A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from December 09, 2006
BBQ; Bar-B-Que; Q

Barbecue (barbeque) is popular in Texas and if often used by the initials BBQ, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Cue, or simply Q. “BBQ” was used in Los Angeles by at least 1938, but doesn’t show up in the Dallas Morning News until the 1950s (with other terms such as “Bar-B-Que”). “Q” is a term that became popular in the 1990s.
 
     
Google Groups: ba. general
From:  Kathryn Henniss
Date:  Sun, Feb 2 1992 10:56 pm
 
>As barbequee goes, Armadillo Willy’s would not last a week in Texas.
>Their pecan pie, a traditional desert when real bbq is served, is
>awful.  Ask them for jalepeno bread and watch them say “hugh?”  Their
>meats are ok, but nothing special.  Their portions are for children,
>not texans!
>buba
 
Actually, you can do a good sight better than AW’s for BBQ locally at Goldie’s on University Ave. just west of 101 (Whiskey Gulch).  Best to call ahead, and even then you might well have a wait, but it’s worth it.  I think there are a couple of tables there, but I’d imagine providing a gracious dining environment is not their main objective. 

Damn fine ‘Q.
 
Google Groups: alt.usage.english
From:  Lee Ellis
Date:  Tues, Apr 2 1996 12:00 am  
 
Why do people seem to want to spell “barbecue” with a “Q,” when there is not one in the word? Perhaps the abbreviation has caused people to think that the correct spelling is “barbeque.” Almost every flyer for the various organizations holding a BBQ misspell the word when it is not abbreviated. 

28 August 1938, Los Angeles Times, classified ad, pg. B7, col. 2:
RAMBLING RANCH
$14,500—Rail fence and olive trees!
Built around a large brick patio
with BBQ, wonderful for parties!
 
2 June 1951, Dallas Morning News, Bowling, part 1, pg. 11:
The Quinlan loss, combined with 3-to-1 victories by the onrushing M. O. Moon and Pan’s Bar-B-Que squads, sent the three teams into a tie for the top spot.
 
16 April 1953, Dallas Morning News, part 1, pg. 5:
Officers caught a would-be burglar early Wednesday morning as he tried to slip away from Big Pete’s Bar B Cue, 1627 South Ervay.
 
27 April 1959, Dallas Morning News, Bowling, section 2, pg. 3:
Cactus B-B-Q, Corpus Christi, 2973.

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Saturday, December 09, 2006 • Permalink


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