{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "clyde-coopers",
 "type": "place",
 "names": {
  "name": "Clyde Cooper's BBQ",
  "aliases": [
   "Clyde Cooper's Barbecue",
   "Clyde Cooper's",
   "Cooper's"
  ],
  "sort": "Clyde Coopers BBQ"
 },
 "region": [
  "nc-east"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "state": "NC",
  "status": "open",
  "founded": "1938",
  "fuel": "unknown",
  "styles": [
   "eastern-nc",
   "lexington"
  ]
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "Raleigh's downtown barbecue house since New Year's Day 1938, when Clyde Cooper opened on East Davie Street with fifty dollars borrowed from a brother-in-law; it moved around the corner to 327 South Wilmington Street in 2014 when the old building was lost to development, carrying the awning and the front door with it. It cooks pork shoulders — hand-trimmed, never whole hog — in pits on the upper floor, chops them and dresses them with Cooper's tangy sauce, which the city's tourism office calls a blend of eastern and Lexington ways. Fried chicken, Brunswick stew, collards, hushpuppies, boiled potatoes and banana pudding fill out the board; fried pork skins ride on the tray.",
  "story": "Clyde Cooper opened on January 1, 1938 in an 1884 building at 109 East Davie Street, and for fifty years he alone held the key. He cooked at first behind his house on Chapel Hill Road until the health department stopped him and the pits went upstairs, built to order by Nunnery-Freeman. The restaurant's own history says he was among the first Raleigh business owners to let Black customers in through the front door, in the early 1960s. After decades of being asked, he sold around 1988 to a builder named Tony; Debbie Holt, who had managed the place for him for five and a half years, took it over around 2008. Clyde Cooper died on February 12, 1998, short of a hundred. Holt told the Southern Foodways Alliance in November 2011 that she was fighting a developer's plan for a multistory apartment building on the Davie Street site — 'Ain't all about the money. It's about saving it for people and generations to come.' The building was lost; in 2014 the restaurant moved to South Wilmington Street, where the old awning hangs over the lunch counter and the old door hangs on the wall. In 2023, marking 85 years, Visit Raleigh noted it had at last begun taking credit cards.",
  "how": "Pork shoulders are trimmed by hand and cooked in the upstairs pits, then served chopped, sliced or coarse; the sauce is tangy rather than sweet, on Cooper's recipe. A tray — barbecue, slaw, hushpuppies and fried pork skins — cost $11 in 2023. Fried chicken, ribs and brisket, Brunswick stew, collards, boiled potatoes, several kinds of fried pork skins and banana pudding are the rest of the menu.",
  "today": "Open Monday to Saturday 10 to 6, at 327 South Wilmington Street, Raleigh, per OpenStreetMap (2026). Cards accepted since 2023."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "as": "its sauce leans east — tangy, vinegar-forward — though the meat is shoulder.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "lexington",
   "as": "its cut is the Piedmont's, shoulder not whole hog; the tourism office calls the result a blend.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-shoulder",
   "as": "the cut, hand-trimmed, cooked upstairs.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-skins",
   "as": "fried skins on the tray and by the bag, in several kinds; the thing regulars name.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-tray",
   "as": "the $11 tray of 2023: barbecue, slaw, hushpuppies, skins.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "brunswick-stew",
   "as": "on the menu since the early years.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "hushpuppies",
   "as": "on the tray.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "banana-pudding",
   "as": "the dessert.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "sam-jones-bbq",
   "as": "Raleigh's other barbecue name since 2021, a whole-hog house six blocks west on Lenoir Street.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "southern-foodways-alliance",
   "as": "recorded Debbie Holt in 2011, mid-fight for the old building.",
   "rel": "kin"
  }
 ],
 "geo": {
  "lat": 35.77627,
  "lon": -78.63816,
  "precision": "street",
  "source": "OpenStreetMap"
 },
 "address": {
  "street": "327 S Wilmington St",
  "city": "Raleigh",
  "county": "Wake",
  "state": "NC",
  "postcode": "27601"
 },
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "Clyde Cooper's BBQ — official",
   "url": "https://clydecoopersbbq.com/"
  },
  {
   "label": "Clyde Cooper's Barbecue — SFA oral history with Debbie Holt (2011)",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/clyde-coopers-barbecue/"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story",
  "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue",
  "s:web-visitraleigh-clyde-coopers",
  "s:osm",
  "s:flickr-commons",
  "s:flickr-ncsa",
  "s:ncsa-fcx"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.story": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story",
    "note": "ownership dates are as the restaurant's reprinted 2011 interview gives them ('around'); the 2014 move and the cards from Visit Raleigh"
   },
   "text.how": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-visitraleigh-clyde-coopers",
    "note": "$11 tray as printed in 2023"
   },
   "text.today": {
    "tier": "harvested",
    "source": "s:osm"
   },
   "geo": {
    "tier": "harvested",
    "source": "s:osm"
   },
   "address": {
    "tier": "harvested",
    "source": "s:osm"
   },
   "images[0]": {
    "tier": "harvested",
    "source": "s:ncsa-fcx",
    "note": "read on the photograph's own Flickr page 2026-09-16: “No known copyright restrictions”; the file, its sha256 and that statement are in the sidecar beside it"
   },
   "hours": {
    "tier": "harvested",
    "source": "s:osm"
   }
  }
 },
 "confidence": "high",
 "needs_verification": false,
 "images": [
  {
   "file": "clyde-coopers/clyde-coopers-east-davie-street-1963.jpg",
   "source": "flickr",
   "title": "PhC_23_1_2570_12",
   "url": "https://live.staticflickr.com/4740/39519124674_27c9f2105c_b.jpg",
   "page_url": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/39519124674/",
   "license": "No known copyright restrictions",
   "license_url": "https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/",
   "author": "State Archives of North Carolina",
   "credit": "FCX Photograph Collection, PhC.23, State Archives of North Carolina",
   "alt": "A black-and-white photograph taken from across a downtown street. A two-storey brick building holds the corner; over its ground-floor windows a painted fascia reads COOPER'S, AIR CONDITIONED, and a second awning beside it reads BARBECUE, AIR CONDITIONED, with a hanging bracket sign between them repeating Cooper's Barbecue. Two women walk past the door carrying bags, a long sedan is parked at the kerb and a bus stands in the alley beyond. NO SIGNS is painted on a wall at the left edge.",
   "date": "1963",
   "primary": true,
   "sha256": "35dd5702e6335a57dbeb7c17cada9be644cbc6477cf6b1d8ab31b788b68195b5",
   "width": 988,
   "height": 1000
  }
 ],
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "tags": [
  {
   "tag": "woman-owned",
   "source": "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": "SFA (Rien T. Fertel, November 22, 2011): 'Present owners Debbie and Randy Holt have taken up the fight to preserve culinary and architectural history.'"
  }
 ],
 "recognitions": [
  {
   "by": "sfa",
   "what": "an oral history recorded with the pit",
   "source": "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue",
   "year": 2011,
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/clyde-coopers-barbecue/",
   "note": "Debbie Holt, interviewed by Rien T. Fertel, November 22, 2011."
  }
 ],
 "hours": {
  "open": [
   "Mo",
   "Tu",
   "We",
   "Th",
   "Fr",
   "Sa"
  ],
  "text": "Monday to Saturday, 10 to 6.",
  "source": "s:osm",
  "url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/3307013373",
  "tier": "harvested",
  "checked": "2026-09-16",
  "note": "OSM node/3307013373 gives Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00 and no rule either way for Sunday."
 },
 "blurb": "Raleigh's downtown barbecue house since New Year's Day 1938, when Clyde Cooper opened on East Davie Street with fifty dollars borrowed from a brother-in-law; it moved around the corner to 327 South Wilmington Street in…",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "nc-east",
   "name": "Eastern North Carolina",
   "state": "NC",
   "note": "the Coastal Plain, east of the fall line and roughly east of Raleigh; 'Down East' further out toward the coast"
  }
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Eastern North Carolina barbecue",
   "as": "its sauce leans east — tangy, vinegar-forward — though the meat is shoulder.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "lexington",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Lexington-style barbecue",
   "as": "its cut is the Piedmont's, shoulder not whole hog; the tourism office calls the result a blend.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-shoulder",
   "type": "pit",
   "name": "pork shoulder",
   "as": "the cut, hand-trimmed, cooked upstairs.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-skins",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "pork skins",
   "as": "fried skins on the tray and by the bag, in several kinds; the thing regulars name.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-tray",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "barbecue tray",
   "as": "the $11 tray of 2023: barbecue, slaw, hushpuppies, skins.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "brunswick-stew",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "Brunswick stew",
   "as": "on the menu since the early years.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "hushpuppies",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "hushpuppies",
   "as": "on the tray.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "banana-pudding",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "banana pudding",
   "as": "the dessert.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "sam-jones-bbq",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Sam Jones BBQ",
   "as": "Raleigh's other barbecue name since 2021, a whole-hog house six blocks west on Lenoir Street.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "southern-foodways-alliance",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "as": "recorded Debbie Holt in 2011, mid-fight for the old building.",
   "rel": "kin"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Our Story — Clyde Cooper's BBQ, Est. 1938",
   "publisher": "Clyde Cooper's BBQ",
   "url": "https://clydecoopersbbq.com/ourbbqstory",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15",
   "note": "reprints a 2011 interview with Debbie Holt"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue",
   "kind": "oral-history",
   "title": "Clyde Cooper's Barbecue — Debbie Holt, interviewed by Rien T. Fertel, 22 Nov 2011",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/clyde-coopers-barbecue/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-visitraleigh-clyde-coopers",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "A Raleigh Institution, Clyde Cooper's BBQ Turns 85 Years Old — Visit Raleigh (2023)",
   "publisher": "Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau",
   "url": "https://www.visitraleigh.com/plan-a-trip/visitraleigh-insider-blog/post/a-raleigh-institution-clyde-coopers-bbq-celebrates-80-years/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:osm",
   "kind": "dataset",
   "title": "OpenStreetMap — places tagged cuisine=barbecue in North Carolina and South Carolina",
   "url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright",
   "license": "ODbL 1.0",
   "note": "harvested by tools/harvest_osm.py via the Overpass API; share-alike"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:flickr-commons",
   "kind": "dataset",
   "title": "Flickr Commons",
   "publisher": "Flickr, with participating libraries, archives and museums",
   "url": "https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "note": "Institutions publish photographs here under the rights statement 'No known copyright restrictions', which is not a public-domain declaration: the holding institution states it has found no copyright, shares that research without warranty, and asks the user to make an independent assessment before a new use. The statement is per photograph. The same institution's stream holds all-rights-reserved photographs alongside released ones, and the same negative sometimes appears both ways, so each file here was checked on its own page."
  },
  {
   "id": "s:flickr-ncsa",
   "kind": "dataset",
   "title": "State Archives of North Carolina on Flickr Commons",
   "publisher": "State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh",
   "url": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "note": "Around 117,000 photographs from the State Archives' photograph collections. Uploads made from about 2015 onward generally carry 'No known copyright restrictions'; a body of 2008-era uploads of the same collections, and in places the same images, carries 'All rights reserved'. Photographs taken here were verified one page at a time; the refused ones are listed in data/harvest/picture-sources.json."
  },
  {
   "id": "s:ncsa-fcx",
   "kind": "dataset",
   "title": "FCX Photograph Collection, PhC.23",
   "publisher": "State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh",
   "url": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "note": "Photographs of the Farmers Cooperative Exchange, including Raleigh street views. The Clyde Cooper's Barbecue frame is captioned 1963 by the archive; the cars in it read later than that, so the date is carried as the archive's and not as this project's."
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-clydecoopersbbq-story",
   "note": "ownership dates are as the restaurant's reprinted 2011 interview gives them ('around'); the 2014 move and the cards from Visit Raleigh"
  },
  "text.how": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-visitraleigh-clyde-coopers",
   "note": "$11 tray as printed in 2023"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "harvested",
   "source": "s:osm"
  },
  "geo": {
   "tier": "harvested",
   "source": "s:osm"
  },
  "address": {
   "tier": "harvested",
   "source": "s:osm"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": {
  "file": "clyde-coopers/clyde-coopers-east-davie-street-1963.jpg",
  "source": "flickr",
  "title": "PhC_23_1_2570_12",
  "url": "https://live.staticflickr.com/4740/39519124674_27c9f2105c_b.jpg",
  "page_url": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/39519124674/",
  "license": "No known copyright restrictions",
  "license_url": "https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/",
  "author": "State Archives of North Carolina",
  "credit": "FCX Photograph Collection, PhC.23, State Archives of North Carolina",
  "alt": "A black-and-white photograph taken from across a downtown street. A two-storey brick building holds the corner; over its ground-floor windows a painted fascia reads COOPER'S, AIR CONDITIONED, and a second awning beside it reads BARBECUE, AIR CONDITIONED, with a hanging bracket sign between them repeating Cooper's Barbecue. Two women walk past the door carrying bags, a long sedan is parked at the kerb and a bus stands in the alley beyond. NO SIGNS is painted on a wall at the left edge.",
  "date": "1963",
  "primary": true,
  "sha256": "35dd5702e6335a57dbeb7c17cada9be644cbc6477cf6b1d8ab31b788b68195b5",
  "width": 988,
  "height": 1000
 },
 "tag_facts": [
  {
   "key": "woman-owned",
   "label": "Woman-owned",
   "icon": "♀",
   "group": "ownership",
   "evidence": "the owner's own statement, a press profile naming the owner, a women-owned business certification (WBENC, WOSB)",
   "resources": [
    "r:wbenc",
    "r:sba-wosb"
   ],
   "source": "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue",
   "note": "SFA (Rien T. Fertel, November 22, 2011): 'Present owners Debbie and Randy Holt have taken up the fight to preserve culinary and architectural history.'",
   "tier": "cited",
   "url": ""
  }
 ],
 "recognition_facts": [
  {
   "key": "sfa",
   "label": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "what": "an oral history recorded with the pit",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/clyde-coopers-barbecue/",
   "year": 2011,
   "source": "s:sfa-clyde-coopers-barbecue"
  }
 ],
 "acclaim": 1,
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "banana-pudding",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "banana pudding",
   "as": "'a good old Southern thing', added after the 1938 menu.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "from": "boiled-potatoes",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "boiled potatoes",
   "as": "on the 1938 opening menu with fries, slaw and Brunswick stew.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "from": "rien-fertel",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Rien Fertel",
   "as": "interviewed Debbie Holt there in November 2011.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "from": "southern-foodways-alliance",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "as": "an interview in its North Carolina set.",
   "rel": "place"
  }
 ]
}