself. According to Eater Los Angeles, the event was hosted by the Los Angeles County Republican Party and URBT News at the neighboring venue.

That explanation did not fully settle the controversy. Vara, who described herself publicly as a partner in Roscoe’s, had also exchanged contentious social-media comments with a food creator who criticized the restaurant and shared a homemade chicken-and-waffle recipe. The tone of the response intensified existing doubts about the company’s ownership, values and relationship with its traditional customers.

For many longtime patrons, the reaction was about more than partisan politics. Roscoe’s had spent decades benefiting from its status as a symbol of Black Los Angeles. Customers therefore expected its leadership to recognize how its actions—or events appearing to be associated with its property—would be understood by that community.

The state of Roscoe’s today

Roscoe’s reached its 50th anniversary in 2025. Its official website currently lists Hollywood, South L.A., Long Beach, Inglewood-LAX, Anaheim, La Brea and Pasadena, although the old Pasadena restaurant closed in 2024 and the company has discussed seeking a replacement site.

There are also signs of continued ambition. Roscoe’s has signed a lease for a space of more than 3,000 square feet at Los Angeles Union Station, according to 2026 reporting, though no firm public opening date had been announced. A Union Station restaurant would place Roscoe’s inside one of Southern California’s most important transportation landmarks as Los Angeles prepares for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This means Roscoe’s is not simply disappearing. It is contracting in some places, repositioning itself in others and attempting to carry a famous name into a new era.

But survival is not the same as renewal.

Roscoe’s still possesses something most restaurants could never purchase: a half-century of cultural memory. It helped popularize chicken and waffles across the country. It provided a gathering place for generations of Angelenos. It became one of the most recognizable Black-founded restaurant brands in America.

That history deserves recognition—but it should not shield the company from scrutiny.

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To retain the loyalty of the community that built it, Roscoe’s needs greater clarity about its ownership and leadership, fair treatment of its workers, consistent food and service, and a more thoughtful relationship with longtime customers. Nostalgia can bring people back once. Trust is what keeps them returning.

Roscoe’s remains an L.A. institution. The question now is whether the company managing that institution understands the responsibility that comes with the name.

Editor’s note: This article distinguishes court findings from allegations. Claims in the 2024 labor complaint remain allegations unless proven in court or resolved through an acknowledged settlement. Publicly available reporting does not conclusively establish that the entire Roscoe’s chain was sold or ceased to be Black-owned.

Sources and related reading

• Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles — official history
• The layered legacy of Roscoe’s — Adrian Miller, Resy
• In re East Coast Foods — Ninth Circuit opinion
• Roscoe’s sued by former employee over alleged labor violations — L.A. Taco
• Roscoe’s closes its Pasadena restaurant after three decades — Los Angeles Times
• The controversy surrounding the Trump inflatable near Roscoe’s — Eater Los Angeles

See What’s Happening Now!

What are those orange balls on some power lines?

When Americans think about the pioneers of the automobile industry, names like Henry Ford, Ransom Olds and the Dodge brothers usually come to mind.

But in a small Ohio town more than a century ago, another automotive entrepreneur was attempting something extraordinary.

His name was Frederick Douglass Patterson.

Patterson took a successful Black-owned carriage company established by his father and guided it into the emerging automobile age. In 1915, C.R. Patterson & Sons introduced the Patterson-Greenfield automobile, making the company an extraordinary part of both Black history and American automotive history.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture describes C.R. Patterson & Sons as the only African American-owned and operated automobile company in American history.

But Frederick Patterson’s story actually begins a generation earlier.

From Slavery to Entrepreneurship

Frederick’s father, Charles Richard “C.R.” Patterson, was born in Virginia in 1833.

Historical accounts differ regarding exactly how the Patterson family left Virginia and reached Ohio, but records place the family in Greenfield, Ohio, by the middle of the 19th century.

C.R. learned blacksmithing and became skilled in the carriage-making trade.

In 1873, he entered a business partnership with white carriage maker J.P. Lowe. Twenty years later, Patterson acquired Lowe’s interest and eventually operated the business as C.R. Patterson & Sons.

The company developed a reputation for quality workmanship, producing numerous styles of horse-drawn vehicles.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the business employed an integrated workforce and had become a successful manufacturing operation.

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But transportation was changing.

And C.R.’s son Frederick saw what was coming.

Frederick Patterson Takes the Wheel

Frederick Douglass Patterson was born in Greenfield in 1871.

His path to success wasn’t easy.

According to the Historical Society of Greenfield and the Automotive Hall of Fame, Frederick was initially denied admission to Greenfield’s white high school because he was Black. His father challenged the discrimination, and Frederick was eventually admitted.

He later attended The Ohio State University, where he made history again as the university’s first Black football player.

Eventually, Frederick returned to Greenfield and became involved with the family business.

When C.R. Patterson died in 1910, Frederick assumed control of the company.

And he faced a major decision.

America was falling in love with the automobile.

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The horse-drawn carriage—the foundation of the Patterson family’s success—was headed toward obsolescence.

Rather than fight the change, Frederick embraced it.

From Carriages to Cars

C.R. Patterson & Sons began repairing and servicing automobiles as the new machines became increasingly common.

That work gave Patterson employees valuable experience with automobile construction and mechanical systems.

Then Frederick made the leap from repairing automobiles to building them.

On September 23, 1915, the Patterson-Greenfield automobile was introduced in Greenfield’s local newspaper.

The company advertised the car for $685.

The Patterson-Greenfield was designed as a practical family automobile and featured equipment including a Continental four-cylinder engine, electric starting and lighting and a split windshield for ventilation.

Various body styles were offered during the company’s brief automobile-production period, including coupes, sedans and even a sporty model called the Red Devil.

A Black-owned company in small-town Ohio had entered America’s rapidly expanding automobile industry.

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Taking On an Industry That Was Changing Fast

Unfortunately, Patterson wasn’t simply competing against other automobiles.

He was competing against a revolution in manufacturing.

Companies such as Ford were transforming automobile production through assembly-line techniques and enormous economies of scale.

Large manufacturers could purchase components in huge quantities and produce automobiles faster and more cheaply.

C.R. Patterson & Sons operated on a much smaller scale.

Its reputation for craftsmanship could not overcome the enormous economic advantages enjoyed by mass-production manufacturers.

The Patterson-Greenfield automobile was produced from approximately 1915 to 1918.

Exactly how many were manufactured remains uncertain. Historical estimates vary, and the Historical Society of Greenfield states plainly that the number built and sold is not known.

Unfortunately, no Patterson-Greenfield automobile is known to survive today.

But the end of passenger-car production wasn’t the end of the Patterson company.

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Patterson Reinvents the Business Again

Frederick pivoted.

Instead of trying to compete directly with Detroit’s increasingly powerful passenger-car manufacturers, C.R. Patterson & Sons moved toward commercial vehicles.

The company manufactured truck and bus bodies, eventually finding an important market producing buses for schools.

It was another example of Patterson’s willingness to adapt the family company as transportation technology changed.

Frederick was also active beyond the factory.

He participated in Greenfield civic life and became involved with the National Negro Business League, the organization founded by Booker T. Washington to encourage Black entrepreneurship and economic development.

Frederick served as one of the organization’s vice presidents.

The Patterson Story Continues

Frederick Patterson died in 1932.

His sons continued operating the family business, but economic pressures eventually became too great.

C.R. Patterson & Sons finally closed in 1939.

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The company had survived for decades through one of the greatest technological transformations in transportation history—from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles and motorized buses.

Yet today, relatively few Americans know the Patterson name.

More Than a Footnote in Automotive History

The story of Frederick Patterson deserves more than a passing mention during Black History Month.

He was an entrepreneur who recognized technological disruption and attempted to reposition a family manufacturing company for an entirely new era.

His father had built a successful carriage business at a time when opportunities for Black entrepreneurs were severely restricted.

Frederick took that foundation and moved the company into one of the most important emerging industries of the 20th century.

He wasn’t merely watching the automobile revolution.

He participated in it.

And more than a century after the Patterson-Greenfield first appeared on the streets of Ohio, the company remains a remarkable chapter in American history.

A Black family built carriages.

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Then they built automobiles.

Then they built buses.

And for a brief but extraordinary period, Frederick Douglass Patterson stood among America’s automobile manufacturers.

That’s a legacy worth remembering.

Forgotten Genius Friday

Forgotten Genius Friday is an STM Daily News series highlighting innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs and pioneers whose contributions helped shape the world but whose stories are too often overlooked.

What other forgotten innovator should we feature? Leave a comment and join the conversation.

Source and Related Links

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — The Only African American Automobile CompanyAutomotive Hall of Fame — Frederick Douglass PattersonHistorical Society of Greenfield — Patterson Automobile History