Black Owned Business

Shortly after Vincent Williams borrowed $50,000 from his parents to open a Golden Bird fried chicken franchise in Compton in 1983, one of his mother's cousins pulled him aside. Enthusiasm and hard work won't be enough to succeed, warned Ruby Stovall, a businesswoman who honed her frugal ways, including saving plastic bags and collecting fallen fruit off her neighbor's lawns, during the Depression. When you run out of money, she said, come to me.

The phone call from the budding station that launched Adyel Silva's television career seemed like a joke. Sure, as a singer, Silva was used to the spotlight. But who would offer her a shot at fronting her own daytime show? "I laughed when I received the invitation because I never dreamed of hosting a television program. You never see a black woman hosting a TV show" in Brazil, Silva said. "We were never thought capable. Maybe I'm the first."

At 613 Imperial St., a weathered brick and stucco building in the shadow of the 6th Street bridge, there are aromas that don't add up in industrial downtown: the come-hither whiff of fried chicken, the heartwarming aroma of cornbread. But step inside the unmarked metal security gate and it all begins to make sense. Holding court at the monster Wolf range in the main hall of Soul Folks Cafe and Throw Down Catering, Yealang Smith is a one-woman factory of comfort food, and just plain comfort.

When black actors and actresses were still relegated to the maid and butler roles in movies, John H. Johnson knew black readers wanted to know about the lives of black celebrities. And he knew black readers wanted to dream a little, perhaps to copy a table setting of Marian Anderson, to read about the achievements of black people all over the world.

Kim Saunders left a vibrant financial institution in Washington for a rescue mission: reviving a century-old black-owned bank hobbled by bad loans and dogged by government regulators. "Everyone should do everything to keep it operating," said Saunders, president and chief executive of Consolidated Bank & Trust Co. "I think it's a national treasure." She doesn't have much time.

The Black Historical Society of San Diego has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt demolition of four apartments once owned by one of the city's black business pioneers. The society alleges that the City Council improperly removed a historical designation that protected the downtown apartments. The society is asking a San Diego County Superior Court judge to invalidate the council's decision of April 29 and to prevent the razing of the buildings. Wakeland Housing and Development Corp.