Pioneer Chicken, or Pioneer Take Out as it is officially named, is an American fried chicken restaurant which was founded in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles in 1961 by H.R. Kaufman. When Kaufman sold the chain in 1987, there were 270 stores operated by 220 franchisees. During the 1970s, several locations operated in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. There are three locations remaining in Los Angeles. It still exists in China as well.
During the 1980s, Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn and former football player O.J. Simpson used to advertise for the restaurant. In the 1990s, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits owner AFC Enterprises purchased the franchise and converted most locations into Popeyes.
It was named after Pioneer Market, a now-defunct small chain of supermarkets in Los Angeles. The original location in Echo Park was located next to the 1980s era Pioneer Market (the original 1932 market having been torn down in the 1980s) and is (now a Walgreens Pharmacy) on Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. Due to considerable redevelopment activity in the neighborhood caused by gentrification, it was shut down in March 2009.
Today, Pioneer Chicken operates in China under the name "California Chicken". The chicken is still prepared with the original recipe.
There are three remaining locations in the Los Angeles area: 1) 5970 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles (near San Vicente Blvd); 2) 904 S Soto Street, Los Angeles; and 3) 6323 Florence Avenue, Bell Gardens.
Warren Zevon's song "Carmelita" refers to Pioneer Chicken: "I pawned my Smith Corona / And I went to meet my man / He hangs out down on Alvarado Street / By the Pioneer chicken stand"
Famous quotes containing the words pioneer and/or chicken:
“Where the citizen uses a mere sliver or board, the pioneer uses the whole trunk of a tree.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn’t roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don’t want him yourself you can easy find somebody that does, and a good deed ain’t ever forgot. I never see papa when he didn’t want the chicken himself, but that is what he used to say, anyway.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)