Email
Print
FeedMar 30, 201203:24 PM
Lost Memphis: The Pig Pen
Call me crazy (many of my doctors do), but I really love the stark simplicity of this ad, found in the back pages of a 1954 Treadwell High School yearbook.
It tells you to "Eat" and then it tells you where: Pig Pen. And not "Eat at" or even "The Pig Pen." Nope, just: "Eat ... Pig Pen."
The tone is very "Me Tarzan, You Jane."
You've got the address on Summer, and even the one-word summary of the type of eatery: "Barbecue." You really can't get more concise than that.
But then, perhaps because they had all that space to fill, they dropped in the mouth-watering slogan: "Where you get a bargain in a good fat pig," which not only suggests the prices are low, but gosh isn't a "good fat pig" just about the best kind for a barbecue?
Plus, it would make a fine band name: Good Fat Pig.
The Pig Pen is gone, replaced by a lovely parking lot, but if you have a hankering for barbecue, you can just step next door, to Tops. Be sure to ask ’em if their sandwiches came from "a good fat pig."
Ask Vance is the blog of Vance Lauderdale, the award-winning columnist of Memphis magazine and MBQ: Inside Memphis Business. Vance is the author of two books: Ask Vance: The Best Questions and Answers from Memphis Magazine's History and Trivia Expert (2003), as well as Ask Vance: More Questions and Answers from Memphis Magazine's History Expert (2011). He is also the recipient of quite a few nice awards, the creator of several eye-catching wall calendars, and the only person we know with a vintage shock-treatment machine in his den. 
Thank you for remembering the Pig Pen. I loved my father's Pig Pens. Totally miss the cooked shoulders being taken off the pits. To the best of my knowledge the Pig Pen originated from my father, Allen Crump, giving BBQs for family and friends. My brothers, Ben, Johnny and Sam all worked at the Pig Pen. Recently Sam was talking about they would all be sitting around just talking when one of them would say, "Time to go put the shoulders on the pits." There was one on Lamar Avenue also: Pig Pen No. 2. My Daddy liked to put funny sayings on the walls and always welcomed me and a group of friends for BBQ and hamburgers. I do not remember the exact amount of time, but Goodloe Early (whose father owned the Jungle Garden) told me years later that all the other BBQ guys would cook their Shoulders 24 hours (I think), but my Dad would cook ours 2 hours longer.
Thank you for remembering the Pig Pen. I loved my father's Pig Pens. Totally miss the cooked shoulders being taken off the pits. To the best of my knowledge the Pig Pen originated from my father, Allen Crump, giving BBQs for family and friends. My brothers, Ben, Johnny and Sam all worked at the Pig Pen. Recently Sam was talking about they would all be sitting around just talking when one of them would say, "Time to go put the shoulders on the pits." There was one on Lamar Avenue also: Pig Pen No. 2. My Daddy liked to put funny sayings on the walls and always welcomed me and a group of friends for BBQ and hamburgers. I do not remember the exact amount of time, but Goodloe Early (whose father owned the Jungle Garden) told me years later that all the other BBQ guys would cook their Shoulders 24 hours (I think), but my Dad would cook ours 2 hours longer.