I confessed to Moore that I'd been disappointed that there were so few good barbecue places in California, and asked if she could offer an explanation. For her, she said, the most obvious cultural manifestation of the change that took place in the black community in the 1970s was heard in the music. Blues gave way to rhythm and blues, and rural music gave way to an urban sound. Extending her analysis, I see the impetus for the decline of California barbecue as well. As younger people, born in California, created a society that was more reflective of their own experiences, the remnants of southern tradition that had flourished in California in the '40s and '50s lost much of their potency.
Just as the South no longer holds the depth of cultural significance it once held, the meaning of the food and the people that serve it has been chipped away by time and circumstance. What we are left with are not the vestiges of southern barbecue, but the vestiges of the vestiges. And while these Californians may be that many steps removed from the divine inspiration that fired the pits of their forefathers, they are keepers of a sacred flame nonetheless.
LOS ANGELES
Prayer Assembly Church of God in Christ
442 E. El Segundo Boulevard 310-327-9474
Woody's Bar-B-Que
3446 W. Slauson Avenue 323-294-9443
Phillips Bar-b-que
4307 W. Leimert Boulevard 323-292-7613
BAY AREA
Memphis Minnie's
576 Haight Street, San Francisco 415-864-7675
KC's Bar-b-que
2613 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley 510-548-1140
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