[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1694-E1695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING CALVIN COPELAND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to Calvin 
Copeland, the legendary owner of Harlem's Copeland's Restaurant and 
Reliable Catering. I rise because while the kitchen of this Harlem 
staple may have served its last meal this past Sunday, it will always 
be open in the hearts of many a beacon of hope and great cuisine that 
you could call home.
  Calvin Copeland, was born in Smithfield, Virginia, one of eight 
children and grew up in Newport News, VA with relatives when both his 
parents died. If you ask him, Copeland still remembers the names and 
addresses of all the restaurants and establishments where he worked 
since his first job in Virginia kitchens at the age of 13. He moved to 
New York in the late 1940s, where he married Rita Copeland, an Irish 
immigrant, who was a waitress at a New Jersey restaurant where he 
worked.
  When Copeland arrived in New York, he thought, like many recent 
arrivals and immigrants that dream in our fine city today, that the 
streets in New York were paved with gold. He took any job he could, 
from dishwasher to bus boy to cook. Yet no matter where Calvin he was 
employed, he studied and watched the chefs and tried to pick up 
techniques. He worked from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m., seven days a week, for 
six years, and very often, never saw the sun set; and
  The first Copeland's restaurant opened in 1967 in a cubbyhole on 
Broadway, between 148th and 149th Streets, around the comer from his 
present location. It was a dream that only came about after his Aunt 
Alma told him to take the money he had saved from working in restaurant 
kitchens all across Manhattan and open up his own place. By 1980, 
Copeland's Restaurant and Reliable Catering was established at its 
current location at 547 West 145th Street, its southern style foods a 
testament to both to Calvin's proud Virginia roots and his adopted 
family uptown.
  I submit into the record the following two articles from the 
Associated Press and the New York Times that captures a piece of the 
important role Copeland played in the city and the neighborhood. For 
over five decades, Calvin Copeland been committed to his roots and his 
community, enduring through the riots of the 1960's, the crack epidemic 
of 1980's, personal financial ruin and even fire. He always found away 
through his cooking to keep people like me, Muhammad Ali, Richard 
Pryor, Stevie Wonder, David Dinkin, Harry Belafonte, Dakota 
Staton, Natalie Cole, Bishop Tutu,

[[Page E1695]]

Sammy Davis, Jr. and Michael Jackson as frequent and enthusiastic 
customers.

  How? As any great chef will tell you--its not just about the food. 
It's not just about the presentation. It's about the entire package.

         Harlem Restaurant Serves Its Last Fried Chicken Brunch

                          (By Karen Matthews)

       New York.--A soul food restaurant that survived rioting and 
     looting could not survive gentrification.
       Copeland's held its last brunch Sunday, closing for good 
     after 50 years and bringing an end to one of the greatest 
     restaurant runs in Harlem history.
       ``It's a sad occasion,'' diner Gloria Jackson said. ``You 
     feel like a celebrity when you come here. They always cater 
     to your every need.''
       Owner Calvin Copeland, who opened the place on l45th Street 
     with $850 in savings and saw it overcome hard times such as 
     the riots of 1964, said the neighborhood's changing 
     demographics no longer made it viable.
       In recent years, middle-class black and white families have 
     bought Harlem's handsome brownstones and fixed them up. They 
     just didn't crave his savory fried chicken anymore.
       ``The transformation snuck up on me like a tornado,'' he 
     said.
       Copeland's denouncement brought out many elected officials 
     including the dean of Harlem politicians, House Ways and 
     Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel. They all paid 
     tribute to Copeland.
       Rangel and others heaped praise on Copeland as high as 
     their plates were piled with chicken, cornbread, potato salad 
     and collard greens.
       ``You are more to us than a restaurateur,'' Rangel said. 
     ``You're a legend. You're hope. And you're inspiration.''
       The Rev. Calvin Butts, the influential pastor of the 
     Abyssinian Baptist Church, thanked Copeland, 82, for his 
     dedication and hard work and prayed ``that this will be a new 
     day for him, a day of relaxation and enjoyment for the rest 
     of his years.''
       Proclamations were presented from Congress, from Gov. Eliot 
     Spitzer, from the City Council and from the state Senate and 
     Assembly.
       ``It's an institution,'' said Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, 
     a 30-year patron of Copeland's. ``It's important to come out 
     and say thank you and let Mr. Copeland know that we 
     appreciate all he's done for the community.''
       As Copeland thanked his customers Sunday, he left the door 
     open for a Copeland's rebirth or for starting another 
     restaurant somewhere else.
       ``With what you've showed me and how you feel about me, I 
     think there's another chapter,'' he said. ``Going home with 
     no place to go and no purpose, I don't think that could work 
     for me.''
                                  ____


                [From the New York Times, July 23, 2007]

          Harlem Mainstay Survived Riots, but Falls to Renewal

                          (By Fernanda Santos)

       Calvin Copeland was there when rioters burned and looted 
     stores in 1964, when crack cocaine and AIDS tore families 
     apart, when brownstones were for sale for $50,000 and few 
     outsiders dared move in. He endured fire and financial ruin, 
     yet each time he picked up the pieces and prospered, as bold 
     and resilient as the neighborhood around him.
       If he could be the master of his fate, he would live out 
     his days in Harlem, Mr. Copeland, 82, said yesterday, serving 
     soul food from the restaurant he has owned for almost five 
     decades, Copeland's, a relic of the past anchored in a place 
     fast in transition.
       Gentrification has pushed away many of the black families 
     who used to patronize his business. ``The white people who 
     took their place don't like or don't care for the food I 
     cook,'' he said. ``The transformation snuck up on me like a 
     tornado.''
       After falling behind on rent and bills a year ago, Mr. 
     Copeland tried to hold on to his business, investing more 
     than $250,000 of his savings, he said. Finally, in May, he 
     acquiesced to defeat.
       Copeland's, at 547 West l45th Street, between Broadway and 
     Amsterdam Avenue, where Harlem is known as Hamilton Heights, 
     will hold its last gospel brunch at 1 p.m. on Sunday and then 
     close its doors for good.
       ``I just can't do it anymore,'' Mr. Copeland said.
       With its smoke-mirrored walls, L-shaped marble bar and 
     carpet the color of honey, Copeland's is at once cozy and de 
     mode, a place where men in polyester suits and women in hats 
     dine alongside European tourists who come to Harlem to 
     experience American black culture.
       Yesterday, Fred Staton, 92, a saxophonist with the Harlem 
     Blues and Jazz Band, which plays on Sundays at the 
     restaurant, stopped by to wish Mr. Copeland well. A tour 
     group from the Netherlands had brunch there. Others, however, 
     walked out after learning that the restaurant was not 
     offering its usual Sunday gospel choir. (Mr. Copeland said 
     he was too busy preparing for the final brunch to schedule 
     entertainment.)
       ``The food here is delicious, and it's so sad to hear 
     they'll be gone,'' said Martha Marsh, who has lived in Harlem 
     for 40 years and said she regularly eats at Copeland's.
       ``She's picky,'' added her husband, John Henry. ``If she 
     says she enjoys it, it's because the food is really good.''
       Mr. Copeland started the business in 1958 as a catering 
     service, one of Harlem's first, in a modest storefront on 
     Broadway north of l48th Street. He had but one worker, 
     Gertrude Clark, who still works for him. Mr. Copeland, who is 
     black, baked and decorated cakes; Ms. Clark, who is white and 
     grew up on a farm in upstate New York, did whatever else was 
     needed, which often included preparing Southern fare.
       ``I had never eaten collard greens in my life, and there I 
     was making fried chicken and souse meat,'' said Ms. Clark, 
     73. She is now Copeland's banquet manager.
       Mr. Copeland eventually rented the store next door, opened 
     up a hole in the wall, expanded the kitchen and started 
     serving breakfast and lunch, cafeteria style. It was similar 
     to the one in operation today next to the restaurant on 145th 
     Street, which opened for business in 1980.
       In 1981, the restaurant burned to the ground and the 
     insurance company went bankrupt before it reimbursed Mr. 
     Copeland for the losses.
       ``I lost everything, except for the liquor,'' he said with 
     a chuckle. ``We had it in a separate room with concrete 
     walls, and I guess the fire couldn't get through.''
       At the time, banks were not prone to lending money to 
     restaurant owners, especially if the restaurant was in a 
     place as volatile as Harlem, which had had two riots prior to 
     the one in 1964, incited by the fatal shooting of a black 
     teenage boy by a white police officer. But Mr. Copeland had 
     many friends, and one of them helped get him approved for a 
     small loan. The rest of the money came from Ms. Clark, who 
     mortgaged an upstate property to help her boss.
       ``If that thing didn't go, she would have lost her 
     property, she would have lost her job, she would have lost 
     everything of value she had,'' Mr. Copeland said. ``She had a 
     lot of faith in me, and I delivered.''
       Copeland's became a destination for black families from as 
     far as Philadelphia. Black entertainers and other notables 
     would stop by when in town. Desmond Tutu, the retired 
     Anglican archbishop, ate there once, and so did Muhammad Ali 
     and the comedian Richard Pryor, who threw money in the air 
     when he left the restaurant so as to distract the crowd that 
     had surrounded him, Mr. Copeland said. Natalie Cole is a 
     regular. Michael Jackson came by once, but did not come in; 
     one of the waiters took a plate of food to his vehicle, which 
     was parked outside.
       ``I never paid attention to this stuff,'' Mr. Copeland 
     said. ``I was too busy cooking.''

                          ____________________