From AP via NY Daily News
Used to be the best rejuvenatory fast-food meal in Hollywood was Popeye’s Red Beans and Rice on the corner of Hollywood & Vine. It may still be, tho now you’ll have to valet park and order a bottle of spritzer with your beans.
Popeyes chicken founder dies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, March 24th 2008, 4:00 AM
Al Copeland, who became rich selling spicy fried chicken and notorious for his flamboyant lifestyle, died Sunday at a clinic near Munich, Germany. He was 64.
The founder of the Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken chain grew up in New Orleans. Copeland sold his car at age 18 for enough money to open his own one-man doughnut shop. He went on to spend 10 modestly successful years in the doughnut business.
The opening of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in New Orleans in 1966, however, caught Copeland’s eye. Inspired by KFC’s success, Copeland in 1971 used his doughnut profits to open a restaurant, Chicken on the Run. (“So fast you get your chicken before you get your change.”) After six months, Copeland chose a spicier Louisiana Cajun-style recipe and reopened the restaurant, eventually calling it Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken after Gene Hackman‘s character in the film “French Connection.”
Copeland frequently made headlines away from his business empire. His hobbies included racing 50-foot powerboats, touring New Orleans in Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis, and outfitting his Lake Pontchartrain home with lavish Christmas decorations, including half-a-million lights and a 3-story-tall snowman.
