No Clowning Around
Bozo’s vaunted "pig" sandwiches in Mason, Tenn., draw barbecue lovers from far and wide.
When Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q Restaurant opened on the east side of Mason, Tenn., in 1923, it was standing room only. The building was so small there was no room for tables, and everyone ate their "pig" sandwiches (15 cents each) at the counter.
Two years later, founder Thomas Jefferson "Bozo" Williams followed Highway 70 and settled his little restaurant on the west side of town. As Bozo’s reputation for lip-smacking barbecue grew, so did the restaurant, adding a room for tables before moving in 1933 to a wood-framed building across the road.
Williams died in 1935, and four of his 11 children took over the operation. Miss Iris, Miss Rubye, Miss Helen and Mr. Allen had to rebuild Bozo’s after a fire took the building in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor thrust the country into World War II and the resulting meat shortages forced some creative menu additions.
In 1949, that building was also destroyed by fire, but with the help of loyal – and hungry – customers, Bozo’s was back in business within a week.
The building that opened on April 5, 1950, is the Bozo’s that today lures barbecue lovers from miles around for a sandwich or plate of pork shoulder cooked in the adjoining hot pit. The place looks pretty much the same as it did more than 40 years ago, the Formica tabletops so worn in places you can see the wooden base underneath. The recipe for hot sauce is the same, but a mild version was added in 1963. Mamie Taylor is still chopping barbecue, and Julia Wright is still waiting tables – both nearing 30 years of service.
Though Iris, Allen and Rubye have passed on, Helen Williams still lives in Mason. In 1988, she sold the business to Jeff Thompson, a great-grandson of the founder who worked summer vacations at Bozo’s since he was 14 years old.
It was Thompson and Miss Helen who fought and won Bozo’s biggest battle. In the late '80s and early '90s, a trademark dispute with Bozo the clown, Larry Harmon, got all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which left an earlier court’s favorable ruling in place.
Bozo’s is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day but Sunday. Come prepared to wait on Friday and Saturday nights. While there is now seating for 100, once again it’s standing room only at Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q Restaurant, a west Tennessee treasure. |
