Savoy

Savoy Cafe was listed in the Green Book as “Savoy — 410 S. Blount” under “Taverns” in Raleigh from 1939-1941 and  in 1947.¹

The Savoy Cafe was open at 410 S. Blount Street from 1936 until 1943. The cafe replaced another restaurant, the Busy Bee Cafe.²

Savoy specialized in seafood, fried chicken, and plate lunches. In advertising, the restaurant boasted the “best food” at the “lowest prices.” Savoy’s owners, brothers William and Levi Sanders, claimed to have any variety of beer or ale a person could think of.³

Savoy Cafe closed in 1943. A new restaurant, B & H Cafe, opened in the space in the mid-1940s. Like Savoy, B&H Cafe was advertised in the Green Book.⁴

Levi and William Sanders were brothers who grew up in Johnston County, NC. William Sanders, Jr. was married to Naomi Sanders, a school teacher. The couple lived at 236 Smithfield Street. Levi was widowed and lived with his mother for much of the Green Book era; he later remarried and moved to a residence at 522 E. Cabarrus Street. Both men lived until the 1980s; Levi passed away in 1987 and William passed away in 1989.⁵

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1.  Victor Green 1939 Green Book, 33; Green, 1940 Green Book, 36; Green, 1941 Green Book, 36; Victor Green, 1947 Green Book, 65.
2.  Hill’s Raleigh City Directory, 1935-1951, street listing, alphabetical listing; “Savoy Cafe” (advertisement), The Carolina Tribune, June 3, 1939, p. 4, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92072999/1939-06-03/ed-1/seq-4/…;
3. “Savoy Cafe” (advertisement), The Carolina Tribune, June 3, 1939, p. 4, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92072999/1939-06-03/ed-1/seq-4/…; “Savoy Cafe” under “Restaurants,” The News and Observer, March 22, 1939, p. 16, accessed from www.newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-savoy-directory-li/159428961/.
4. Hill’s Raleigh City Directory, 1979-1951, street listing, alphabetical listing; Victor Green, 1947 Green Book, 65; Green, 1948 Green Book, 63; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54.
5.  Hill’s Raleigh 1939 Raleigh City Directory, street listing, alphabetical listing; “Wm Sanders,” 236 Smithfield Street, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “William Anderson Sanders,” March 18, 1908, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, US World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com; (“William Anderson Sanders,” Memorial ID #58775345, Find-A-Grave, www.findagrave.com; “Levi Sanders,” 821 Smithfield Avenue, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Levi Sanders” (obituary), The News and Observer, October 11, 1987, p. 49, accessed from www.newspapers.com.